The Expert Podcast

Overview: We dive into why the DMV often frustrates people, discussing its unique structure and the challenges it faces as a government agency. We also explore how its role in issuing legal documents, like driver's licenses and car titles, contributes to its complexity.

Key Points:
  • The DMV's Role and Government Nature:
    • Unlike private companies, the DMV doesn't rely on customer satisfaction to stay in business. There's no competition, and they don't have to make a profit.
    • Government agencies have different objectives and efficiency standards compared to private businesses.
  • Legal Importance of DMV Documents:
    • A driver's license is not just a wallet card—it's a critical legal document that grants access to essential services and transactions.
    • Car titles represent the legal ownership of a vehicle, and issuing one improperly could lead to major financial and legal problems.
  • Why the DMV Has Strict Processes:
    • The DMV's primary job is to ensure the correct legal transfer of ownership, and they must thoroughly verify documents to prevent fraud and identity theft.
    • A bill of sale does not guarantee ownership or legal right to sell, making the DMV's verification essential.
  • Challenges in Navigating the DMV:
    • The DMV's bureaucratic processes can be inconvenient and frustrating, but their strict procedures are meant to protect everyone involved.
    • While it may feel like you're just dealing with red tape, the system is designed to prevent potential fraud and ensure legal accuracy.
  • How Cartitles.com Can Help:
    • Navigating the title process can be challenging, but Cartitles.com provides assistance to help make it easier.
    • Despite the DMV's complexity, having the right guidance can reduce the stress and confusion.
  • The Future of the DMV:
    • Electronic titles may simplify the process in the future, but that technology is still years away.
  • Comparing the DMV to Private Companies:
    • The DMV doesn't operate with the same incentive structure as businesses that rely on commissions or bonuses, which affects how employees interact with customers.
    • Understanding this difference can help you approach DMV processes with more patience and perspective.
Conclusion:
  • Understanding why the DMV works the way it does can make the experience more manageable and less frustrating. Their role in protecting legal rights may be inconvenient, but it's essential for preventing fraud and ensuring fairness.
Call to Action:
  • Remember, you can access live one-on-one consultations with licensed experts in various fields at actualhuman.com for personalized assistance.

What is The Expert Podcast?

The Expert Podcast brings you firsthand narratives from experts across diverse industries, including private investigators, general contractors and builders, insurance agencies, vehicle specialists, lawyers, and many others.

So we all have DMV horror stories. In fact, this publication asks readers to talk about your worst experiences at the DMV, and they had no shortage of responses. But, you know, it's not hard to find the bad stories. The question is, has anybody ever stopped to wonder why the DMV is so difficult to deal with and why they make it a hard time? Well, it's a combination of a perfect storm of two factors. One factor is it's a government agency. It doesn't have the same efficiency, implications, and goals and objectives as a private company.

If you're a private company, if you don't do things well, you go out of business. If you don't serve customers well, customers don't come see you, and you close—you fail. If you're a restaurant and have terrible food, you're done, right? If you're a bookstore and you don't have good customer service, lock your door. DMV is different. The DMV doesn't matter how bad the service is; you have to go there. You don't have a choice. There is no competitor to the DMV. They don't have to make a profit. They don't have to have good reviews—they're the DMV.

There's another factor that people don't realize: They're handing out legal documents. When they hand somebody a license, a driver's license, that's not just a card to put in your wallet. It enables you to do lots of things: to go on airplanes, to show your ID, to buy things, to vote, to open a bank account. If they handed it out without doing the proper due diligence, it could create a lot of problems for identity theft or fraud.

When they hand out a car title, they're handing the ownership legality of that vehicle to that person because the title doesn't just have information about the car; it also tells who is the owner. So, if I went to the DMV and said, "You know what? I want a title for this car—2022 Toyota Camry, whatever it is, fin number 1234—give me a title," if they didn't make sure all the documentation was correct, giving me a title to the car isn't just a piece of paper I can put in my file cabinet. It now gives me an equal dollar amount to the value of that car.

So if that car is worth $30,000, when they hand me a title, in effect, they're handing me $30,000 in cash. And also, the other side of that is they're taking it away from somebody else because somebody else used to be the owner. So, unless they make sure all of that is correct, they're arbitrarily taking away something from somebody and giving it to somebody else. So, they have to do it right. Their process is going to be pretty strict, and you might say, "Well, I have a receipt. I have a legal bill of sale. I bought it from somebody."

What is a bill of sale? A bill of sale is just something somebody wrote on a piece of paper that said, "I took the money from somebody and gave him this car." It doesn't necessarily mean they were the legal owner. It doesn't mean they had the right to sell. It doesn't mean there wasn't a lien holder on it, a co-owner, or it wasn't their car at all. Right? Well, I ran the van—it's not a stolen car. It doesn't have to be stolen to not be sellable.

If I rented a car today from Hertz to rent a car and drove it around and then put an ad on Craigslist and said, "Hey, I want to sell this car," I could give you a bill of sale and sell you the car. It won't come back as stolen. I gave you a legal bill of sale. I can even get it notarized. Does that make you the owner of the car? What happened to Hertz? That's not how it works. There are legal documents you have to have, so the DMV is enforcing those to protect you as much as anybody else. You wouldn't want somebody to sell your car out of your driveway if you went on vacation without paperwork or with fake paperwork and didn't check everything out.

So, it protects everybody. Is it inconvenient? Absolutely. Is it tough? Sure. And that's why we have a division of our company called cartitles.com that helps people navigate that difficult title process. It makes it easier. It's tough because we are the ones that have to deal with the DMV and work with the bureaucracy, and then also deal with the clients that still have some difficulty. But at least it makes it easier for our customers, which we love doing.

Someday, there'll be electronic titles, and you won't have to do paper, but that's years away. So if you're wondering why the DMV is always so hard to deal with or gives you the runaround, that's why. They're not bad people. They're not trying to make your life more difficult. They have a job to do, and their system and structure are different than a company.

Look, if me and you walked into the cell phone store and wanted to get a new cell phone, right, we walked in and said, "Hey, I want to buy a new phone," there would be five people jumping over themselves to try to help you to sell you a phone because they're going to make money on that phone. They're going to make a commission. They might get a bonus. DMV is not like that. They don't get a commission if you get a title. They don't get any extra money if you get a title. So there's two different mindsets: they're there to protect the legalities of a process, unlike a private company that's trying to get as much stuff out the door as they can.

So if you look at it that way, it won't be as annoying. It won't be as frustrating because you have to look at it as two different things. Just because you walk through a door into a lobby, it's not the same experience as walking into Home Depot where they ask you, "Can I help you find that fitting?" DMV is not like that, and if you look at it differently, it'll be much easier to navigate and much more peaceful for your well-being.

Thank you for watching another episode of Actual Human Advisory on Describe TV. Remember, we have live one-on-one consultation appointments available at ActualHuman.com, where you can book a one-on-one, undivided attention, live call with a licensed investigator, a licensed insurance broker, a licensed mortgage broker, real estate broker. I'm also a certified real estate title examiner, a certified civil court mediator, along with having developed and started over 15 businesses, several of which were sold for millions of dollars.

So, if you do have questions in any of those categories, you can arrange a one-on-one live video consultation. Use the link below, and we'll see you on the next video.