ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : When the DMV Goofs, We All Pay

The California Department of Motor Vehicles often seems like the closest thing yet to the immovable object. It is also nearly unavoidable. It is not just motorists who need to deal with the agency. So must those willing to forgo a driver’s license but still wanting a state identification card.

With so many licenses, registrations, renewals and identification cards issued each year, the DMV is bound to make mistakes. But when it does, it should correct them quickly, as a matter of fairness and in recognition of the immense power it has over peoples’ lives.

Alas for Larry R. Parker of Huntington Beach, the DMV sometimes digs in its heels when it slips up.

Parker said that when he went to register a 1961 truck and another car at the Westminster DMV office last year, he was told the truck needed a smog check. By the time the agency realized their clerk was wrong-- vehicles registered before 1966 do not need smog checks--the Huntington Beach police were involved.

The truck had no smog check, so it was not registered, so the police towed it. Parker said a DMV supervisor apologized for the mistake and gave him a claim form to get back the $137 needed to free the vehicle from police impound and another $74 for driving expenses and time lost at work.

Parker said he followed the instructions on the form the clerk gave him, but struck out again. It turns out the DMV does not make refunds for those kinds of errors; for them, you have to deal with the State Board of Control.

Parker went to small-claims court and won a $211 verdict. The DMV appealed. The agency said Parker might have been victimized and entitled to a refund, but the law requires the Board of Control to handle the matter. The judge agreed with the DMV, but Parker plans to appeal.

One Orange County Superior Court judge estimated state taxpayers have shelled out about $4,000 on the case so far in court costs and fees for the state’s attorneys. A law professor rightly noted the courts are already backlogged, and this kind of case should be disposed of quickly, not battled onward and upward. The DMV is right at least to have tried to be more consumer-friendly in recent years, with some success.

But the agency said it was concerned that Parker’s case could set a precedent, with others believing that if the DMV gives you a refund form, it means it has to refund your money.

That seems a stretch. Why not just provide the right forms and the right information at the start? If similar errors do occur, don’t waste money. Pay the $211. The DMV should cut its losses, which after all are the losses of all taxpayers.