Saturday, September 26, 2009

The car registration saga.


A year is up and my trusty Mitsubishi came up for re-registration. This is meant to be a relatively straight forward procedure since it is only one year old, therefore it doesn’t require an inspection. I queried a friend about the process as he had just been through it and apart from having to pay an unexpected traffic fine, had no trouble. I had recently checked online with Abu Dhabi police via my driver’s license and had no fines listed so I thought that should be okay. I downloaded the instructions from their website of what I’d need in the way of documentation, and after the normal amount of prodding I got the necessary letter out of the college addressed to the traffic department. A passport and visa copy are always at hand so that was not problem. The other requirement is an insurance policy for the car. As part of my car loan, with HSBC I got a three year policy from AXA with the full premiums locked into the loan (which is pretty good because it locks the no claims rate in for the full period). So armed with my insurance, letter from the college, passport copy, old rego card and money in pocket I headed off to the police department promptly one morning.
I got there early before they started issuing numbered tickets so I was told to sit in a line in front of the couple of stations that were processing people early. After sitting for quite a while behind someone who must have been a dealer with a number of multiple registrations, I noticed the number system had started so I wandered over and got lucky number seven and returned to my nesting spot. Needless to say the number got called before my dealer got finished so I skipped over to that booth. I handed over all my documents and the woman behind the counter began to enter details then stopped and told me I had 600drh speeding fine! What, where, when, I had looked on line and there was no record of that. But she showed me a photo of the car from 4 months back so there was no denying it, but I failed to understand why I wasn’t able to find out about it before. I had to race over to the conveniently located ATMs by the door and withdraw the money to pay to be able to continue the process. However, that having been paid was the not the end of things. She asked me where my insurance was. I showed her the policy but she said no, that I couldn’t have a three year policy. Well, that was what the car company registered it with, and that was all I had. She needed a current policy that lasted 13 months (12+1 is the rule here) and mine did that so I didn’t see what the problem was. She insisted that you can’t have a 3 year policy. Finish. She sent me off to her superior who also insisted you can’t have a three year policy, that I’d have to get a new one from AXA.
Outside, fuming in the car I phoned AXA, but they told me that they didn’t issue 3 year policies, that must be HSBC and kindly gave me their number. HSBC didn’t seem to know anything about the policies being a problem… Was I the first to run into this problem? They said they would issue me with a one year version. Could I come in and collect it? No! Not with the parking around their offices I couldn’t. They could send it to me, and why hadn’t they done that prior to my having to call them since it was obviously going to be necessary???
Now to add to the complications here, my renewal came due during the Eid holiday break at the end of Ramadan. My first visit to the traffic department was Tuesday. That left two working days to get the letter delivered. It was going to be touch and go, since from Friday on would be public holidays.
To my relief, at 10am on Thursday the courier arrived with the one year policy. I got straight in the car and went back to the traffic department. Got my number and felt happy that there weren’t too many numbers in front of me. I handed over my documents and sat wondering how long the process would actually take when the woman (a different one this time) said that the insurance was no good. The date was for the 20th and today was the 17th, she couldn’t put in a future date. But the car registration runs out on the 20th, so that was when the new insurance ran from. The existing insurance was still current and indeed would run for 13 months (one more) if it complied to the previous registration rules, and actually of course still had two years to go. So what was the problem? The system can’t handle it. Can’t you put it in with today’s date? No! Off to see the superior again. Remember me, I got the one year policy you told me to get. “Why did you put the 20th on it,” he asks me. I didn’t put it on. Can’t have a future date, even one for the day the car registration is for. But the office is going to be closed, if I wait until the 20th and then the registration will be overdue. I don’t want to pay a fine! He assures me that I won’t pay a fine for the first month and unless I want to go to the bank and get another letter there is nothing I can do that day. So Eid begins and the car registration runs out. Three days late, on the 23rd when business begins again, I make my third trip to the traffic department! I handed over my documents, she handed back the letter from the college and my passport photocopy with a look of, what did you give me those for (well they were listed as required by on the website). And taking my 105drh gave me a sticker and new registration card. I texted my friend. “Hallelujah” was his texted reply.