Evening star., 1948-03-10
Delay at License Bureau

ROGER G1SH McDARE.
Delay at License Bureau
To the Editor of The Star:
No doubt many of the thousands of persons
who have obtained their new 1948 D. c. auto
tags within but few moments at the Munich
pal Center will wonder just what Thomas B.
Meehling Is driving at when in his letter pub
lished in The Star of March 4. under the cap
tion Time Wasted at License Bureau" he
complains Of citizens waiting in line for two
and three hours for their auto licenses.
No one with an application for tags has had
to wait two or three hours at any time this
year. Nor even half hour, for that matter.
The lines in Room 1000, where new tags are
issued, move rapidly towards the windows in
but very few minutes Except during the Gus
tomary last minute rusf) and at the tag win
dows, no more than a few seconds is required
to complete transaction.
It is more likely that Mr.. Mechling has ref
erence to the delay at windows where applica-
tion is made for D. c. certificate of title.
Here, of course, the situation, of necessity, Is
more involved and employees of four depart
ments, Vehicles and Traffic, the Recorder of
Deeds, the Assessor and the Collector of Taxes
are required to carry out provisions of certain
acts of Congress which spell out in detail the
administrative procedures which have been de-
signed to protect the public against misrepre-
sentation and fraud in automobile ownership
transactions. The searching of a title for an
automobile, just as for real estate, is not some-
thing which can be completed in few minutes.
The checking of auto liens, previous ownership,
stolen car file and other factors all takes time
in some cases more than others-which makes
1t impractical to maintain strict f1rst-come-
first-served order.
1t might be. appropriate to ask Mr.. Mechling
just why he preferred to wait two or three
hours instead of handling the transaction by
mail, thus avoiding any wait at all-unless, Of
course, he, like so many others, had delayed
applying until the very last minute.
Mail Applications Urged.
If all Maryland or Virginia residents desir-
ing to apply for title and tags were to 90 per-
sonally to Baltimore or Richmond, it no doubt
would create most serious situation for the
motor vehicle departments of those States. The
answer, of course, is that the great majority
of such applicants handle their transactions
by mail. That so many do not choose to do
the same here is probably because of the con-
venent location of the Districts Department
of Vehicles and Traffic. It would lessen the
burden materially on our augmented staff If
more people would respond to appeals which
we have made frequently to apply for GER
tiicates of title and tags by mail.
The procedure for obtaining a certificate
Of title and tags is as follows
l. Take car to one of the testing stations
for inspection. Take with you the existing
title or, if none, notarized bill of sale or
certificate of ownership. The test station will
issue certificate of inspection, and applica-
tions for D. c. certificate of title and tags.
e. After completing the title application, and
having it notarized attach the certificate OF
inspection, tag application, the existing title,
notarized bill of sale certificate of ownership,
together with remittance Of 81 made payable to
the Collector of Taxes, D. c., for certificate of
title, and, another remittance, payable to the
Recorder of Deeds, D. c., in the amount Of
SO cents each for the recording of any exist
ing liens on the vehicle. Mail all papers to
the Department of Vehicles and Traffic, 30l
street NV. Washington /, D. C.
3. Tag application will be returned to you
accompanied by certificate of title If you are
the sole owner of car If a lien is shown,
the title will be mailed to the lien holder.
4. Mail the tag application and remittance,
payable to the Collector of Taxes, D. c., to
the Department of Vehicles and Traffic, and
tags will be mailed.
Under this procedure, no visit to or wait
at the department is required.
For more than the past year, vast amount
of study has been given to further stream
lining and simplifying this procedure The
Commissioners approved recently recon-.
mendation of the Director of Vehicles and
Traffic which will shorten the time required
for those who prefer to wait for certificate
of title and tags to but very few moments.
1t is unfortunate that the usual advertising
for bids for purchase of the necessary equip
ment and forms could not be completed in
: time for this years tag rush. The stream
lining should be in full effect in about another
go days.
Meanwhile, once again, may I recommend
that the simple procedure Of applying by mail,
as outlined above, be followed by those seek
ing to avoid delays? HERMAN S. COLE,
Administrative Officer
Department of Vehicles and Traffic