Licensing woes Licensing woes ADVERTISING A costly process It was with empathy that I read Pat McCary’s letter in WHT May 29. I, too, stood in line — three times — to get my driver’s license renewed. The first time
Licensing woes
A costly process
It was with empathy that I read Pat McCary’s letter in WHT May 29. I, too, stood in line — three times — to get my driver’s license renewed. The first time I presented my current license, my old, punched license with my Social Security number on it, an April letter from Social Security with my Social Security number on it, and my expired passport.
The first trip I was told they would (after some discussion) accept the old license with the current award letter as proof of Social Security number, but could not accept my expired passport. So I went to the Holualoa post office and renewed my passport.
To renew my passport I was required to show my expired one, my current Hawaii driver’s license as proof of name, my current letter from Social Security, and a hospital birth verification that showed my birth name and date and my parents’ names (this was not acceptable to the DMV) and $110 processing fee.
I received my passport in less than 10 days, and proudly took it with above expired Hawaii license with Social Security number and April letter from Social Security, and stood in line again.
This time I was told if I showed them the expired license, they would take it away from me, and the letter from Social Security was not acceptable, simce it could be a forgery, and the clerk I first saw said she would never have accepted them, implying I was lying.
The second woman at DMV did give me a hint this time: Come back with a W2 or 1099 (these can’t be easily forged?) with my Social Security number on it and that would be acceptable.
So I went home, found the most current 1099 from Social Security that still had the perforated strips on the sides and went back again. This time she accepted the documents, even though she had “no” written all over her face, and I walked out with a new, temporary license (which was not acceptable to TSA for boarding a flight to Honolulu — good thing I had that new passport with me).
Thank goodness I started the process a month before my birthday.
I asked the first DMV person if they could do a 60-day extension to get the documents so that I would not be driving illegally. She stated they could not, but if I did have to drive with an expired license to just show the judge the new one when I got it to get the charges dismissed.
Total time to get license: three weeks. Total time in line: 2.5 hours. Total cost: $160 passport and DMV charges.
Why is it harder to renew a current, unexpired license in Hawaii County than it is to renew a passport that has been expired for 12 years?
Billy Kenoi, please review the actions of your department (and remember this is an election year).
I was afraid to write this letter until I had my new license in case there may be a “black hole” in DMV for citizens who complain.
Mary Crispi
Kealakekua
