Monday, January 19, 2015

Renew

I became a South Dakota resident when I started this van dwelling life because it's laughably easy. Online renewal of vehicle registration is another matter.

You have to create an account, supplying a crapload of information, including the answers to four—four—security questions. That generates a user name and temporary password which you then use to create an actual user name and password (be sure to include at least one capital letter, number and symbol). Then you log back in, verify that you want to renew your registration, click through several more screens, and get transferred to a US Bank site to pay your fee.

It was much simpler in North Carolina. No multi-step process, no passwords. Just fill in your driver's license and registration numbers, your payment info, and click. I haven't decided whether the South Dakota DMV is being way too cautious or whether North Carolina wasn't cautious enough. Oh well, at least I don't need to drive back to South Dakota in the winter and stand in line.

2 comments:

  1. However, renewing SD vehicle registration is easier than the multi-step process for getting Burning Man tickets.

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  2. MyDakotaAddress does it all for me. I just tell her, Terry, when I'm ready to pay (I pay with credit card over the phone) she goes to the DMV for me and mails me my tags. She's done it for me for two years. Are you using MyDakotaAddress? I'm not sure if she wants everyone to know about that, but, thought I'd pass it along to you if you're using that service.

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