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Motorcycle Registration Question

drfood

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Darrell
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Gerdes
I let the V-Strom registration lapse and J-Dawg's Sabre registration expired in August. I know I have to go to a Tax Accessor's office to renew them now (after 5 days following expiration you have to). I do not have time to run into a Harris County office and wait in line for an hour or more. Plus the Harris County offices are definitely not convenient.

Since I work in Sugar Land and there is an office right off 90A and Dairy Ashford I want to renew them there or Missouri City or even Richmond.

I went to the Sugar Land tax accessor's office and was told that any vehicle registered and housed in Harris County could not be renewed in any county but Harris. The clerk said I would have to go to a Harris County office. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing when it comes to renewals?

I have tried calling Austin to get an answer, but never can get through. I tried the Ft. Bend folks by phone and they acted like I was bothering them and told me to contact Austin.

Anyone know the rules about renewing a registration in a county other than the one you reside in?
 
I'm pretty sure thats right, the exception being, if you can show proof that you now live in Ft. Bend county
 
I'd think if you moved residences you'd have to be able to move the registration?
 
The county in which you reside is the county in which you must register your vehicle(s).
 
The county in which you reside is the county in which you must register your vehicle(s).

Yep. That be true. And if they aren't expired yet, and you happen to have a Tom Thumb in your area, you can also renew them at customer service and usually have no wait. But it still has to be in the same county.
 
That's the stupidest thing I have ever hear.

Now I'm stuck wasting a good chunk of the day going to a Harris County office.

*Rhetorical Question*
Why can't the computers simply talk to one another and let you renew registration anywhere in the state??????

Must be like the idiotic computer problems they are having with drivers licenses and not being able to make them on the spot.

Ok, I've vented now.
 
That's the stupidest thing I have ever hear.

Now I'm stuck wasting a good chunk of the day going to a Harris County office.

*Rhetorical Question*
Why can't the computers simply talk to one another and let you renew registration anywhere in the state??????

Must be like the idiotic computer problems they are having with drivers licenses and not being able to make them on the spot.

Ok, I've vented now.

I think it's all based on the different emission tests for different counties. You have to get inspected in the county that's on your registration which is the county of your residence. A domino effect.
 
its probably so that county can get the income for a vehicle registered
 
You know... if you don't let it lapse you can simply renew it online.... ;-) But if you let it lapse, then you pretty much assured yourself of having to play their game. But if you're on time with it, there are plenty of convenient options for you to choose from.

I'd just chalk it up to a lesson learned.
 
It's a toss up how bad the line may be depending on the day or the alignment of the moon or the solar constellation something or other. Some days, at a particular time that you'd think one office would be swamped, it's free and clear, no wait. Other days, at a time when the line should be shorter - you're seeing your grave marker before it's all said and done. We've had *some* luck at the office on Hwy. 6 & Clay (I know - nowhere near where you are) and other time it's mysteriously busy. Dunno what to tell you... :zen:
 
It's a toss up how bad the line may be depending on the day or the alignment of the moon or the solar constellation something or other. Some days, at a particular time that you'd think one office would be swamped, it's free and clear, no wait. Other days, at a time when the line should be shorter - you're seeing your grave marker before it's all said and done. We've had *some* luck at the office on Hwy. 6 & Clay (I know - nowhere near where you are) and other time it's mysteriously busy. Dunno what to tell you... :zen:

same here, there have been times i've breazed through the Clay rd office, and other times I thought I was going to doe of old age in line
 
Well it was interesting. I received e-mails from both Texas and Ft. Bend at about the same time. Both explained what has been mentioned here. There is no way for a county to recover "county" expenses or funds if another county renews the registration. They both apologized for the "system" we work under.

Oh well. You're right Bill, if I hadn't let them both expire I wouldn't be facing this. I am just one of the best procrastinators in the world.

Thanks Poser and StarSapphire...back 2 jobs ago I would have done Clay Rd and you're right it is very hit and miss. The easiest in and out I've found in Harris County is downtown at Main/Preston....OY! The next easiest is at Palm Center. When I did the title transfer on the Versys for J-Dawg on a Friday afternoon I was in and out in less than 5 minutes. Guess that is where I will try and go.

Next comes the inspection we both let lapse plus the Versys which currently has no inspection sticker. Oh yeah, and the Ranger needs both also...I hate the inspection on it because they have to put it on the dyno for emissions.....*crossing fingers*
 
Should you want to, you can renew your registration for up to three years at a time. You can also change the registration month so that all your vehicles come due at the same time. I go to the Denton county office every other year and do six vehicles and two trailers at the same time with one check.
 
Man, you are one lucky guy! I don't know why you are complaining. I have three vehicles and none of them have the same month for registration. You get to kill something like 4 or 5 birds with one stone! Now I'm jealous!:-)
 
Oh well. You're right Bill, if I hadn't let them both expire I wouldn't be facing this. I am just one of the best procrastinators in the world.

Well, I guess everybody has to be best at something. :clap:

One of the things I love is that Fort Bend can be so easy. A week or so before the last Pie Run, the license plate and inspection-sticker plate fell off Bikey. (I was real careful not to get stopped!). When I got time to get my new plates, I rode over to the Hwy 90/Dairy Ashford area location of the Fort Bend Tax Assessor/Collector and was in and out in like 10 minutes! Awesome.

However, having lived way too many years in Harris County, I can feel your pain.

Lee
 
For a dollar extra you can do it by mail , I havent been to a tax office in 10 years . SEYA
 
There's a place in Austin called Universal Auto Title. They can do pretty much anything the tax asessor's office can do, but faster and the charge is just a few bucks extra. Maybe Houston has a similar business.
 
That's the stupidest thing I have ever hear.
Why can't the computers simply talk to one another and let you renew registration anywhere in the state??????

Must be like the idiotic computer problems they are having with drivers licenses and not being able to make them on the spot.

Because it ran by the Government ????:zen:
Wait until there in charge of your health care ! :doh::giveup:
 
Man, you are one lucky guy! I don't know why you are complaining. I have three vehicles and none of them have the same month for registration. You get to kill something like 4 or 5 birds with one stone! Now I'm jealous!:-)

You can have all of the vehicles changed so that they expire on the same month. Not sure of the process (we did it so long ago), but we've got 8 vehicles that all expire in May. Talk to the tax office about it, you just have to request it.
 
same here, there have been times i've breezed through the Clay rd office, and other times I thought I was going to doe of old age in line

My non-scientific observation shows the best time to go is mid-morning.
Avoid times near when they open (that's when the dealers send their clerks to process paperwork), around lunch hour (obviously), and near closing time (folks leave work early to stand in line).

Time of month also makes a big difference. Couple of days before the end of the month and first week of the new month are busiest.

As suggested, stay on top of expiration dates and renew remotely (grocery store, mail, internet), but you will still have to go in for new plates when needed.
 
You can have all of the vehicles changed so that they expire on the same month. Not sure of the process (we did it so long ago), but we've got 8 vehicles that all expire in May. Talk to the tax office about it, you just have to request it.

In Georgia, vehicle registrations expire the month of the birthday of the registered owner. We had 4 cars & 1 bike all expire in the same month.

BTW your registration fee is based upon the value of the vehicle. Fee for the Corvette was over $300, and the 2 jeeps were $150-250. Bike was cheap because it was almost 20 years old.

Was VERY glad to get back to TX & <$70 license fees.
 
There's a tax office over here near work that rarely has more than 5 or 10 people in line - especially if it's an off-peak time like dukey said.

1721 Pech Rd, Houston, TX 77055
 
Really? I thought that one would be packed given the location. I guess it's out of the way and folks don't know about it.
 
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