mar 22 2005

i wonder

i've been meaning to post about my horrible experience of registering my paid off car into my name and no longer the banks.

i got all the documentation together and i went there pretty early on a saturday last month, only to be confronted with a queue of 13 people in front of me. this particular saturday i had to get to another place in durbanville and then be back in melkbos for an appointment at 11:45am. so i had about an hour to stand and wait for my turn. an hour, 2 tellers this should happen right? there's only like 5 different forms that they could possibly process and most of the people in front of me looked like they were simply renewing their car registration.

half an hour later and the queue hadn't moved at all. this pissed me off to no end. now did the guys in the front not have the right documentation, therefor holding up the rest of us? if so, why were they even being seen to? i don't get it... they should have an efficient system in place by now with all the money they're making on speeding fines, licences and registration fees? surely the tellers know what's going on? pink form, ah, enter this number, tab, type something else, tab, tab, type, tab, enter... there you go. or not? why not?

anyway, i left my spot in the queue and went to durbanville where there was another queue. i did make it back to melkbos with a few minutes to spare though.

so the following week, i bravely head out to the traffic department again. this time the queue is horrendous, something like 20-30 people. i've had a late night and standing in a queue of this size is the last thing i wanna do. so i leave, not before checking that i do infact have all the right documentation... seems like they require a roadworthy certificate too. aha well, thank goodness i checked!

so during the week i get a roadworthy certificate (r190.00) and that saturday i head out to the traffic department extra early (no idea what time they open on a saturday as they don't have their times up anywhere and they don't answer their phones either... surprise!). there are 6 people in front of me. i'm thinking 2 hours and i'll be seen to. not even, within 30 minutes it was my turn. i was amazed and stunned. this just made me more confused about my first visit to the department 3 weeks prior, standing there waiting for 30 minutes and the queue not moving at all.

anyway, i get told i don't need a roadworthy certificate (but the sign says i do) otherwise it goes smoothly. but the chick takes my roadworthy certificate that she didn't need anyway, plus i get 'fined' for not registering the car into my name within 21 days. if they were more efficient than i wouldn't have had to pay extra. i would've done this 3 weeks ago!

so they make more money off of me and two-thirds of the time they're are pretty flippin' inefficient. that doesn't feel like money well spent to me.

Posted by sarah | ranting