Whinge Time

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

I don't make a habit of posting up whinges but this mornings phone conversation just made me have to do it.

We recently bought a car from NSW and it is currently in transit. The issue is with registration. In WA, the rules have changed a bit regarding registration transfers. If an interstate vehicle comes into WA, the owner can transfer it into WA rego without having it inspected. But there's a catch. The owner has to provide proof of residency in WA for at least 12 months.

The rego on the car is due now, so i thought I'd pay the rego and then transfer it into my name. This is where it gets interesting. My thinking was that the car is garaged in WA so why do I need to pay the ridiculoulsy high CTP insurance for NSW? Over here it is around $30. So a call to RTA ensued. The question was put to them that could I only pay the rego fee without having to pay the CTP, I am told I can't register the car in NSW if it is in WA. I agreed, but I said that I am moving to WA (white lie) with my car and I want to pay the rego first so I can avoid having it inspected over here. She once again tells me that I can't register the car with NSW rego if it is in WA.

By this time I am starting to get a bit annoyed as the woman I am speaking to clearly cannot grasp simple concepts. So I laid it all out for her, I explained the situation about avoiding an inspection and about the new WA rego rules but she just didn't get it. In the end she tells me a flat out NO, I cannot pay the rego without paying the CTP. So I asked her why should I pay the NSW rate of CTP if the car is garaged and driven in WA. She then proceeds to tell me I can't register a car with NSW rego if it is in WA....

Does the RTA have a maximum IQ threshold for employees?

I have come to the realization that I just have to let the NSW rego lapse and then have it inspected and registered here....it will be a lot easier and cheaper.

[/rant]

[TVR-190]

yeah the RTA is stupid. avoid them at all costs

[Calaber]

I had a charming experience with them in the early 90's, when I took my HT 350 Monaro in for original registration after a four year restoration. I had obtained a battered, bare body shell from a previous owner. Over four years, I restored it using parts from wreckers, engine importers and new stock from dealers.

Into the local RTA office. The rego process required the engine number to be read by the inspection station and recorded on the inspection slip. A "Q" was misread as an "O" at the station, so back I had to go to get the inspection certificate altered.

Back to the RTA. Can't make out the JP's signature on the Statutory Declaration, so back to a workmate about 20km away who was the JP, to write his name below his signature. Back to the RTA again.

I had a complete album of the car's rebuild, and receipts for the engine and transmission, as well as the rego papers from the previous owner, plus the amended stat dec, plus the amended inspection certificate. Should be OK now, I thought.

Then it started again.

RTA counter clerk - "Do you have receipts for all the parts?"

Me - "What, every single piece over four years?"

RTAC - "yes, you will need a receipt for every part you purchased"

Me - "What bullshit, you have been sending me away all morning to get this and that fixed up and now you come up with this. I would like to speak to your supervisor please."

Supervisor comes over, and after explaining the situation and showing him the photos, he turned to his staff member and tells her that he has observed me waiting around for nearly four hours and he thought I had been stuffed around enough. It was obvious the car was legitimate and if the papers were in order, the registration should be issued. He was very apologetic. I explained that I too was a Public Service Manager, and if any of my staff had shown the complete lack of in itiative and common sense she had shown, I would have had them on the carpet. In all, hearly half a day of being stuffed around by a dim-witted, non-thinking Public Servant (and before you other PS's get your knickers in a knot, I was one for nearly 39 years) who couldn't see past some f***wit rule book.

[Hunter SS]

it makes perfect sense to me.. why would they let you register a car in NSW when it is garaged in WA? If you still have a registered address in NSW, then register it to that address and sort it later...... but asking them to register a NSW car to a WA address won't cut it. You can't register somebody elses car in your name either. They also will NOT register a car without CTP insurance.... it's just not going to happen unfortunately. They have rules that they need to abide by, without exception... the system just won't allow it. Calling them stupid because they can't bend the rules to suit you is not really fair.

[BecStar]

I had a painful time trying to get my BMW roadworthied and registered after I got it here... well Dad flew down to Victoria and drove it back.. what a champ! Anyway, it was registered in QLD but was driven and garaged in VIC... but since you've gotta sell a registered car with RWC, the chicky I bought it off got a VIC RWC.. which doesn't sit well here in QLD. So before I could register it in my name I had to get a roadworthy... in the meantime I had the bitch from the bank looking for registration paperwork etc etc I know she was only doing her job but there was no need for her to be a CoUNTry to me. So I take it to the local roadworthy station and they fail it... over stupid stupid shit, and over stuff that wasn't even broken or unroadworthy. They failed me for the windscreen having one of those star-chips in it.. it had already been fixed, I thought they'd know better since they fixed windscreens aswell!

Turns out the people who run the joint don't really like my family for some reason so they failed me 3 times! I ended up taking it to a dodgy fella in another town, he didn't even check underneath the car or anything.

I'll be rego'ing it til the SS is back on the road then I'll sell it :-D

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

it makes perfect sense to me.. why would they let you register a car in NSW when it is garaged in WA? If you still have a registered address in NSW, then register it to that address and sort it later...... but asking them to register a NSW car to a WA address won't cut it. You can't register somebody elses car in your name either. They also will NOT register a car without CTP insurance.... it's just not going to happen unfortunately. They have rules that they need to abide by, without exception... the system just won't allow it. Calling them stupid because they can't bend the rules to suit you is not really fair.

Do you work at the RTA? You don't get it either.

The car was going to stay registered to a NSW resident, then I was going to transfer it into my name, thus having a NSW registered car that now resides in WA. And because I am not driving it in NSW, why do I have to pay their high CTP rates? I am willing to pay CTP, but the WA rate as that is where the car will be driving.

Also, the scenario I gave her was that I was the owner and I was moving to WA. When an insured item changes status, the insurance company will either a) charge you the difference, or b) refund the difference of a premium depending on the circumstance. I may have been niave in thinking that CTP insurance could be altered in the same way.

[STEALTHY™]

If your trying to dodge the system, pay the bloody CTP.

When you transfer it to your name, you can either have the rego transferred, or start new rego in WA and get a refund for the NSW rego.

[greenfoam]

Abba fan the cool thing about the RTA. VICROADS etc is that the rules are rarely black and white, so you can pretty much keep ringing and ringing untill you find someone that agrees with your idea on how things should work

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Stealthy, I'm not trying to dodge the system, I'm trying to make it work for me. Why should I pay the NSW rego and CTP and then get it refunded pro rata when I can just get the car inspected and rego'd here without paying it at all?

I thought it was a logical idea that I could pay the rego then transfer it once it has been here for 12 months. But I guess the system isn't designed to save people money.

[PaulSV6]

This situation wouldnt surprise me,
The RTA are a organisation where the lights are on but nobody's home!

[Calaber]

and where the phones all sound like cash registers when they ring.......

[Rufus®]

Am I reading this correctly? You have to live in WA for a year before you can transfer your rego?

[Grennan]

Abba fan the cool thing about the RTA. VICROADS etc is that the rules are rarely black and white, so you can pretty much keep ringing and ringing untill you find someone that agrees with your idea on how things should work

Ha yeah I love VicRoads, if they disagree with you, hang up and ring back 5 minutes later and hope you get a different operator You will often get a completely different answer.

[levymetal]

I work providing phone support for a domain registrar. We sell over 250 different types of domain names, and when a customer calls up they are probably expecting me to know everything about their specific extension. Realistically though it is impossible to know every type of action associated with every type of domain name, and sometimes I have to call up specific registries (ie, the people who only manage their type of domain name extension) to gain further information. 90% of the time I am dealing with a retard that knows less about their extension than I do! Last week I had to call up TELNIC to ask a question about the new TLD: .tel. All I wanted to know is if it was possible to delete or transfer a .tel domain name. I was answered with "to be honest, I really don't know the exact process.". WHAT THE HELL! They only deal with 1 type of domain extension, and they still have no idea. I have to deal with 250+... Most of the time I know what I'm talking about and I'm able to give the customer a real answer/resolve their problem quickly and leave them walking away satisfied. I definitely go out of my way to help every customer that calls up - which is totally the opposite of any company I've ever called up. Once the phone hangs up, it's like my problem disappears - that's the last I ever hear of it until I call back again because it's unresolved or resolved but I was not informed.

I'm actually afraid to call up any tech support, because I'm worried about the bullshit I might here. I've decided it is true - everyone who works in tech support is no smarter than a house fly. Which is why I'm trying to get out of it, even though I'm probably the best in my industry

Once the missus had myspace mobile on her phone, and it's meant to be $6 flat per month but she was getting charged $2/mb every time she used it. She racked up about $70 before I figured out what was going on, so I called up three and explained the situation - she was getting charged to use myspace mobile. Of course, it's outsourced to India. "if you want to you mobile internet, you must sign up to an internet package". "No, I don't want to use internet. I'm using myspace mobile - and I'm getting charged when I'm not supposed to be". "But it says right here 35mb, if you want to use the internet I can sign you up to an x series package right now". "No, you don't understand at all. WE ARE NOT USING THE INTERNET. We are simply using myspace mobile, yet it's charging us to use it". "You are using the internet and getting charged $2 a mb so if you want to use the internet you will need to sign up to an x series package would you like to do that now?". After about 15 minutes I finally got my point across... After ****ing around, they cancelled the internet package that was $2/mb, and then myspace mobile stopped working but at least we weren't getting charged anymore. But they didn't take the amount off the bill, neither did they refund the $6 for myspace mobile even though it doesn't actually work any more. Absolutely hopeless - I'll never be going with three again.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Am I reading this correctly? You have to live in WA for a year before you can transfer your rego?

No, if you decide to move to WA and take your car, you can transfer your rego without a mandatory vehicle inspection providing you have lived here for 12 months.

Usually, when transferring regos from state to state, you had to have your vehicle inspected to make sure it meets roadworthy requirements within that state. I think SA is different?

[STEALTHY™]

Stealthy, I'm not trying to dodge the system, I'm trying to make it work for me. Why should I pay the NSW rego and CTP and then get it refunded pro rata when I can just get the car inspected and rego'd here without paying it at all?

I thought it was a logical idea that I could pay the rego then transfer it once it has been here for 12 months. But I guess the system isn't designed to save people money.

Of course its not there to save YOU money, its to make THEM money.

Like i said, your only option is to pay their CTP (since is COMPULSORY to register a car, not drive on their roads....just 'register' )

[danja]

Do you work at the RTA? You don't get it either.

The car was going to stay registered to a NSW resident, then I was going to transfer it into my name, thus having a NSW registered car that now resides in WA. And because I am not driving it in NSW, why do I have to pay their high CTP rates? I am willing to pay CTP, but the WA rate as that is where the car will be driving.

Also, the scenario I gave her was that I was the owner and I was moving to WA. When an insured item changes status, the insurance company will either a) charge you the difference, or b) refund the difference of a premium depending on the circumstance. I may have been niave in thinking that CTP insurance could be altered in the same way.

I don't think YOU get it. What the RTA told you was 100% correct.

In NSW, you must have CTP to get registered. It's legislated. It doesn't matter what you claim about where the car will be driven or what you'll do with it after.

If the car is not in NSW, you can't get NSW registration.

What's complicated about that? You just wanted to have you cake and eat it too, well sorry, you can pay the higher CTP, or you can register it when it gets to WA. You don't really have any grounds to whinge about it.

[gopher]

And because I am not driving it in NSW, why do I have to pay their high CTP rates?

because you want to keep it registered in NSW.
not that hard a concept to grasp

if you want to pay the WA premium then you'll have to register it in WA

[Chirpstr]

I think you have to transfer it into your name still with a NSW license then once you have been in WA for 12 months you can make it a WA license. Pretty difficult hey.

[alien]

Yea, RTA are hopeless, mind you, so are VicRoads, none of them could answer my question properly about transferring the vehicle i was getting from NSW and bringing to Vic. Even employees in VicRoads gave me different answers with the different times i called!

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

I still don't think some people can understand what I want to do.

Doesn't matter anyway. It will work out cheaper to wait until it gets here and then get it inspected and registered here. All I wanted to do was avoid that if I could.

[DanVN]

We understand....

The way it works is for a car to be registered in a state it MUST be Garaged in that state regardless ....

so if the car is going to be garaged in WA, Then you CANNOT register it to NSW..

So the "dumb" RTA Chick was totally right the only person being thick was yourself

[danja]

I still don't think some people can understand what I want to do.

Doesn't matter anyway. It will work out cheaper to wait until it gets here and then get it inspected and registered here. All I wanted to do was avoid that if I could.

We understand, it's just that's not how the system works, and for a good reason.

If a car is registered, that essentially says it's allowed to be driven on the road. I'm sure you'd agree CTP is a good thing for a car on the road right? In your case you're saying "I want to register it (to save money when I ship it to WA), but because I'm not driving it in NSW, I don't want to pay for CTP in NSW" right?

Can you see how those two statements are mutually exclusive? Registration = Ok to drive, No CTP = not Ok to drive, thus they can't issue registration without CTP. They can't just take your word for it that the car won't be driven, if they did that people would inevitably abuse that trust.

It's unfortunate for you, but that's just how it is, and the RTA rep was correct in what they told you.