Inspecting the Focus
My car is back and street legal again. If you hadn’t heard there was some drama, minor drama, but drama nonetheless. Last Thursday, December 1st for those scoring at home, my Mom casually asked after dinner when my car was due for inspection. For some reason it had just popped into her head. I had no clue what my month is so I went out to check. Sure enough my sticker said 11/05. I had been driving around all day with expired tags. This all occurred after service at the Ford dealer was closed for the night so things had to be dealt with the next morning. Friday isn’t really the best day for scheduling a last minute inspection so an appointment was made for Monday. I also had to get a recall taken care of that I had gotten a notice for a few weeks back, apparently my back doors would have just stopped closing one day. So that meant I was without my car for the whole weekend, what was I going to do? Actually we have 5 total cars for 3 people, so 2 are almost never used. I beat the system by doing my normal weekend routine … not leaving the house. Actually my normal weekend routine is going to Penn State but when I’m home its not leaving the house. If I have to do something I’ll get it done during the week when there aren’t tons of people out shopping and such. My parents took the car over on Sunday while they were out and it was done at 10:20 this morning. I know this because that’s when they called and woke me up, the 2nd phone call to wake me up this morning, but both justified. I hate finding out so early that its done because I have no way of getting it until one of my parents comes home from work and if you haven’t had the pleasure of driving to Norristown Ford and back during the evening rush, well, you’re missing out.
My problem is how am I supposed to remember that I have to get an inspection? This is only my 3rd one. The first time was as soon as I got the car. Last year I had planned ahead since I was only going to be home for a little while between Minnesota and Penn State and had a list of everything I needed to do. With no schedule or responsibility I have no way of keeping track of these sort of things. I don’t look at my stickers ever. I guess the thing I got in the mail about renewing my registration was a hint but that got put in a pile with the rest of the mail that I was going to ‘get to later.’ Three months later I’m digging through that now large pile looking for the registration letter. The registration can all be handled online. They even ask for your email. So … why can’t they email reminders out that ‘Hey, you didn’t register and haven’t gotten an inspection, you should probably get to that.’ Would it be that difficult? I guess they just enjoy making people feel stupid and having to pay a $25 ticket (I think that’s how much it is).