Travels With Miranda

Jody emailed me tonight to let me know she got some mail for me from “Government of Alberta, Driver Fitness and Monitoring, Edmonton” and that it was probably my stickers for the license plate but did I want her to open up the envelope and check?

I quickly Googled Driver Fitness and Monitoring because it didn’t sound good and the results caused me to reply with, “Yes.”

It took about an hour for her to get back to me while I fretted. Did someone report me for dangerous driving? Was I ticketed for something and never informed? The best case scenario I could envision was that I needed to get my eyes tested since they didn’t do that when I got my license here (wearing glasses or contacts is a condition on my license). I kept telling myself, “Calm down. Whatever it is, you’ll deal with it. No sense working yourself up over nothing.” But you try to get a letter from a place called Driver Fitness and Monitoring without knowing the contents and not fret over it!

Jody’s next email had the subject line “Mail is OK” with a scan of the letter. I just laughed and laughed and laughed because the letter basically said what the lady from Service Alberta told me yesterday.

Here’s the letter:

The highlights:

-Your Accent has been reported unrepairable. It cannot be registered or put on the road. It can only be sold for scrap or dismantled for pairs.

-If you still have your registration and license plate, you can transfer them to a new vehicle.

-If you don’t have the registration and license plate, advise a registry office so that they can be cancelled.

I am once again thankful that Jody reminded me to go grab my license plate off the car. I am certain I would not have thought to do so myself. I am really fond of that license plate because it is just one number off from the motorhome so I only have to remember which is the 6 and which is the 7. It’s like having a matched set, which is what my rig might look like soon if the seller would only get back to me!

My vehicle registrations are due tomorrow. I’ve paid for the motorhome, but wasn’t sure what to do about the car. The Service Alberta website was useless.

So I called and after spending ages on hold, I got a live person. She explained that my insurance company would have informed the Ministry of Transport that the vehicle is off the road, so I don’t have to do anything.

When I go register my truck next week, I can bring the car’s license plate and if it’s deemed to be reusable (I can’t imagine it not being reusable), it will be transferred to the truck. Easy peasy.

Unrelated, after this call, I had to call the lawyer in Saskatchewan who dealt with my property transfer because the cheque I sent for their services hadn’t cleared my account yet. The person who answered confirmed that the cheque was deposited yesterday and that my account is in good standing. I was then thanked profusely for not only paying on time, but making sure my payment was received. Methinks they have to chase their clients!

Okay, I’m ready to turn in my grown up card for today… but I’m waiting for a call from Ohio.

Jody just emailed over a scan of my vehicle registration papers for Miranda. Total cost for a year, $84 and change. It was about $100 the Yukon and it was a whopping $650 in Quebec. Am I glad I don’t have to register a motorhome here again! The amount for the car would have been the same and will be the same for my new toad.

That said, registering a trailer in Quebec is about as cheap as in Alberta and has the same benefit: it’s a one-time registration fee. My sister just bought a travel trailer and I think her registration was $7o. Add $270 per year to register a personal vehicle (have I mentioned that I’m glad I don’t live in Quebec anymore?), such as a truck to tow the RV, and it makes sense to own a towable in Quebec. I wonder if I would have considered this route way back when had I known what I didn’t know.

Now, I just need to figure out how to advise Alberta that I won’t be renewing the car registration seeing as the car is six feet under and will soon by replaced by a cute little pickup. I think my grieving period is over.

It’s still much too earlier to get a hold of the insurance companies today and I was given the go ahead to leave Beckley, so I’m leaving. Web reviews for Glen’s Towing, who got my car off the turnpike, are very negative. All I can say is that they don’t seem very organized and their towing prices seem crazy, but they have absolutely no problem with my taking off without paying the towing bill and without having heard from my insurance company. I imagine that’s probably because they have some rights to my car now and could recoup that way, but I appreciate them not being hard asses about this. Paying that towing bill wouldn’t kill me, but since I won’t ultimately have to worry about it, why pay now only to get reimbursed later?

Jody reminded me to grab the license plate off the car so I don’t have to pay for a new one. I don’t know if my new toad will be plated in Alberta or not, but it’ll be nice to have that plate if I do reregister in Alberta.

My plate registrations are due this month. Guess I’m saving on the car, huh?

One thing I forgot to ask the adjuster is if I should be contacting BMO, which holds the loan on the car, regarding the crash. I imagine that any monies I get from the insurance would go to BMO first to clear the loan and I’d get whatever is left over, if anything. One thing that is in my favour is that the car is in great shape and has low mileage on the odometer, so there is a chance that it will get appraised on the higher end of the scale.

Well, I’m off to see if I’m right that traveling without a toad will be a lot less stressful

I came in to work this morning to discover my Quebec driver’s abstract waiting in the fax machine! When you don’t have a QC license any more you have to go through another service, the Service de la diffusion et liaison–corps policier (er, the police corps broadcasting and liaison service).

I thought that if the SAAQ (DMV) took three months and $65 to get me an abstract the last time and nine months to cancel my motorhome registration monthly payments and send me a reimbursement that there was no way the SDLCP (or whatever initials they go by) would be any faster. Well, they have demonstrated themselves to be the exception that makes the rule as they are apparently the only efficient government-run organization in the province! And they didn’t charge me for this abstract! Merci Mme. Langlois!

After work, I headed over to Lethbridge Vehicle and asked to be served by the gal I’d been emailing with. She confirmed that I had everything to get a full Alberta license, so she called head office to get confirmation for the trade. Well, she got a tongue lashing for not digging deeper into my file! I don’t think it’s reasonable to be expected to ask everyone who comes in “Have you ever held a Quebec driver’s license?” but I do agree that she should have questioned the fact that I only had two years of experience come up. Anyway, she apologized sincerely and made it right so there’s no sense beating a dead horse!

Confirmation was finally given by head office, so my shiny new probationary Alberta license was put through the shredder and I got another paper interim license. I’ll be glad to get my official license in a couple of weeks because carrying my passport for photo ID is stressful!

Well, all that excitement is over and with my health card now being valid, I’m an Albertan! I have to go roll on the floor and laugh now.