by Shoshana Brand (Written in 2018, maybe things have changed…)
As you all know by now- I have recently moved from CA to TX.
After taking care of a million and one things, such as buying a house and moving my belongings cross country, it was time to take care of my car issues.
On your priority list, transportation should be the last thing you should take care of (after a job and a roof over your head) since nobody will ever find out how many days you have lived in TX. If they ever ask you, you can always claim you are a well-rounded person who drives between states.
Registration, insurance, and driver’s license – are kind of a complicated ball game in TX, in comparison to CA. You cannot just go to Triple-A, like in CA, stand in line for five minutes, and know that everything will be performed and realized quickly.
First – you should do an inspection of your car. In my case- I turned to my Honda dealer.
You can find those inspectors everywhere, with no problem, or contact your dealer.
Secondly- Register your car in one of the Tax Assessors’ offices. Yes, this is where you will register your car! Their website is HERE. I went to the main office in downtown Fort Worth, located at 100 Weatherford St. You will get your license plate by mail. Don’t forget to bring your old registration with you.
Then I contacted a Car Insurance company, insured my car, and canceled my CA car insurance.
So far so good,
And now we are reaching the last stage of the saga: the Driver’s License, which you will do in the TX Department of Public Safety. Depending on your approach, it can be a nightmare or an automagical stage, smoothly running on a fast track.
Don’t dare to just show up there in the morning, hoping to be called after an hour or two! This place is so crowded, that most of the chances are that you will sit there for 8 hours or more, with no food or drinks, as they are not allowed. 😩
To get an appointment call 817-285-1900. The word on the street is that you should call around 7:30 am for an appointment on the same day.
I personally preferred the online approach, in which I comfortably went to the TX DPS’s website around 10:30 am, and received an appointment for 2:18 pm.
General Directions:
♥ Go to their website HERE, and read very well their instructions, stated in yellow on the left side and in blue on the right side.
♥♥ You will need to bring some documents with you, so read this part carefully.
♥♥♥ Only then go to where it states “How can we help?” and get in line.
I came to the DPS located at 8301 Brentwood Stair Rd., Fort Worth 10 minutes before the scheduled appointment.
I received a ticket at the automatic kiosk and sat down to fill out the application. Within 10 minutes my number was shown up on the screen.
The lady at the counter did everything quite efficiently and with a calm smile. We joked here and there and overall had a nice rapport.
After about 15 more minutes I exited outside, took a deep breath of the cold refreshing air of January, and went about the rest of my day. 😎
I literally could hear the agony of tired dudes collapsing on the floor after sitting around for 5 hours, looking at the screen and waiting for their number to come up. 🙀
Don’t be this dude.
Get online, and be the boss that you are! 🙂
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