The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

License plate sticker (part two)

So I made the phone call to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. You would kind of think that the people who answer their help line have probably heard it all, but this girl said she had never come across this problem before.

I knew ahead of time that the proper way to do this is to pay to have another emissions test done. That's between $72 and $100 depending on if I can find someone at the cheaper end of the scale around here. I have a passed test from last October, but that's not good enough as it has to be dated within one year of my current expiry date of February 2012.

Then with that in hand they will give me a two year sticker that expires February 2014 in exchange for $148. So, it will cost us minimum $220 for Ontario registration until February 2014. Of course the funny part is that the motorhome won't even be in Ontario for 99% of that time!

All of this allows us to legally keep the motorhome in Mexico until February 2014. We have a 10 year permit from Mexico that doesn't expire until 2017, so lots of time left on that.

However, I hate giving the government money because they don't spend it very wisely. So I wanted to explore the option of not paying out $220 for nothing. So I called them with the hypothetical problem that our motorhome is already in Mexico, and the sticker is due to expire in February of 2012. The girl said that they will allow you a six month extension without proof of passing the emissions test. I asked how many six month extensions were allowed, and she said two. So that would give us until February 2013, which isn't long enough. I asked what would happen after that and she said I was out of luck, that the plates would still be registered to me, but they would be expired until I got an Ontario emissions test.

So, it seems we are stuck paying out $220, essentially for nothing.

Someone asked about the safety of leaving Sherman in Mexico, but we would only be leaving him alone for a few weeks at a time while we fly back to Canada for a visit, and we have lots of friends in Mexico that we would trust him with. Besides, if Whiskey is still with us, only one of us would fly home at a time.

By the way, Whiskey appears to be totally back to the way she was before the rabies shot episode. So crossing our fingers it will be a while before we have to visit a vet again!

9 comments:

  1. The goverment whether yours or ours is always looking for the almighty buck... and you are so right they don't use the money well! Glad Whisky is doing well... she is so cute!
    Have fun
    Donna

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  2. I don't understand why our governments have to make everything so complicated and difficult. Ridiculous. So happy to hear Whiskey is doing much better.

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  3. Why not just drive to Mexico with your current sticker, and if and when you return Sherman to Canada worry about that then? Just another possible option. Glad Whiskey is doing better.

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  4. Looks like the fine for expired plates is $110. You could set up an appointment for emissions control for when you cross the border in 2014, say in Windsor and get your sticker there. It's taking a chance though.

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  5. Glad Whiskey is better. Tell her to rest up for
    her trip to meet Riggs and Sadie. Sadie is a 7 lb terror, but to Riggs only, takes her a while to warm up to other dogs so she stays a safe distance away...Now Riggs he likes all other furbabies and nothing he likes better than a rousing game of tug,though he's a gentleman and will probably let Whiskey win. Sticker is probably like ones here where depends on your luck. Have seen cars w/stickers that expired 2 years ago, and I got stopped once and told did you know your plates expire NEXT month.
    See ya soon
    Donna

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  6. Sounds too complicated for me, thank god we don't have emissions testing here!
    yikes

    Happy news on the Whiskey front!!!

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  7. Donna...The government is always looking to take our dollar, no matter what country you live in. Thank you, we think Whiskey looks pretty cute too!

    Jim and Sandie...I think when politicans are elected they have to take a course on how to make things the most difficult for the normal person. All sense of commonsense has to be drained out of them.

    George and Suzie...We thought about that, but Kevin looked further into the insurance issue that Chuck and Anneke brought up on one of our past posts and there is a clause that will cancel your insurance is your vehicle license isn't current. It's just not worth the risk.

    Sandra...We thought about the fine and figured if we did get a fine it would probably be about the same as getting the emissions test done, but as I mentioned in the reply to George and Suzie about our isurance being null and void without current plates has made us decide to go the proper route.

    Sam and Donna...Thanks, Donna. Whiskey will probably shy away from Rigg's until she decides he won't hurt her, then she will just ignore him. She doesn't have lots of interest with other dogs and is certainly not the playful pup that she used to be. I don't think there will be any tug-of-war for her.

    WBY...You are lucky not to have to worry about the emissions test. If we didn't have an Ottawa address and had one say in Arnprior only 15 minutes away from my Dad's we wouldn't have to do it. It isn't even a province wide program. It's just a big cash grab!

    Kevin, Ruth and Whiskey

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  8. Wow, I don't know which kind of corruption is worse! Sounds like a scam to me.

    www.livingboondockingmexico.blogspot.com

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  9. Chris...It is corruption, they have just made it legal!

    Kevin, Ruth and Whiskey

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