New Yorker

My license came in the mail the other day. In PA they give you your license right then and there at the DMV. It's, printed out, of high quality, and they let you keep your old one once they punch a small hole into it.

In New York, they take away your old PA license, give you a crap piece of paper as a temporary license so that you can't buy beer, then you wait a couple weeks for a slightly less crappy piece of paper in the mail.

I'm still waiting on my car's registration. Although, it has been inspected and given New York Plates. New York gives you two plates, one for the front, one for the back. I got no spot for it on my car's front, its a PA car by heart, so I just leave the second plate in my trunk and wait for a cop to pull me over so I can say "I'm from PA, I didn't know any better."

The stickers that say the car is registered and inspected are held up by scotch tape. In PA we have fancy stickers complete with holograms to prevent forgery.

I had my car inspected at Reliable Auto Repair in Mount Kisco, off of Lexington Ave. This is the first business that I am promoting on this blog. It deserves the recognition. After my car wouldn't start (see: DMV: The Worst Day) I took it to Reliable Auto. I kept joking: Man, I hope they're reliable. My car battery is fairly new, and the car wouldn't start without a jump. So, I blamed the alternator, and of course,the car needed to be inspected for the State of New York. Reliable is exactly one mile from our place, so after dropping it off, I walked home.

Walking home, I whistled for a while, and smiled at all the Mexicans looking for work. Then I called Mike Fernandes and Mike Williams, two old friends of mine who, for some reason, never called me back after I talked until I completely filled their voicemail boxes up with me blathering about the weather.

When I got the bill from Reliable Auto Repair, I saw that they never replaced the alternator. There was no need. It was a bad connection. They also inspected the car and replaced the rear breaks. The whole job costs $275 after taxes. The inspection was only $37, breaks $89, and fixing the connection problems $54, parts were another $75. All in all, I'm glad they didn't bend me over. They were nice guys. I asked them to put the new license plate onto the car, but they couldn't without modifying the front bumper. Scott, the owner, said not to worry about it. His wife's Cadillac doesn't have a front plate either, and he's not about to drill holes into that bumper, or take it to the dealership. He suggested that I just play dumb if I get pulled over. Shouldn't be too hard. I told them thank you, and that I was glad i found a place to take my car to in the future. I told them I was glad everything had worked out.

If you find yourself in the Mount Kisco area and need your car looked at, call 914-666-0693 and ask for Scott. Tell 'em Jon sent ya. "Jon Who?" they'll say.