Category: Cars

For some reason, the DMV clerks around the world have similar mentality and behavior. I can tell you how horrible is visiting DMV in the Czech Republic and now also in the US. I finally decided to visit the local DMV in Torrance in order to register my Mercedes to my name. The Department of motor vehicles (DMV) is not far from my current place. Before I went there I texted my friend I was going there and he texted me back: Good Luck! The DMV is the worst nightmare for all Americans. 😀 When I arrived at the DMV parking and saw the line of maybe 20-30 people gathering in front of the DMV. I had to admit he was right. I wasn’t in good mood that day so I didn’t even stop there and went back home 🙂

At home, I checked the official website of DMV in Torrance and the good is that you can see the estimated waiting time at the office. The current estimated time was more than one hour without reservation (my case) so I searched for more DMV offices nearby. I found DMV in San Pedro just 15 minutes from me and the estimated time for customers without reservation was less than 20 minutes. I arrived at San Pedro DMV around 2:30 PM, then took all the car documents that I had and found the end of the line. There were two lines of people. so rather I asked some guy if this line is for people without reservation. Compare to Torrance, in San Pedro were less than 10 people waiting outside of the DMV. After 20 minutes of waiting, I got the first point where were two ladies that measured all coming customers’ temperatures and they were asking all the people if they have some COVID-19 symptoms. Then one of the ladies asked me what is the purpose of my today’s visit. I told her that I need to register the title in my name and then I showed her the title (ownership of the car) in the front page you can find data of the car + previous owner information such as name and address. On the other side of the title is a blank form dedicated to the new owner. I didn’t fill this in before because I was expecting them to help me with that at the DMV office. I told her it is my first time here and she just said fill this rear page with your name, address, and so on. I asked her if I can borrow a pen and she said no (she had maybe 5-10 pens on the table) then she gave me some paper with a number and told me to wait in the hall. There were at least 10 counters for clerks and their customers. I was a little bit desperate and asked one clerk if she would be so nice and lend me the pen. The answer was no. After five minutes of waiting, one of her colleagues gave me a pen! I quickly filled the form and suddenly my number appeared on the monitor. I went to the counter with my number. I gave the clerk title and she quickly checked the title. She said you didn’t fill in the California driver’s license number. I told her I don’t have a California driver’s license yet. She said okay – you don’t need it. (I knew before that I don’t need it for the car registration). I also forgot to fill in the purchased price of the car so I added the price. (this is important because according to the purchased price you will pay sales tax) She took my title and told me the DMV will send a new title on your name to your address in 30 days. Then printed a new registration card with my name and address (this white paper is something like a copy of the title that you must have in the car all the time) On the registration card was the registration fee together with sales tax. I paid in cash but you can pay also with a credit or debit card. It is hard to find out the exact total fee before register your car in your name. It depends on many factors (purchased price, your address – there can be some local extra fee and so on) In my case the total fee was approximately 10,5% from the purchased price of the car. So you can expect something between 10-11% from the purchased price.

She told me you are ready to leave. When I came back to the car I checked the registration again and noticed she did a mistake in my address! Just one letter was wrong. Shit! I was exhausted from this experience and wanted to leave but then I realized when if the address is wrong on the card registration it will be probably the wrong address in their system and on my new title and what if I won’t receive the title in the mail thanks to the wrong address? So I went back and told another clerk that I have a problem with the address. She took the title and said wait outside, I”ll be back with new car registration soon! In 5 minutes she was back with the proper address! Honestly, I am glad I’ve never been shy to ask or tell the truth if needed. I am currently waiting for my title that should come by mail in 30 days.

Summarry before visiting DMV for car registration:

• Bring title and current registration card from previous owner (if you have both).
• Pass the smog test (the previous owner should) no older than 90 days.
• Bring also your own pen if you need to fill the form.
• You need to provide your name + address in California.
• You need to provide purchasee price.
• You don’t need Caifornia or US Driver’s License for car registration.
• You don’t need car insurance (but you do need it when you are driving the car!)
• Expect a total fee between 10-11% from the purchased price (pay cash or with card)
• Visit DMV website in order to check the estimated waiting time or make a reservation.

For those who don’t know what a smog test is or in other word the smog inspection, here comes my definition. The smog test is an emission test that measures pollution from your car. Basically, if the values of pollution are under the state limits your car will pass the smog test. If your car exceeds limits, then your car will fail the test. Simply right? I think we all know this from almost all countries.

My first experience with the smog test was recently I bought my first used car. The fun is that I found today while writing this post that the seller’s responsibility is to provide the car with passed smog test when selling you the used car. The smog test is valid for 90 days. The previous owner sold me the car without passed the smog test. According to the state law, he shouldn’t have sold me the car. However, I passed a smog test without any problem and I am glad I could learn something new. But remember if you sell a used car here in California, it is your responsibility to sell the car with valid and passed the smog test.

There are many exceptions what vehicles that don’t need the smog test. You can find them on the offical DMV website. DMV is Department of motor vehicles.

Alright, here comes the story. When I came to pick up my car after the first oil change. I asked the technician if they offer smog inspection there. He said no but gave me a recommendation to some smog test check nearby. A few days later I visited them after lunch. I didn’t know what to expect because passing the smog inspection in my country can take hours. The guy from smog service told me. I’ve got time now and it will only take 15 minutes. I said cool and asked him if he needs the title (document of car ownership). He didn’t need anything. He just checked the car and connected with his computer and a few minutes later he said your car is okay and you passed the smog test!

The price was $60 and he gave me the paper copy of the passed smog test and then he added. The original smog test was just sent through the online system to the DMV and the test is valid for 90 days. He also said you don’t need to show a copy of the passed smog test when you will transfer the title on DMV but is always better to bring it there if there is some problem with the online system.

This was easy! The next story will be about DMV’s experience – How did I transfer the car to my name. DMV is a nightmare for all Americans and today I finally know why!

Yesterday I described a whole horrible story about buying the first used car in the USA but with the happy end!

The guy who sold me the car claimed me he just did an oil change a month ago but then he said you can change too 😀 So I was like hmm let’s do it again because you never know 🙂

Here in LA, you can find many car services almost in every street but which one to choose if you don’t know almost anybody here. I just searched on Google and was looking for something like European Cars service near me and then checked the review from customers. I found this service just 1 mile away from my current home. I took the car to service and talked to some guy: I told him that I just bought the car and wanna change the oil and check the car if is safe to drive. We also checked the tires and they were 7 years old (that’s a lot and I didn’t want to risk some trouble here especially on the highway) He asked me if I wanna buy tires from them. I wanted to buy tires by myself because I thought the price should be lower. He said, okay just bring your new tires and we will put them on the car while oil change tomorrow.

Then I search for the tires and found the Czech brand – Barum! The price wasn’t the lowest but still affordable so I decided to buy them. I still have to support my country even I am overseas 🙂

The store America’s Tire is just a block away from and the tires were on stock so no problem. I asked them about DOT (you can find from this number when the tires were made – I always wanna new tires not 1-2 years old!)

The next day I brought the car to the service at 9:00 AM it was our deal from the previous day with new tires in the trunk. They asked me if I want to wait and the estimated time is 2-3 hours. I gave them my number and walked back home instead of waiting there. A few hours later they called that car is ready. They also checked the car and told me, that car is in good condition: the brakes are almost new and they didn’t find any oil leaks.

Summary:

Tires

• 4x Tires – Barum Bravuris 205/55/16 – $365 including tax

Oil Change + Tires Replacement

• 4X Tires – Replacent + balancing – $80
• Oil change (synthetic oil, oil filter, drain plug washer) – $136.54
• Total: $229.24 including tax

I noticed the only problem with the car. Sometimes blinks ESP light on display- but it does not affect drive at all.

What’s up! In one of the previous post,I described my experience with renting a car in LA. Honestly, it wasn’t bad to drive a new Ford Mustang and feel like a king (if you have Mustang here, you are not king here though… :D) but I still try to stay humble here when it comes to my personal expenses and I’m trying to keep expenses as low as possible. Even I am financially supported by my Czech business, I feel I should invest money into my business instead of renting or buying expensive cars. When you see your first business in the U.S brings enough money, then you can always buy something better. Another reason is that if you come to America as a newcomer without previous history in banks and insurance companies, then your interests and fees will be very high. It is generally called here credit or credit history. We have a similar system in Europe and I have excellent credit in Czech but unfortunately, the system in Europe and in the US is not connected. You start here as a baby with no credit history. This is gonna be my favorite topic and I am going to share with you my experience on how to build the best credit as soon as possible. But let’s back to the cars!

So I decided to buy some cheap used car for the start in the US. My budget was max $10.000. I am the type of person who plans a lot all my future steps and I remember when I was yet in the Czech Republic I had been checking LA Craiglist very often in order to select some cars, I would possibly buy. You can forget about all your plans unless you see how it works here and how’s the market is aggressive and buying a used car is stressful!

You have generally two options how to buy used, cheap car:

1. Buying a car from some dealer – It has probably the biggest plus that the dealer will help you transfer the title on your name (register car on you), help you with smog test, and obtain insurance for you. The disadvantage on the other hand is price. You will pay probably the standard market price.
2. Buying car in private sales I like to learn new things and experience plus I have pretty close to the car business so I decided to choose this harder way. To be honest it is absolutely stressful because in LA Metro Area live almost 20M people so if someone post some nice car with a good price on the Craiglist you must be first, have cash in hand, and better call/text him/her that you want to come immediately to see the car. Trust me! The first time found nice Ford Focus nearby with low miles, first owner around $7.000. The car looked amazing and very well maintained. I texted the guy (it was Friday evening) We had a deal I would come the next morning around 9 AM. I went to get cash to ATM in order to be prepared just in case I would buy the car the next day. On Saturday I was just to leave my house and got a message: Sorry dude, I just sold the car to some guy who came with cash. I was angry but then I had similar stories with other people. You should always check for a clean title (the car was not involved in a serious crash) Another problem is that many people will write to the post the car is in excellent condition. I went to check the old BMW 525i e39 to the Hollywood area (about one-hour driving from my place when it is traffic) I have to admit, that the car looked amazing in the photos in the post. When I arrived it was literally the piece of shit. I was kind of desperate because I spent the whole weekend with these horrible experiences. Finally one Saturday evening I found a nice 2003 Mercedes C-Classe 240 (V6 with 170hp) W203 with low miles (88.000 miles). The price was only $3.900 The post was on Craiglist for 4 minutes so I texted the guy: Hi! Is your car still available? If yes I have cash in hand and can come in 30 minutes! He said: Okay, come, come. When I arrived after 30 minutes he told me OMG: Other five people already called me, that they wanna come with cash in hand (you can see how the market here, especially in LA is aggressive) The car was extremely maintained, we had a short drive and I said alright we have a deal. The guy who sold me the car was in his 30s and from Romania. My English was far better than his, even he claimed to me he has been here for six months. Anyway, his wife was Romanian-American born in the U.S. so we solved the papers with her. Then I gave them cash and asked them if they could ride a car to my place (I was there with Mustang). The guy said: alright, but give me $4.000 😀 I was exhausted from all day searching for cars and driving around LA so I said okay! They took the Mercedes to my place and then left. Some of you may ask: Did you pay an extra $100 for taking the car to your place (around 30 minutes driving – one way) Well, the time is here really expensive and I think that UBER would cost something like $60 or so but it would be complicated. Honestly, I was happy they helped me, they said you are from Europe too, we know how you feel in the country, we’ll help you!

In the end, the car has some problems but nothing serious. I will write the next post about the first auto service (oil change + tires replacement ) + smog test.

Summary, I am pretty sure that I bought this car under market price. I am satisfied the car looks good and the interior is super clean! Then, no oil leaks, AC is cold, engine and gearbox runs smoothly + now new oil and tires from me. I will sell the car in the future for at least $5.000 😀 Well, we’ll see!

Very important advice for anyone who is seeking anything anywhere in the US. Visit the Craiglist! It is something like an online market where people can post anything they want to offer, sale or buy.

See ya!

Renting a car could be tricky especially in the U.S. Always remember everything is the business in America and everyone looks and behaves like your best friend in order to sell you some additional services. When it comes to renting a car they will most likely force you to the most expensive additional insurance. Honestly, I still don’t clearly understand how the insurance works here so I always use some basics insurance. Personally, I think it is always better to book a car before your arrival. This time a booked some middle class like Toyota Camry because the price was slightly higher than some small cars. It was around $25/per day. When I finally got to the car rental Budget, I saw many people waiting for their rental cars. After 30 minutes of waiting in line, I was talking with a nice guy and he offered me Ford Mustang for $29/per day. I couldn’t refuse this offer because for a long time I had wanted to try the latest Mustang. I tried to get a GT version with an 8 cylinder engine but the price would be more than doubled. Even basic 2.3 EcoBoost with 310hp is not bad but honestly, after few days I felt more horsepower is needed. In the end, the car is funny and good for daily use. What I most liked was Apple CarPlay and definitely want this feature for the next new car I’m gonna buy.

I had the car for three weeks before I bought a used Mercedes C-Classe (the post coming soon) and in total paid around $1000. In summary, it was rent $29/per day + insurance $16/per day + some sales tax and you will get approximately $50/per day in total. I think it’s a good price for a funny car with insurance but it is not definitely the solution for a long time.

Interesting notes:

• I was able to pay the car rental with my debit card issued in the Czech Republic (I forgot to apply for a credit card in time) For some reason I have heard many times it is not possible but thankfully this time my debit card worked.
• I slightly scratched the passenger door and you can trust that if you would do this in Europe with a rental car you would pay for this damage hundreds of dollars. However, in the U.S., cars are like daily goods, and returning the rental car is something like: Car Rental Employee: “Did you have any problem with your car?” I: “No everything was perfect” Car Rental Employee: ” Cool, you can go!”
• They only checked total miles and if you returned the car with a full tank of gas.
• Don’t try drifts and slides with RWD without previous experience. Of course, I had been trying it every intersection and soon I had feeling it is easy peasy, a few days before returning the car I almost hit the curb when the car turned more than I wanted 🙂 I was lucky I stopped few inches before the curb. Who knows me is not surprised 😀 Always Drive Safe!