Middlemen Capitalize on DMV’s Long Lines

Bruce Bird of Calabasas dreaded the thought of the paper work awaiting him when he received a gift of a 1984 Porsche from his brother in Ohio.

So instead of going down to the state Department of Motor Vehicles himself, Bird headed to a Tarzana storefront operation that handles car registrations for a fee.

The paper work was done in about 15 minutes, and Bird breathed a sigh of relief. “I really didn’t want to wait on those lines,” he said. “I tried it a couple years ago, and it took a couple hours. I came in here, and it’s been wonderful.”

On top of the $22 registration fee, Bird was willing to pay another $40 for the luxury of having someone else stand in the DMV line with papers proving Bird’s ownership of the Porsche. Because the DMV does not require the vehicle owner to sign documents in person, a service representative may take forms signed beforehand into the DMV field office for processing.

Car dealers have long used middlemen to process their paper work. Now, DMV officials say, despite their efforts to streamline their operation by setting appointments or offering services by mail, a growing number of companies--several of them in the San Fernando Valley area--are cropping up to handle transactions such as car registration, transfers of ownership or personalized license plates.

About 100 Statewide

About 100 such companies exist statewide, and records show that 28 of those have opened up since January, 1986, said Bill Gengler, DMV spokesman. It is difficult to determine an exact figure, Gengler said, because the services are not licensed or monitored, although the DMV must authorize the companies to do business with it.

At least 10 registration services exist in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, said Bette Harper, who runs a company called DMV Services out of her Sylmar home. The majority of the services are run out of private homes and advertise only by word of mouth.

DMV officials and those who operate the services agree that the registration business is booming and say it reduces the length of DMV’s infamous lines.

“These transactions certainly are saving us time,” Gengler said. “They cut down on the number of people that have to go through a DMV office, and that in turn helps us cut down on the waiting time in the office. Anything that shortens the process at our field offices is more than acceptable to us.”

Although she started her business in 1969, Diane Abright said her Monrovia-based company, known as Tony’s DMV Service, “is really starting to click now.”

“We thought since the appointment system went into effect at the DMVs, that it would decrease our business,” Abright said. “But because people don’t get the time they want, it’s actually increased our business.”

Business is also up for Harper, who had worked at the Newhall DMV field office as an assistant registration supervisor for four years before opening her own business in May, 1986. This year, she said, she is handling about 50% more cases.

Growing ‘Real Fast’

“When I started my business, it was only going to be part-time, but now it’s gotten to be more than full-time,” Harper said. “It started growing real fast. I never thought it was going to grow to this point.”

Dominic Bartolone, office manager of the DMV field branch in Winnetka, said that in the past couple of years, a growing number of transactions from these companies have been processed by his office. Farther north, at the Newhall DMV field office, manager Tom Pierce said the same was true of his branch.

The companies, most of which began by offering services primarily to car dealers, are built on the premise that people have better things to do with their time than stand in line at the DMV.

Because car dealers handle so many ownership transactions, they typically have relied upon couriers to do the legwork for registration and licensing.

“We’re basically saying, ‘Pay us, because we know what we’re doing, and we’ll take care of the aggravation,’ ” said Abright, whose company’s rates range from $10 to $15 for registration services.

Even DMV officials admit that untangling the red tape of vehicle registration can be time-consuming.

“People are busy today, so many are willing to pay the fee and turn it over to someone else,” Bartolone said. “It’s been compared to tax consultants.

And Pierce said the registration services’ staffers are “pretty much expert.” He added, “The work is usually ready to go when they come in and can be processed much easier. It saves us time.”

If enough people use the services, the DMV lines will be shorter, and that usually makes everyone happier--customers and clerks alike, Gengler said.

Much of the paper work at the DMV has gone more quickly since the department began offering appointments and mail-in transactions in 1984. Now, people may wait as little as 15 or 20 minutes, Bartolone said.

The public perception of the experience, however, remains a negative one for the most part, according to Richard Slobin, president of CARS, a Tarzana registration service.

“I know DMV employees try as hard as they can to make it comfortable, but their history precedes them,” Slobin said.

CARS, one of the most lucrative of the services in Southern California, grosses about $300,000 annually and processes an estimated 8,000 transactions monthly, Slobin said.

Varied Services

The common denominator linking his customers is their desire to avoid the DMV at all costs, he said. And the costs at CARS can range from $150 for registering cars purchased overseas on the “gray market” to $40 for most vehicle registrations to $10 for a study package of five driver’s license exams, Slobin said.

One customer who had bought a $55,000 Ferrari from a dealership that went out of business was left only with a sales receipt to prove his ownership of the car. For $150, Slobin spent three weeks tracking down the title and pink slip, which proves ownership. The customer then had only to pay the required $1,200 in registration fees to legally own the car.

Harper’s business is more modest than Slobin’s. She serves a regular clientele of 24 other businesses--many of them television and movie studios as well as car dealers. Her rates range from $10 to $25.

Not everyone, however, is willing to spend money to save time.

“I tried one of those services, but I’d rather spend 45 minutes of my lunch hour in line than pay $40 to have it done,” said Orlando Santiago of Woodland Hills.

“They’re already paying pretty high registration fees as it is, and most people don’t want to pay that extra $25 or $30 or whatever it might be,” said Bartolone. “It takes about 15 minutes to go through the process.”

Some DMV customers, such as Scott Williams of Northridge, called the DMV “better than it used to be,” in terms of aggravation. Many at the DMV in Winnetka remarked that the wait had been shorter than anticipated.