To get a driving license in California ... and, I believe, most if not all states ... you have to have a social security number (or swear that you're not entitled to one, perhaps because you're here on a non-working visa, like H-4), and show your passport with a valid I-94.
That's a proper I-94 - the white one - not the green visa waiver one.
And they set the expiry of your driving license to the expiry of your I-94. (Which means I must extend my driving license one of these days, since I've recently got a new, extended I-94.)
Anyway, this means that all those folks from Mexico and further south who technically are breaking the law just by being here ... can't get driving licenses.
So, some percentage of drivers on the road don't have driving licenses. So it goes.
This has a couple of implications. One is that insurance companies don't seem to require that you have a valid US driving license to drive here. Which is interesting. I'm sure if you want money from them, it might be a different story, but at least you can prove you have insurance.
Another thing I read recently is that the LAPD announced they will no longer impound the cars of people who don't have driving licenses but who can't get driving licenses.
That is, if you don't have a driving license when you're stopped, they'll maybe impound your car until you can get one. But if the bureaucracy is such that you can't get one, they'll make an exception, maybe fine you, and let you carry on.
This really gladdened my heart. It's a fantastic example of federalism in action. The federal government has this crazy, insane, dumb, fucking evil law that says "no paperwork, no driving license". Yet local governments can choose to Do The Right Thing. I love it.
Tuesday 12 July 2011
Monday 11 July 2011
Buying a second hand car ... with no license plates
When I bought this Passat, the seller wanted to keep her license plates. They were vanity plates, with her initials.
So she unscrewed them from the car and kept them. She very kindly gave me the screws too.
So I drove the car home with no plates. It's not such a big deal: maybe 1% of cars on the road at any given time have no plates. But they usually have an ad for a dealer there, and a piece of paper in the windscreen saying that they have actually recently bought the car, and the plates have been applied for.
But I didn't have that - this was a private sale. But I drove it anyway. It's very law-abiding here, but also pretty forgiving. (For example, illegal^Wundocumented immigrants can't get driving licences, so it's illegal for folks in that category to drive ... but in practice, you have to drive, so it's not the big deal it would be in the UK. More on this later.)
Anyway, the seller has to fill in a form if she wants to actually keep ownership of the registration number. (But that's not my problem.)
I went to the DMV. In Los Gatos, since you ask. Queued up for a bit. Probably should have made an appointment - might have saved half an hour.
Anyway, I filled in a form, wrote them a check (sic) for four hundred and something dollars (tax gets paid pretty much whenever a car changes hands, based on the sale price...), and went to another window, where they gave me plates and stickers ("tags"). I had a screwdriver in the car, so I screwed them on and stuck on the stickers when I went outside.
So she unscrewed them from the car and kept them. She very kindly gave me the screws too.
So I drove the car home with no plates. It's not such a big deal: maybe 1% of cars on the road at any given time have no plates. But they usually have an ad for a dealer there, and a piece of paper in the windscreen saying that they have actually recently bought the car, and the plates have been applied for.
But I didn't have that - this was a private sale. But I drove it anyway. It's very law-abiding here, but also pretty forgiving. (For example, illegal^Wundocumented immigrants can't get driving licences, so it's illegal for folks in that category to drive ... but in practice, you have to drive, so it's not the big deal it would be in the UK. More on this later.)
Anyway, the seller has to fill in a form if she wants to actually keep ownership of the registration number. (But that's not my problem.)
I went to the DMV. In Los Gatos, since you ask. Queued up for a bit. Probably should have made an appointment - might have saved half an hour.
Anyway, I filled in a form, wrote them a check (sic) for four hundred and something dollars (tax gets paid pretty much whenever a car changes hands, based on the sale price...), and went to another window, where they gave me plates and stickers ("tags"). I had a screwdriver in the car, so I screwed them on and stuck on the stickers when I went outside.
Sunday 10 July 2011
Health Insurance
When you change jobs (I"ve recently started working for Google), you have to worry about health insurance.
In practice, it's not a big hassle. If you know nothing about it, you might think it'll be scary, but actually it usually works out just fine.
One worry is "pre-existing conditions". But most health "insurance" companies aren't allowed to - or just don't - block pre-existing conditions. At least, the new ones here don't.
Also, your old "insurance" company ... and your old employer ... typically have an arrangement whereby your health insurance doesn't end on, like, your last day of employment. (Things like life insurance might, but not health insurance.)
Rather, it ends on the last day of the month. So don't finish a job on the last day of the month, eh!?
(I write "insurance" in quotes because only a small part of it is actual "insurance" against catastrophic health situations. Most of it pays for routine maintenance, checkups and bureaucracy. So it goes.)
In practice, it's not a big hassle. If you know nothing about it, you might think it'll be scary, but actually it usually works out just fine.
One worry is "pre-existing conditions". But most health "insurance" companies aren't allowed to - or just don't - block pre-existing conditions. At least, the new ones here don't.
Also, your old "insurance" company ... and your old employer ... typically have an arrangement whereby your health insurance doesn't end on, like, your last day of employment. (Things like life insurance might, but not health insurance.)
Rather, it ends on the last day of the month. So don't finish a job on the last day of the month, eh!?
(I write "insurance" in quotes because only a small part of it is actual "insurance" against catastrophic health situations. Most of it pays for routine maintenance, checkups and bureaucracy. So it goes.)
Saturday 9 July 2011
Temperatures
Before we moved to California, we had a Seat Alhambra. Which is basically a Volkswagon MPV. (It's a crying shame we can't buy them here in California - they're a fantastic minivan. There's one that lives near me, that I see from time to time; it's got a Mexican reg.)
Anyway, the instruments all look the same in my fancy new eight-year-old passat as in the Alhambra. But since this blog is about the little differences...
1) The temperature gauge is, of course, in fahrenheit. Of course. I can't actually remember the three celsius numbers on the Alhambra's temperature gauge, but I looked at them so often, I really notice that the one in the US Passat is different. I think it's just that the number on the right (Too Hot! Too Hot!) begins with a "2".
Also, there seems to be no concept of sidelights. The wee dial for headlights (yeah, it's a dial), on the Alhambra turned from zero to sidelights to proper headlights. And you pull it for foglights or something. (It gets foggy enough to justify them about once every two years in Co Down, and basically never in and around San Jose. But that's another story.)
It's the same thing on this Passat ... but there's no sidelights. Weird.
Anyway, the instruments all look the same in my fancy new eight-year-old passat as in the Alhambra. But since this blog is about the little differences...
1) The temperature gauge is, of course, in fahrenheit. Of course. I can't actually remember the three celsius numbers on the Alhambra's temperature gauge, but I looked at them so often, I really notice that the one in the US Passat is different. I think it's just that the number on the right (Too Hot! Too Hot!) begins with a "2".
Also, there seems to be no concept of sidelights. The wee dial for headlights (yeah, it's a dial), on the Alhambra turned from zero to sidelights to proper headlights. And you pull it for foglights or something. (It gets foggy enough to justify them about once every two years in Co Down, and basically never in and around San Jose. But that's another story.)
It's the same thing on this Passat ... but there's no sidelights. Weird.
Friday 8 July 2011
Clutch interlock
I've recently bought a second car here in California. It's a manual VW Passat 2003 1.8 petrol saloon. It's very nice.
Apart from the obvious difference of the steering wheel being on the left, its manual transmission has one important difference from the UK: to start the car, you must press the clutch.
The car can be in gear; you just can't start it with a gear engaged.
In the UK, one often accidentally starts one's car in gear. The car typically lurches and you stop trying to start the car. Sorted.
I imagine this thing in the US is for safety reasons. Purported or real. Maybe it's 'cos engines are bigger here. Maybe batteries are more tender. Who knows.
Apart from the obvious difference of the steering wheel being on the left, its manual transmission has one important difference from the UK: to start the car, you must press the clutch.
The car can be in gear; you just can't start it with a gear engaged.
In the UK, one often accidentally starts one's car in gear. The car typically lurches and you stop trying to start the car. Sorted.
I imagine this thing in the US is for safety reasons. Purported or real. Maybe it's 'cos engines are bigger here. Maybe batteries are more tender. Who knows.
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