New license plate

Yesterday I finally found some time to go and register my private car at the new address. The city where I moved to belongs to a different “Kreis” which means I had to replace the car registration papers and license plates. How long did it take ? 10 minutes.

I arrived the place, there was nobody at the counter so I just gave the guy my paperwork. He sent me across the street to get my new license plates, there it only took 3-4 minutes until they made them. I got back, I paid, I got my new registration papers, they stamped my license plates and that was it! No line, no stress, no complication, no idiot people.

30000km

In about 9 months.

Driving License

I remember many years ago when I got my driving license: complicated business, lots of paperwork, long lines, heat, smelly crowds, public workers with the enthusiasm of a brick, etc. I don’t know what’s it like these days, not sure if anything changed.

Well, today being my free day, I managed to get to the Kreis capital. The Landratsamt building (the authority which deals, among other things, with driving licenses) has its own underground garage so I didn’t have to look all over the place for a parking spot. I got inside, there was nobody in front of me so a lady asked me if she can help. I told her the story, she asked for a picture, a form (which I had already filled in at home, it’s available on the net) and an ID. And that was it. She explained that if the Police stops me it should be ok, at least in Germany, they will know about it. 5 minutes later I was out of the building. I wonder how  much something like this takes, requesting a replacement driving license after yours was stolen. Would be interesting to know if things changed.

I managed to day to get a parking permit from the town hall. It does not allow me to park in front of the house (it’s a pedestrian zone) but I can park for free in the marked spots from the area. It’s not the most idea l solution but it’s kinda messed up with the parking around here because it’s the old city center. I can rent a permanent parking spot in one of the park hauses in the area but I pay 45 euros per month and while it’s not that far, it’s not in front of the house. Oh well, you can’t have everything.

Today I also made another trip to the dumpsite place with a van full of trash bags, old wood, old electric devices, metal, etc. It was cold, heavy snow, wet, very bleh, yucky! And this time there was a guy watching us and he took his job really serious: “Oh, this goes there”, “This goes over there”, “No, no, no, this does not go in here. This is type 3 electrical trash, go on the other side”, “Oh, cardboard ? Over there, in that container”. Shit, that dude ran us all over the place. I hope I won’t have to go there anytime soon.

And now off to bed. Since I moved here I need 25 more minutes to get to Münich in the morning so I have to wake up at 4:00am. Great.

Solid metal bar – 1, Me – 0

Oh well, this had to happen eventually to me too I guess, my first “accident” since I am here. And who’s fault is it ? That’s right, mine.

It all happened saturday evening when we were working at the house. I realized I had to buy some more stuff from Toom so I got into the car and I tried to get out of the parking. Another car was coming from the other direction (still in the parking) so I tried to squeeze between the guy and the parked cars. I passed (a little annoyed since he was driving on the middle) but shortly after that I didn’t pay enough attention and I passed too close to a tree. Which tree had some thick protection metal bars. Which metal bars impacted my car (notice the blame shift …). I was not driving fast, maybe 10-15 km/h but enough to mess up really bad my left headlight, bumper and side.

I backed up (with the torn remains of the left-side bumper and headlight hanging and I parked again. Then I got out of the car and admired my masterpiece. This is exactly what I needed, what a mess. You could not drive the car anymore because parts of the bumper were scrapping badly against the left tire. After realizing the bumper and headlight won’t magically put themselves back together just by me looking at them (and after Freya managed to get me a bit out of my dark mood) I resigned myself and called the police. They arrived after 15 minutes or so, two of them, a woman and a guy. The police car was also a Passat but it was in one piece, unlike mine which was in .. many. Of course they asked me if I had something to drink and the guy actually checked. What kind of idiot drinks and then calls the police ? I guess they tried their luck.

Anyway, there was not much to report since no other car was involved. They just told me that I might get a fine from the City if they decide to press charges for me hitting the tree protection bar !! I could not believe it. They actually looked at the metal bar but it was obvious that I was not the first, there were all kind of paint marks on it. In the end they probably realized how stupid that sounds and they dropped that. Then they wished me luck (Gee … thanks!) and left.

All things considered, what happened next went better than I expected. Saturday and Sunday I could not do much, but monday morning I went to the local VW dealer. The car being new it has a 3 year warranty and some other kind of VW insurance on top of that. The guy was very helpful, he registered the whole thing and we called the ADAC. The ADAC dudes were very quick, in less than one hour the car was standing in the dealer’s parking. Free of course, that’s why I am a member. In the meantime I had called the insurance and registered the accident. I gave the neeed info to the guy at the VW dealership, I got the replacement car (they have to give you one if they can’t repair yours in 3-4 hours) and that was it. When I got home I just let the carfleet people at my company about the vent and now I am waiting to be called when the car is repaired.

It’s a shame, poor car. It had only 7km onboard when I got it from the company. But I guess Murphy was right: “If shit can happen then shit WILL happen“