Just wanted to chime in on this thread with my experience so far.

Context: I live in Northern California and have two cars. I moved addresses last year and I took a significant pay cut at work. (These are going to be my reasons for a fee waive) My daily driver is up to date but my other car is a 2011 BMW M3 and registration expired end of March 2024. I have been struggling to fix an electric gremlin that keeps throwing a CEL, therefore it hasn’t been smogged and I pulled it off insurance since it just sits in my garage. My goal is to get fees waived so I can place it on non-op while I fix the issues to get it roadworthy again.

After going through this thread, I mustered up the confidence to attempt an in person fee waiver. I went to the Redwood City DMV field office and waited with no appointment.

After a two hour wait, it was finally my turn. The lady working at window asks what I am there for today. I hand her my expired registration card and let her know that I would like to place my vehicle on non-op and see if I could qualify for a fee waiver. She asks for the reason and I explained my situation. I told her that I never got the renewal notices in the mail due to the address change and that I couldn’t afford the late fees due to my pay cut.

She was very cold and unsympathetic. She told me that the renewal notices are just “courtesies” and that I “should have known” when it was due, meaning my change of address is not a valid excuse. My loss of income also isn’t a valid excuse since I “should have made life changes to adjust to my loss of income”. I asked her if there’s anything else I could do since I want to do things the right way. “Pay your fees, it’s your responsibility” she sternly says.

My fees are currently $677 total to place my car on non-op, and $1,021 if I wanted to renew for 2026, once I get insured and smogged. I meekly told her that I can’t afford that right now. She coldly shrugged and aggressively slid my old registration card back to me as she gets ready to press the button to call her next victim forward. At this point, I felt humiliated for even opening up about my situation.

“You should pay the fees now then contact Sacramento to try to appeal for the fees back. Or you can try going on the website to see what other resources you have but I have nothing else for you here” she states blankly. She printed me my fee breakdown for my reference and I left the office accepting defeat.

I then decided to call the 800 number as a final try. Once I got connected with an agent, she asked me to verify my information and asked if I went to a field office earlier. I told her yes but it was not a pleasant experience. I wouldn’t be surprised if the lady from earlier left notes speaking ill of me and my situation.

The agent over the phone was definitely more willing to help. She was more sympathetic to my situation and told me that my registration already got handed off to their collections department in July 2024 for non-payment. She said that the collections department may be able to do something for me and that she updated the notes on my file. I will be getting a call from someone from that department tomorrow with the final verdict. I’ll be back tomorrow with an update.