Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Inspection stations
replace stolen stickersQuestion: Regarding getting replacement safety stickers when yours is stolen ("Kokua Line," Jan. 21): Did you know you can get a replacement sticker for only 50 cents at any satellite city hall? You should tell your readers they can get replacements for a lot cheaper than $5.
Q: Can you clarify for me again what the law says about getting a stolen safety sticker replaced? You said if the safety sticker was not expired and we had the papers to prove it, we could get it replaced without having to pay $15 for a re-inspection, although the inspection stations could charge $5 for a replacement sticker. A safety check inspector says that's true only if the safety check was done within a month of it being stolen.
Answer: Satellite city halls do not issue safety inspection stickers.
You may be confusing the safety decals with the decal signifying your car's registration, which is placed on the license plate, said Dennis Kamimura, the city's Motor Vehicle and Licensing administrator. That decal costs 50 cents to replace.
Also, he clarified that a safety check station can actually charge you a total of $5.50 to replace a stolen safety decal -- 50 cents for the decal and $5 for administrative costs. The latter is optional, he said.
Again, under the state Department of Transportation's administrative rules, there is no time limit on when you can get a stolen safety decal replaced without having to go through a re-inspection -- as long as you have proof that your sticker had not expired, Kamimura said.
However, a station has the right to say that a re-inspection is necessary if there are "obvious visual defects," no matter when your last inspection was done, he added.
Kamimura also pointed out that there may be extenuating circumstances in which an inspection station may not be able to provide you with a replacement sticker.
Inspection stations buy both month and year numerals comprising the safety sticker from the city -- the left numeral signifying the month and the right, in much smaller figures, the year. "If they buy too many, they have no refund. If they buy too little, then they (legitimately) can say they ran out of stickers," Kamimura said.
For example, if your safety check was done in September 2002, the expiration would be in 09/03. The station may well have 03 emblems, but have run out of the 09 ones, he said.
"In that case, they will have to come in to us, and IF we have the (month) emblems, we can sell them for a quarter (each)," he said.
Kamimura pointed out that the year emblems cannot be issued after Dec. 31 of any given year, so not only could the station be out of them, so could the city.
Auwe
To yard maintenance wannabes-for-hire in the Hawaii Kai area. After weed-whacking the dirt and rocks, which fly everywhere except that yard, they sheepishly peer behind their glasses for anyone who might be offended. Then they break out the gas-powered turbocharged dust makers/blowers, spreading the "aloha" to neighbors' yards, cars, homes and laundry. Mahalos, brah! -- Terry
|
Useful phone numbers
Got a question or complaint?
Call 529-4773, fax 529-4750, or write to Kokua Line,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu 96813. As many as possible will be answered.
E-mail to kokualine@starbulletin.com