Kokua Line June Watanabe

---

No refund on taxes paid for totaled car

Question: I renewed my car registration in July, but I had a car accident in October. Why can't I get a refund on the registration? I don't think it's fair that I had to pay registration for a whole year, when my car was totaled. Can you please look into this?

Answer: You're out of luck if you're looking for any kind of refund.

Like many other states, Hawaii does not have any law providing for a refund of taxes or fees paid to register motor vehicles, said Dennis Kamimura, administrator of the city Motor Vehicle & Licensing Division.

Even if the registration law were changed, only taxes prorated over a 12-month period would be refundable, based on the unused months remaining in the registration period, he said.

He noted that if the wrecked vehicle is insured and is surrendered to the insurance company, "the insurer normally sells the vehicle. If the insured feels that the remaining months in the vehicle's registration period adds value to the vehicle, the insured should take that value into consideration during the negotiation of the final settlement amount with the insurer."

Likewise, if someone wants to sell a vehicle to another person, he may consider increasing the price based upon the future expiration date or decreasing the price if the registration has expired, Kamimura said.

---

Q: Since Sept. 11, 2001, the delivery of packages by the U.S. Postal Service to Hawaii has been unacceptably slow. At a minimum, it takes two or more weeks for arrival, when it was always five days from anywhere in the mainland or Canada prior to 9/11, no matter the size or rate of payment. Recent examples: I'm now well into my third week for a package of cassettes from Canada. My last arrival, a DVD from Southern California, took just over five weeks. All sent regular/surface mail. Of course 9/11 "changed everything," but why after five years are we still waiting forever?

A: Nothing has changed: It's always taken several weeks for packages sent surface mail to be delivered to and from Hawaii, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

"So our clerks would tell customers mailing something to the mainland (that it would take) four to six weeks for surface/standard mail," said Lynne Moore, consumer affairs manager for the USPS in Hawaii.

The only difference for mail coming into the U.S. from Canada is that it would have to go through Customs and a port of entry. That "might add to (the delivery time)," Moore said.

But "everything predicates on time of mailing and how it coordinates with the available surface transportation," i.e., when ships leave California for Hawaii and vice versa, she said.

Your earlier experience in getting packages delivered in less than a week may have been due to good timing with boat departures.