Trying to do a good deed sometimes sends you jumping through dozens of government made hoops. In this case your loyal blogger was trying to help an elderly person sell a 20 year old automobile that hasn't been driven in a while. So what might that entail? Well, it might involve a few minor repairs to get it street legal and running. But an important part of the sale of an automobile involves a transfer of a document called a title, so before opening the hood it might be worthwhile to locate the title. And that's where the problem begins. There's a title somewhere, but it has long been absorbed somewhere within one of numerous hills of papers, mail, photos, and cat hair.
Solution: Obtain a duplicate title from the Texas DMV. Simple, right? Well, that depends on whether you've got the proper identification. In order to obtain a duplicate car title the applicant must have a photo ID. And in this case, the owner's Texas driver's license had expired two and a half years ago, so the DMV refused to accept it. Their advice was to obtain and submit a new driver's license or a state photo ID.
OK, so they threw a small hurdle in the way. No biggie. It shouldn't be that hard to obtain a photo ID from the same agency that issued the driver's license, should it? Not so fast. The DPS has its own set of requirements for a state photo ID which include proof of identification, citizenship, and Texas residency.
Click on the links to see exactly what they'll take. But in sum, they want one Primary Identity Document, or if one isn't available, then they'll take two Secondary Identity Documents. If the applicant can't produce two of those, then he/she can supply one Secondary Identity Document and two Supporting Identity Documents.
An expired Texas driver's license will serve as a Primary if it expired within the past two years. In our case we're SOL on that one, so we're down to the Secondaries. The easiest of the Secondaries would seem to be a certified copy of a birth certificate. If you're old enough you may remember when you could write a letter to the county clerk of the county of your birth, and with a small fee, get a certified copy of your birth certificate. Not today.
In the state of Texas they have to come from the Department of State Health Services. And right there in bold letters on the application (PDF) is this:
INCLUDE A PHOTOCOPY OF YOUR VALID PHOTO ID WHEN SENDING THE REQUEST
And farther down:
(APPLICATIONS WITHOUT PHOTO ID WILL NOT BE PROCESSED)
So you need a photo ID to get a photo ID. What would we do without bureaucrats?
As for the car, a junk dealer will pay $200 without a title. That's starting to look better and better.
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