Missed your vehicle registration reminder? Nebraska DMV change catches some off guard
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Some drivers feel blindsided by a change at the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles that’s causing them to miss their vehicle registration renewal deadlines.
Some people are now receiving their notices by email — though many don’t remember signing up for that.
Debbie Unterseher is like many people who rely on a letter to come in the mail, reminding her to renew her vehicle registration.
But this year, her letter never arrived.
So it slipped her mind, and the deadline passed in January.
“So it’s been five months, and I just never thought about it,” Unterseher said. “There’s just too many other things going on.”
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She only realized when she went out to lunch in the Haymarket District with some friends last week.
Unterseher had paid the meter, so she was surprised to find a $100 fine from Park & Go on her windshield.
But it wasn’t for illegal parking — it was for expired plates.
Unterseher went to the DMV to find out why she never got a renewal reminder in the mail.
She learned that since she renewed her registration online last year, it automatically opted her in to receiving this year’s notice via email rather than the usual letter.
You have to uncheck a box to keep receiving the reminders in the mail.
Unterseher said she’s frustrated that this wasn’t clearly communicated.
“It’s like credit cards,” she said. “When you sign up for credit cards, you either say yes, you want it through the mail, and then that reminds you. Or you say send by email, and then you know you have to look through there.”
She said by the time she went back to look for the email, she had already cleared her inbox, and she couldn’t find it.
The DMV told Channel 8 this policy has been in place now for a while.
Unterseher was able to appeal her ticket, so she didn’t have to pay the fine.
