OH fer fuck's sake dept. Last night I got pulled over (guilty as charged, was talking on my cell while driving- illegal in this state). But then...→[More:]when the officer ran my registration, he came back to tell me it was lapsed - and, much worse, as his research went on he told me that the car (which I bought used last fall) had never been registered to me, that the plates on my car were still registered to the long-gone car I traded in for this car, and that was the expired registration. In other words, it looked like I had stolen the car and slapped some old plates on them.

As I processed all this in shock, watching him take the plates off my car and load it onto a flatbed, I realized that the &$@#$% dealer from which I bought the car must have never submitted the registration and plate transfer paperwork I completed when we did the purchase. To all appearances, it looks like (a) my car was last registered to a guy in New York in 2008 and never registered since then (b) these plates belong to an expired Subaru registration and (c) I'm driving a car with no registration and no record of my ownership of it, and someone else's plates. From my own point of view, I registered the car when I got it, did a legal plate transfer, and wouldn't have given it another thought until registration came due again next fall.

The cop was actually nice to me. He could have impounded the car and didn't, and he might have been able to arrest me and didn't. I did have my insurance up to date and on the right vehicle, so that may have helped my cause. Also, I don't come off like your average car thief, so that may have helped. I can't drive the car until I get it legally registered.

But OMGWTFBBQ! I was away from home, visiting a friend - I would have been up shit creek had I not had someone who could give me a lift and somewhere to stay. I have a call in to the dealer and will begin to unravel the mess, even thogh it's Saturday so it will likely only go so far until Monday. And after the car is legal again, I think it's gonna be Better Business Bureau/small claims court time.