Thursday, January 10, 2008

Tag Agency 'policy' a Rip-Off?

I just returned from the Noble Tag agency where I paid for my car tag renewals for our family car. I normally purchase my tag from LaNoy’s Tag agency or on occasions with Fuson Tag agency, in Norman.
However, today I was in Noble, so I decided to stop and get our tag. My mistake.

I had written my check for $82.50 for the tag renewal. The card from the Tax Commission states that the cost of a new tag was $83.50 which includes a $1 mailing fee. In all of my previous experiences with Fuson and LaNoy’s Tag Agency in Norman, they have always been $1.00 less than mailing it into the State. That should have been the case today.

The representative who was assisting said I owed $83.50 so I questioned her why it was not $82.50 she then showed me my copy from the State tag renewal that showed $83.50. I stated yes, it shows $83.50 but that includes mailing it back to me, since I am here it is not necessary to mail it so the actual cost is only $82.50. She replied “we don't do that" we mail you your copy. I told her that my Norman agency always process es my tag while I wait.
She replied that “we wait and process all the tags at once so you do not have to wait .” She then said, "Well, we are really backlogged and it would take a long time for you to wait to process your tag."

I've been to LaNoy’s and Fuson Tag Agency many times when it was much busier than the Noble agency was at 9:00am today and I've never had to wait more than a couple of minutes. The agent did go ahead and process my tag which took all of 30 seconds. I might also say she was very polite. It's only $1. However, it’s the principle of the matter that I find offensive.

After a few calls I have found that numerous tag agencies across Oklahoma are using this kind of tactic to increase their profits.
According to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, 2,801,369 non-commercial tags (automobile registrations) were issued between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007.

Basically, over a period of a year, this equates to over two million dollars that we the taxpayers of Oklahoma are being over charged. There are approximately 300 tag agencies in the state.

Respectfully,
Bobby Cleveland - Norman

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