The Ordeal Is Over (for Now); The Lesson Learned

Me at the DMV today

OK, so now I have it back. It was frustrating, irrational, stressful, anxiety-laden, humiliating and damn draconian, but the driver's license is back in my wallet where it should never have left.

Two weeks ago today, a Roanoke cop pulled me over for a minor violation (I was guilty, but he only warned me--bless him) and discovered my driver's license had been suspended since April. That's nearly eight months and I didn't know it. Never got the letter the DMV says it sent (it was not registered; it should have been).

Seems I was the victim of the cancellation of a liability insurance policy on a car for which I was co-signer on the loan. It is not my car. I've never even been in it. I co-signed for a young woman who was in financial trouble, not knowing the ramifications of that signature and thinking it only guaranteed the loan. But nooooooo.

Seems I'm responsible for a lot of other stuff, mostly hidden from view ... like liability insurance and personal property taxes. I even had to buy a form from my own insurance company swearing to the DMV that my truck was insured. I still don't know the connection of that.

Today, I am more than $1,300 poorer with all the fees and a whole lot smarter. And I have my license back. You have no idea how old I felt without the license, having to depend on others to do the simplest things, having to turn down a lucrative writing contract, having to consider driving without the license.

I learned a lot beginning with this pearl: Don't ever co-sign a loan. Don't do it. If you feel like you absolutely have to, ask what the total responsibility entails and get it in writing. I didn't. I should have.