The Republicans, each a potential gubernatorial candidate against Prince Philip Dunton Murphy next year, have been relentless this week in their criticism of MVC’s reopening to long lines in the heat and humidity, lack of social distancing, fights, and drivers camping overnight to get their cars registered and licenses renewed or issued.
The mess at Motor Vehicle offices yesterday & today is unacceptable. What can the Gov do? To start, he can fire the head of the MVC. Dealt a poor hand, to be sure, the failure in execution yesterday was unacceptable by any measure. Accountability is required. Fix It. pic.twitter.com/vWmtZT5I7Q
Former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, the first Republican to declare as a candidate for Governor next year issued a scathing assessment of the Murphy Administration’s reopening of Motor Vehicle Commission facilities and called for Governor Murphy to fire Commissioner Sue Fulton.
The following is Ciattarelli’s ‘Jack Chat’ are prepared for delivery:
New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission appears to be headed for Day 2 of Venezuelan style government service.
Good morning #NJ! It’s 5 am & the line already wraps around the Flemington MVC. After 4 months of full pay & a good night’s sleep @GovMurphy & MVC Commissioner @suefulton will once again turn away thousands of taxpayers they can’t serve & don’t care about. #MurphyExposed#NJGOPpic.twitter.com/jafDf1JFt5
— Douglas Steinhardt (@DSteinhardtEsq) July 8, 2020
We had a Director working that line starting at 6am. I have been in communication with him. We don’t open until 8am.
— Sue Fulton wears a mask (@suefulton) July 7, 2020
Before the doors even opened this morning hundreds of drivers were lined up waiting to get in to state Motor Vehicle commission agencies for the first time in three months, leading police to shutdown one MVC agency due to crowding and to breakup a fight at another agency.
Police in Lodi said they closed the agency at 7:42 a.m. due to overwhelming demand and told drivers to avoid the area and try a different agency or to come another day.
County sheriff officers also shut down a line at the Oakland agency and told people to go home. A reader reported lines at the Wallington agency were also shut… Read the rest of this entry »
Drivers who bought vehicles from another person have gotten an unwelcome surprise during the last two months – they can’t get the license plates and registration they need to drive them, due to the coronavirus closing motor vehicle agencies.
Drivers who’ve bought a vehicle from a private owner found out that registering their new ride requires an in-person transaction at motor vehicle agencies. But state Motor Vehicle Commission agencies were closed on March 16 to reduce exposure to COVID-19.
A Budd Lake woman said she is unable to use the truck she bought in March and now fears she might lose he… Read the rest of this entry »
The problem is, they’ve already gotten special treatment
Tesla Motors, the manufacturer and retailer of electric powered cars, boasts on its website that it is “redefining the way cars are sold.”
They’ve been selling new cars in an unconventional way in New Jersey for one, two or four years, depending on who is telling the truth. They have a problem now, because the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission suddenly adopted what Tesla is calling a “new rule” that is consistent with decades old law allowing only franchised new car dealerships to sell new cars in New Jersey.
Instead of visiting a new car dealership where you test drive a car, haggle with a salesperson, wait for the salesperson to come back from pretending to talk to his/her manager, make a deal, get passed off to the business manager who bumps your interest rate, tries to sell you undercoating, credit insurance and an extended warranty and then wait a while longer to drive home in your new car, you can’t buy a car at Tesla’s two stores in New Jersey.
Tesla’s New Jersey stores are inside the Short Hills Mall in Short Hills and the Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus. You can’t get your new electric car at one of those stores. You can’t even order it at the store. You can only look at a car and talk about it. If you want to buy one, you have to order it online and wait for it to be built in California before you take delivery. If you want to test drive one, you have to an request an appointment online. It might take a day or two for a representative to get back to you with an appointment. Test drives and new car deliveries are done out of the company’s service facility in Springfield.
