$205.00 to renew my drivers license!

[A HERETIC I AM]

Two hundred and five bucks! I haven't had a ticket in over 8 years and haven't had an accident in over 1.6 million miles of driving.

OK, I have a Class "A" CDL with a Hazardous Materials endorsement and that is the primary reason, but damn! I wasn't expecting that much.

$75 to renew the CDL, $90 for the FBI background check (which I just had about 18 months ago when I re-upped my Haz-Mat) and $10 each for my endorsements which are Doubles/Triple trailers, Tankers and the Haz-Mat.

Oh yeah...I failed the Haz-Mat test and had to take it again and that was another $10.00 The biggest pain about the Haz-Mat in Florida is about 1 in 20 of the state offices handling Drivers Licenses deal with that endorsement so it was a long drive to the nearest office.

Later in the day I went and applied for a TWIC card (of which there are only about 10 offices in the whole state!) and THAT was another $132.50!

Damned expensive day for a couple of ID's

[angstlessk]

1. THEN you have to pay for Exxon's CEO to continue into the lifestyle to which he has become

accustomed...truly a travesty!

[Dappleganger]

2. Yeah, but you dare call that a TAX...

which is essentially what it is, but the repukes here in FL somehow feel justified as long as they FEE us to death.

[A HERETIC I AM]

4. Well, I guess it's a "Tool of the Trade" but that's the most I ever spent.

I've had a Commercial License since 1978, the year after I got out of High School. That was WAY before the "CDL" came along and in those days in Florida it was called a "Chauffeurs License". Basically a 60 question multiple choice test - NO observed driving test and I was able to drive anything on the road! When the CDL came along in the late 1980's/early 90's I was grandfathered in and got my first CDL in Michigan. Again, no state observed driving test, just the exams for air brakes, combination vehicles (that's all you need to just haul dry freight, basically) Tanker exam, doubles/triples and the Haz-Mat. I don't remember how much it was back then, but for the life of me I don't think it was more than $60 to $70.00. The renewal was maybe $35.00

When the Patriot act came along they upped the requirements for the Hazardous endorsement and included the demand for a background check. I got out of trucking in 2006 and just started back again in November and this is the first renewal since the new rules.

You ain't kidding about the fee thing, either. Since my B'day is the 6th of next month, I had to renew my auto tag as well. $55.00 for a 2002 Honda Accord!

[Dappleganger]

5. Those 'cons in the state legislature started all of this...

those fees do nothing but target the poor and working class, again and again. I know that we need to pay for things in order to sustain the system, but not on OUR backs while giving these huge corporations sweetheart tax-exempt deals.

[Drale]

3. Man I thought 35 bucks was way to much