Action 9: DMV charges twice after registration sticker stolen

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Many of you probably dread dealing with the DMV once.  But, if someone steals your vehicle registration sticker, you can be in for a headache twice. 
 
Some of you still have the green 2014 stickers.  Others have the new pink 2015 ones.  Or, at least you did.
 
Calvin Covington's mother parked her minivan in the driveway.  She came outside and noticed the sticker missing. 
 
"Even the smallest things get stolen.  It's crazy," he said.
 
Covington says it looked like someone just scraped it off.
 
 "Seems like all they did was take a little knife and just poke at the top of it and just peel it down and just went on with their business," he said.
 
He assumes the sticker was damaged so much, the thief probably couldn't even use it.  Either way, his mother had to go through the whole DMV process and pay again:  $15.
 
Covington:  "A lot of stuff to go through when we already done it before."
Action 9:  "Inconvenient?"
Covington:  "Yeah, way inconvenient, yeah."
 
Action 9 was telling that story to Rasheeda Ellerbe when she started nodding her head in agreement. 
 
Action 9:  "You've heard of this?"
Ellerbe:  "That's happened to me before."
Action 9:  "You had somebody steal yours before?"
Ellerbe:  "Few years ago."
Action 9:  "Oh really, what kind of hassle was it to try to get a new one? Did you have to go through the whole process again?"
Ellerbe:  "Yeah."
Action 9:  "Having to do it twice.  Did you pay twice?"
Ellerbe:  "Yeah."
Action 9:  "15 bucks again?"
Ellerbe:  "Yup."
 
So Action 9 asked the DMV how often it issues replacements for stolen, or lost, stickers.  It says 77,234 were reported stolen in the last reporting year alone.  At $15 each, that's $1,158,510 for the state that year.
 
Ellerbe was going to get her 2015 sticker Wednesday.  She hopes it's the only one she buys this year.  And, Covington is keeping a closer eye on his family's vehicles.

For more information from the DMV, click here.

WSOC