DMV assesses fines for horseless carriage

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Sunday, March 12, 2000 | 9:26 a.m.

But what he didn't expect was a $378,426.25 bill sent to him by the Department of Motor Vehicles, an amount that included about $260,000 in late fees and penalties.

"I told them to take me to jail if they had to. I wasn't paying," he said.

Shocked DMV officials blamed the mixup on conversion of data to the agency's new Genesis computer system and ended up charging Challender the same $60 fee he paid last year.

Challender apparently was billed for late charges accrued since 1900, when there were no automobiles except for some experimental horseless carriages, officials said, adding the problem wasn't a Y2K program glitch.

"This is the second case where we've had this happen," said DMV spokeswoman Kim Evans. "We hope we don't see that again. Billing for 100 years of late fees is kind of shocking."