Question: What is the legal way to dispose of a car without insurance or registration?
Answer: One possibility is the city’s no-fee junking service, which has the vehicle owner submit the vehicle’s title, license plates and a form attesting that the vehicle will be scrapped, never to be titled or registered again. Current registration and insurance are not required for this process, which can be handled by appointment at an Oahu satellite city hall, confirmed Bill Powers, a spokesperson for Honolulu’s Department of Customer Services.
Go to the AlohaQ.org online reservation system to make your appointment at a satellite city hall, where you’ll submit the junking form, which you can download at 808ne.ws/JVF, as well as the title and license plates. At the appointment, you’ll get more information about scheduling the vehicle removal, which will occur after the paperwork is processed.
Q: What if I don’t have the license plates? This car has been stored in my driveway for years, and I took everything I thought might attract thieves and put it someplace safe, which now I cannot recall. That’s why I don’t have the expired registration, either. I do have the title, which I keep in a safety deposit box.
A: The title is the key ownership document, and the lack of license plates does not seem insurmountable, according to the junking form, which says that “the Certificate of Title must be endorsed by all registered owner(s) and lienholder, if applicable, and odometer reading completed. If the last issued license plates are not surrendered, the owner is responsible to ensure (their) destruction.”
To use this no-fee service, your car must be legally parked, easily accessible and able to be towed, free of debris inside and with at least two inflated tires, either front or rear, “depending on which end is accessible to the tow truck,” the form says.
Motorcycles and mopeds also can be junked through the city’s program.
Q: Why is the DOH Food Safety portal for restaurant inspections down? When will public access be restored? How long has it been down? I’ve been trying to look up restaurants online for about a week, and it’s always inaccessible.
A: “The public portal has been down since July 17. DOH’s Food Safety Branch informed their IT service provider, (which) has not yet been able to resolve this issue. Currently, there is no estimate as to when this issue will be resolved. In the meantime, people with questions related to the Food Safety Branch should call 808-586-8000 for assistance,” Shawn Hamamoto, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health, said Monday in an email.
The malfunctioning online portal, at hi.healthinspections.us/hawaii/, is where members of the public are supposed to be able to view inspection reports for licensed food establishments, learning when an eatery was most recently inspected and whether it complied with numerous rules intended to protect public health — the best rating is a green placard.
Auwe
The homeless encampment or squatters camp or whatever you want to call it is getting bigger again at the old Kam Drive-In property in Aiea. It’s private land, so maybe the city and state can’t just go in and clean it up like on the public roads and sidewalks, but there’s got to be something that can be done. — Concerned neighbor
Mahalo
I would like to send out a big mahalo to the city and county road maintenance crew. My cellphone slid into the storm drain midday July 19 at Ward Avenue and Beretania Street, and I was just stunned. Luckily, a friend helped me to make some calls, and the crew showed up in no time to retrieve my phone. Much appreciation from a grateful senior. — Sharon
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
