Bumped around at LTA

was at LTA trying to sort out the paperworks for scrapping my trusty Proton.....

firstly, I went to the website to look for a number so that I can call them..... found it after some navigation because they dun really have a direct line for scrapping car on behalf of a deceased.... who knows that i've to do a transfer of ownership first right??? I'm a newbie remember???

So after searching around I finally found the 1800 number and called LTA, after routing through a few officers, they told me that the person-in-charge was engaged and they'll call me back within one working day.

It was a thursday 12pm noon..... I did not receive anything till fri, I called the same number again, I got the same reply, I decided to be patient and continued to wait..... finally, monday morning, I woke up really early and decided to call again, finally got through to someone who is willing to talk to me about the case..... 3.5working days later.....

The lady on the line tried to answer my questions... which were simple...

situation:
car due to be scrapped on 31st August
registered owner is recently deceased overseas
death certificate is from overseas
awaiting high courts' award of the letter of authorisation for the excuetor of the estate

Qn: What do we do to scrap the car on the 31st August?
Qn: What are the paperworks that needs to be produced for that action?

The lady thought about it for a while and she told me to bring the death certificates personally to the LTA office in Sin Ming Road for their officers to access if any other documents were required or that was sufficient....

So I did.....

I reached the road junction showing directions for LTA along with Vicom and some other associations... halfway through following the sign boards, the LTA logo was not together with the previous organisations. I drove around in circles for a while before making a reverse turn into the lane with the signage for the other organisations, only to discover that LTA was there as well.

I find it hard to believe that the signage to LTA can be unclear... how can we expect the rest of Singapore roads to be clearly labelled???? *sigh*

Quickly ran into the lobby, to be greeted by a short queue of about 4-5 persons at the information counter, this serve to issue queue numbers for the various counters for the many reasons why people would come here.... there were numerous counters on both sides of the information counter to service the crowd, looking at the signages there, I could hardly figure out which counter I should go towards.... So I stuck it out at the information counter to make my enquires....

The lady behind the desk was an experience lady, she quickly told me two names and the counter number to head towards on level two.

HUH? level two??? Where's the stairs or lift??? I can only see counters after counters on both sides.... she pointed towards her right and I followed that direction and realised that I actually went half way round the building. So I'm directly behind the information counter! Interesting design.....

Took the stairs and started looking for counter 39/40 and the officers behind those counters (like those in the bank....), I cannot find the names matching to those whom she mentioned... and in her hurry, I only caught one name... I thought I had made a mistake... so I approach that counter to explain my cause there and seeked help.....

The lady behind the counter was unable to offer much advice and directed me to another lady standing behind her. So I had to repeat my story all over again. This time, this lady kept telling me that if I want to do a transfer of ownership, I'll have to go downstairs to get a new pin. I asked what's the paperworks involved as this was not between two living persons. And I'm not the executor of the estate, will the excuetor be required to personally go and scrap the vehicle and sign the document ets.... she just said yes, bring the vehicle down any time before the 31st August if we want to do that. If after the 31st August, we have one month to process the paper works and submit the scrap papers and the car needed to tolled to the scrapeyard....

so i thought that was it.... and went back downstairs, feeling about lost and confused, unsure which counter downstairs to ask about the transfer of ownership and the scrapping etc....

I was wandering around at the different counters downstairs, trying to match the queries that I have to the headers on the signages and I could not figure it out.... so I headed for the information counter again. The same lady was determined to set the records straight and asked me to approach another two officers on level 2, she specificially asked me to ask:
"How do I scrap my dad's car if he's deceased?"
"What are the documents required?"

I showed her the will and she told me that that would be sufficient. So like a headless chicken, I dashed upstairs again, trying to hunt down SOMEONE just someONE to tell the the procedure!!!!

I spoke to a Mdm Lim and she took the COE certificate with the due date and went to punch the particulars in.... and confirmed that its due on the last day of the month... yeah... I know, its stated there..... hello??? did you listen???

I told her the whole story of my dad's overseas death, official letter from high court not available, do we need to submit a lega letter to scrap the vehicle? Must we use the excuetor on the will?

She ducked behind some boarded up office desk to check with the de-commissioning officer and came back after a couple of mins and said that if we bring the car into the scrapyard before 31st August, we'll have to do a transfer of ownership, which will require legal documents to transfer the name from dad to bro.... but if we bring the car into the scrapyard AFTER 31st August, then we do not need to do the transfer of ownership... just need proof of kinship to the owner... which I figured i can do since i've brought my BC with me even.

but the lady at LTA was more interested to tell me to go off... no need to show anything or leave any documents behind....

strange... i'm going to take their word for it and let my mechanic do their job... if they run into any problems... i'm so going to ask some folks.....

jen singapore