California Drivers

If you fail the Department of Motor Vehicles' driving test, you will pay a new $5 fee to take the test again. If you are a few days late in registering your vehicle, you will pay a $17 penalty instead of the usual $10. But if you think these higher fees -- which take effect Jan. 1 -- will go toward improving the woeful service at the DMV, think again. Combined, these and other new DMV charges will generate an additional $58 million a year for the state.

A court-appointed official has awarded drivers for FedEx Corp. in California about $14.4 million in a dispute over whether the delivery company illegally classified them as independent contractors instead of employees. The award for job-related expenses and interest is about $9 million more than was awarded to the drivers by a trial court in 2005, lawyers for about 200 drivers said Monday. FedEx said the company would review the recommendation and contest any disputed items.

When the checkered flag falls Sunday afternoon in the Times/Ford Grand Prix of Endurance after six hours of racing at Riverside International Raceway, the winner will reap most of the accolades and the biggest portion of the $164,000 prize money. But three other teams will be winners, too. That's because the sanctioning International Motor Sports Assn. has divided the field into four classes.

A funny thing happened on the way to $2.50-a-gallon gas this summer. It didn't get there. The average price for regular self-serve gasoline in California has now fallen for nearly three months, to just above $2 a gallon, the Energy Department reported Monday. That comes despite the busy summer driving season and a spurt in crude oil prices to record highs of nearly $50 a barrel.

California drivers who want to personalize their license plates now have a way to find out quickly whether the name or clever saying they have in mind has already been taken, the state Resources Agency announced Friday. The agency, which uses money from "vanity" plates to pay for environmental programs, has created a World Wide Web site with the Department of Motor Vehicles, enabling Internet users to search a database of 1.6 million existing personalized plates. At the Web site, http://plates.

Sticker shock at the pump is getting worse, the federal government said Monday as gasoline prices set record highs in California and across much of the nation. The average price U.S. drivers paid for regular self-serve gasoline climbed to a new high of $3.389 a gallon after rising 5.7 cents over the last week, the Energy Department said. The national average is up 51.3 cents in the last year because of high crude oil costs. The commodity closed Monday at a record $111.76 a barrel, up $1.62.

Gasoline prices took another leap nationwide during the last week, the Energy Department said Monday, with California motorists enjoying a rare period in which retail prices advanced more slowly here than elsewhere. Still, Californians paid the highest prices, averaging $3.228 for a gallon of self-serve regular, up 7.6 cents from the previous Monday and 48.5 cents higher than a year ago. California remains the only state where gasoline averages more than $3 a gallon. The U.S. average rose 9.

Valet parking operators in Los Angeles would be regulated for the first time under an ordinance the City Council approved unanimously on Wednesday. The new rules, subject to a second vote by the council, would require a valet operator in Los Angeles to obtain a permit, carry liability insurance, provide proof of off-street spaces for parking cars and ensure that valet workers had valid California driver's licenses. The ordinance would prohibit operators from using public street parking without permission and from blocking traffic.

Gasoline and diesel buyers got no relief Monday despite a drop in oil costs. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery declined $2.87 to close at $109.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Traders were reacting to lowered forecasts for U.S. economic growth and a potential cease fire in Libya. Pump prices continued the climb that began in September. The U.S. average for a gallon of regular gasoline jumped 10.7 cents in the week ended Monday to $3.791, or 93.3 cents higher than a year earlier, according to the Energy Department's weekly survey of service stations.