PACIFIC BEACH – Shaundra Flanigan’s family-owned and run auto registration business is still going strong 23 years after it started at the crossroads of downtown Pacific Beach.

Finest City Registration, which started in 2002 on Cass Street, says it is licensed to help the public with all its CA DMV registration needs.

One of the first to become licensed to have CA DMV programs in its office, Finest City is a business partners with the CA DMV. That distinction allows it to access records and aid people in all walks of life with registration issues.

Business founder and owner Flanigan, who was doing computer office work for a couple of independent car dealers before launching Finest City as a sideline, started upstairs in a tiny office at the corner of Cass and Loring streets.

“I saw people going around doing their DMV, their recording, and all that, and I said, ‘I want to do that,’ she said. “And that’s where it all started.”

Flanigan noted that years ago, people weren’t allowed to open a public auto registration office like Finest City.

“Approximately 17 years ago, [the DMV] opened up more and more to the public to get licensing like us from the state to do [registration] and they gave us DMV computers,” she said.

Flanigan pointed out that many of Finest City’s patrons have sought them out over the years because of the convenience of their central PB location and the time savings involved in handling registration there rather than traveling to a DMV center.

With years of experience and expertise in CA DMV registration, Finest City can offer assistance to people trying to simply renew or transfer a title without need for an appointment. Given that PB has residents from all over, Flanigan noted Finest City, besides registering vehicles, is now also licensed to do physical vehicle inspections, collect the proper fees, and issue registrations for California license plates onsite.

Flanigan added the majority of their customers say they are so pleased with Finest City, which just celebrated its 11th year at their current site, that they say they’ll never go to the regular DMV again.

Rory Flanigan, Shaundra’s son, has been working for her since he was in college.

“He’s going to probably take over,” she said. “We work with a lot of independent car dealers, probably 50 or so, and we don’t charge for any of your paperwork.”

Finest City has four full-time employees in PB, as well as a part-time DMV runner in training. Flanigan said it takes 10 to 15 minutes to handle the needs of a typical client.

“DMV loves forms, they’re not electronic yet,” she said, adding Finest City serves the poor and wealthy alike. “We have some rich clients who have several cars in their personal garages who just don’t like paperwork and want everything done at once for them so it’s in their name,” she said. “And once they find us, they just want to use us again and again.”

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