DMV to Begin Online Auto Registration
Beginning in April, one of the few things you still can’t do on the Internet--register your car--will finally be available to some California motorists.
In a joint announcement with IBM, the California Department of Motor Vehicles said 30% of the state’s registered vehicles--about 7.5 million cars, trucks, motorcycles, trailers and vessels--will initially be eligible for online registration.
Eligibility will depend on whether an owners’ insurer provides online proof of insurance. Currently only Mercury Insurance, the California State Automobile Assn. of Northern California and the California State Automobile Assn. of Southern California do so.
Owners will be able to log on to the department’s Web site atwww.dmv.ca.gov, follow a list of instructions, provide the DMV with a credit card number to cover the registration fees and presto, their cars will be registered. Two days later, the DMV will put their new stickers in the mail.
“For those people who are now using the Internet, it’s going to be a more convenient way to renew their registration,” said DMV spokesman Bill Gengler.
Gengler said the Internet initiative grew out of Gov. Gray Davis’ commitment to use technology to improve government services, but it was IBM’s agreement to cover some of the initial cost that got the project off the ground.
In the first year, the project will cost an estimated $2 million, with $1.6 million of that expense being paid by IBM, leaving the state having to invest $400,000. IBM will provide the software, hardware and technical assistance for the registration program.
Gengler said California-based Mercury and the two auto clubs are the only insurers participating in a voluntary program that allows them to submit proof of insurance electronically for each of their customers.
A spokesman for the insurance industry said companies that do business nationally have not been provided with a compatible DMV computer linkup.
State law requires that motorists submit proof of insurance with their automobile registration, and that requirement has been a stumbling block for online registration. Officials said the only way around it is for the insurance carrier to agree to provide the proof to the department via computer hookup.
“We’re now hoping that additional insurance companies will come online so this process can be made available to more motorists,” Gengler said.
But legislation last year that would have required all carriers to provide proof of insurance directly to the department by computer was bitterly opposed by the insurance industry.
Dan Dunmoyer, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, said experience in other states had caused many in the industry to shy away from the proposal. He said that in some states computer glitches had created a consumer backlash when hundreds of motorists were notified erroneously that they had not paid their insurance premiums. He said the notifications were sent out automatically in cases for which the computer could not match names and addresses.
“We will continue to see if a realistic computer system can be developed, but we won’t stick our customers into it until it actually works,” Dunmoyer said. “If it would work we’d be there because it would save us money too but DMV has yet to solve that problem.”
Proof that a vehicle has passed its Smog Check is also required with some registrations, but that has not created a problem for the online program. Smog Check stations already are linked by computer to the DMV.
