FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, July 27, 2009

Commissioner David J. Swarts of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) today commemorated the 10th anniversary of the agency's launch of the public's ability to perform transactions on the DMV's Internet site.

"The Department has been a pioneer among government agencies in developing a website that is not only consumer-friendly but facilitates the conduct of business over the Internet and I congratulate the DMV's Information Technology staff on reaching this significant milestone," Commissioner Swarts said. "Continually improving customer service is a major part of the core mission of the DMV and the web-based services have proven to be a faster, more convenient and cost-effective way to serve our customers."

DMV began offering two web site transactions on July 27, 1999, which were registration renewals and custom and personalized plate ordering. During the first year, customers conducted more than 17,800 registration renewals and ordered more than 7,800 custom or personalized plates. By comparison, in 2008 there were nearly 1.4 million registration renewals and nearly 24,000 custom or personalized plates ordered using the Internet.

During the past decade, the usage of those two transactions has grown an average of nearly 50 percent per year and more than 7.8 million customers have been served online. The DMV has steadily enhanced the functionality of the web site, usually adding three to four new transactions each year.

Today, customers can conduct a total of 35 transactions online. Among other things, they can renew a license or registration; schedule a road test; order an abstract of their driver record; pay suspension termination and road test fees; order and access motor vehicle accident reports; and replace a title certificate. In total, 37.7 million customers have been served utilizing the Internet since 1999.

In addition to conducting transactions, DMV customers can use the web site to find information on a specific topic, download and print DMV forms or publications, access the driver manual, or utilize the web site for many business purposes, among others.

This year also marks another milestone. It is the 10-year anniversary of DMV's acceptance of credit and debit card payments. Customers can conveniently use their American Express, Discover, MasterCard or VISA cards to pay virtually any fee collected by DMV.

For more information on the services available on the Internet by the DMV, visit the agencies web site at: nysdmv.com.