For Immediate Release:  January 3, 2010

MVA OFFERS CUSTOMERS FIVE CONVENIENT OPTIONS
AS VEHICLE REGISTRATION RENEWALS CHANGE FOR 2011

Use of Technology Means Walk-In Renewals at Branch Offices Will Be Phased Out

GLEN BURNIE, MD (January 3, 2011) --- The MVA is offering five options to renew one's vehicle registration starting January 2011.  The options include renewals by new, improved MVA kiosk, renewing online, by mail or telephone and renewing through tag/title services and dealers.  The vehicle registration renewal options eliminate the need for a visit to an MVA branch office for an over-the-counter renewal transaction.  Starting in January 2011, in-person, over-the-counter vehicle registration renewals will no longer be offered at MVA branch offices. 

Today, more than 70% of the registration renewals are done by alternatives that make it possible for all drivers with registration renewals in good standing to avoid a trip to an MVA branch office.  However, anyone who has a flag or insurance violation on their vehicle's record and cannot complete their transactions through an alternative service will still need to conduct their transaction over the counter at an MVA branch office. 

To renew your vehicle registration, customers can use one of the five convenient options that include:

• Renewing by MVA Kiosk.  Kiosk locations can be found at www.mva.maryland.gov/Hours-Locations/default.asp. 
  The new kiosks can actually provide the customer with the registration document and the appropriate license tag sticker. Kiosks also take cash, checks and credit cards.
• Renewing on line by using the MVA's online services at www.mva.maryland.gov.
• Renewing by mail.
• Renewing by telephone by calling 1-888-834-7344.
• Finding a tag/title service or dealer at www.mva.maryland.gov/Vehicle-Services/REG/titleagents.htm and let them renew your registration for you.

These options will reduce overall wait times at branch offices and increase efficiency. The automation of the renewals will allow MVA resources to be reallocated.  Staff who currently handle walk in registration renewals will be reassigned within the MVA to more efficiently handle the work load for the more than twelve million transactions the MVA completes each year.

The MVA has grown and changed in the more than twenty years since its "annual tag rush" days when Maryland drivers lined up, brought their lunches and books to read, and waited to renew their vehicle registrations during the month of March at the newly constructed Glen Burnie office on Ritchie Highway. The infamous tag rush was replaced in 1986 with a staggered registration system.  In November 1998, the MVA became the first in the country to offer vehicle registration via the Internet, telephone and self-service kiosk through the MVA's Access Maryland network.

The MVA has set up a dedicated telephone line for questions exclusively on the vehicle registration renewal options.  For questions on how to renew one's vehicle registration, call 1-888-834-7344.

CONTACT:
Buel Young
Caryn Coyle
MVA Organization Relations
(410) 762-5188