Still suffering in line at the state Motor Vehicle Commission agencies? The boss of New Jersey’s DMV said you don’t have to, especially after two new laws were signed by Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday night.
MVC Chief Administrator Sue Fulton said that by the numbers, MVC workers are processing up to 272,000 transactions weekly to reduce a four-month backlog when agencies were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We are conscious these lines are still too long,” Fulton said Friday at the state’s latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton. “Don’t believe everything on Facebook, no one needs to camp out. When agencies open, blue tickets are passed out and you’ll be contacted by phone (when to return.)”
Murphy signed two laws designed to take more people out of lines at agencies and let them do business on the MVC website.
One new law allows all drivers to reuse current photos already on file with the MVC to renew driver’s licenses online. Before that, drivers were only allowed to reuse those digital images once to “Skip the Trip” to the agency and a second renewal required an in-person visit to have a new photo taken.
That means drivers have to make an in-person trip to the agency once every 12 years to renew a standard license, Fulton said. Photos of seniors age 65 and up are valid indefinitely, she said.
“You don’t need a PIN (personal identification number) to renew online — that’s what governor signed, (and) seniors don’t need to renew their license in person," she said.
Because of that, Fulton said license and other document expiration dates will not be extended.
“With the new bill, all the renewals can be done online. We don’t anticipate extending them,” she said. “The reason for the extension was the crowds in agencies.”
That doesn’t mean crowds will disappear.
Transactions that still require an in person visit to an agency include out-of-state transfer of licenses and registrations for new residents, federally regulated commercial drivers licenses and private sales of used cars, Fulton said.
“Private sale (and registration) of used cars...require us to examine documents for security and fraud,” she said.
The second law signed by Murphy doubles the time that new residents have to get a New Jersey driver’s license and to title and register their cars, from 60 to 120 days, until the COVID-19 health emergency is over.
A provision of new laws also allows seniors or people with documented medical conditions that prevent them from wearing a face mask, to make an appointment with the MVC to register and title a vehicle they bought privately. Now that requires an in-person visit at an agency. Drivers requesting an appointment must have a condition that has been verified by a medical doctor and file out a form.
“We’ll be rolling out a plan in the coming days,” Fulton said.
Both laws were intended to ease the long lines and extreme waits drivers have experienced since MVC agencies reopened on July 7. Drivers have lined up as early as the night before to be first in line when agencies opened the next morning to do transactions that they cannot do on the MVC website.
Republican legislators have criticized the agency reopening process, the resulting chaos and questioned how much planning went into it, compared to what DMVs in other states did.
Fulton said that once patrons get inside agencies, staff has tried and found new procedures to process transactions faster.
Other MVC bills still pending in the legislature include extending some document expiration dates to Jan. 2, 2022 for senior citizens over 55, letting teens who pass their road test use their permit as a temporary license and starting a pilot program to let people virtually use the website to reserve a spot to “wait” in line at the MVC agency.
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.
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