State Reps. Kupchick & Devlin Look to Remedy DMV Service Problems

From State Reps. Brenda Kupchick: To better increase convenience and efficiency, State Reps. Brenda Kupchick (R-132) & Laura Devlin (R-134) submitted testimony in support of their proposal that would expand the use of contractors used by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The legislation, House Bill 6057: An Act Concerning the Department of Motor Vehicles and Service Agreements would push the DMV to enter into agreements with contractors to issue licenses and motor vehicle registrations and perform other services related to motor vehicles.

The proposal was prompted for Reps. Kupchick and Devlin after the state DMV failed with their negotiations with AAA Northeast, a branch of AAA that services Fairfield and New Haven Counties, after DMV elected to limit their license and ID card renewal services at branch locations only to AAA members, forcing the rest of the general public to solicit these services from DMV branch locations. This was due to the large increase of non-members using the service to avoid the long wait times at DMV offices in Fairfield County.

“It is no secret that DMV has struggled for years to provide good service for Connecticut drivers with wait times often lasting for hours. AAA service centers offered customers a much easier process, with shorter lines and wait times. The break between the state and AAA leaves Fairfield residents without the opportunity to use efficient service centers like AAA. The result is residents using DMV branch locations in Fairfield and New Haven counties will experience much longer wait times. State government has an obligation to ensure residents are provided with prompt and efficient service,” said Rep. Kupchick.

Rep. Devlin, a member of the Transportation committee said, “CT drivers should not pay the price because DMV and AAA could not come to an agreement to continue to provide license and ID renewal services. Forcing our local residents to now go to a DMV branch will only make wait times at DMV worse, costing our residents time and in some cases, lost wages. Our residents deserve better options; that's why this bill is important. It will alleviate additional pressure on OMV branch locations and ensure customers are provided with appropriate service."

According to AAA Northeast, one of the challenges is that Connecticut licenses have is they must be REAL ID compliant, a federally secure standard that increases processing time by almost 50 percent.

The number of AAA office transactions has nearly doubled while the number of non-member transactions has increased from 17 percent five years ago to nearly 50 percent in 2016.

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