RALEIGH — Long wait times and appointment slots being booked solid for months in advance are just two of the more recent frustrations North Carolinians face at the N.C. Department of Motor Vehicles (NCDMV). While the agency has already added several online services and additional hours for in-person appointments, more relief may be coming this fall.
The NCDMV is planning to introduce self-service kiosks in grocery stores, and the first set of kiosks will be placed in Cumberland, Mecklenburg and Wake counties.
According to NCDMV Communications Manager Marty Homan, services will be similar to what can be accessed online.
Through the self-service kiosk, citizens will be able to renew driver’s licenses and ID cards, order replacement or duplicate cards, and upgrade to full provisional licenses as well as pay administrative hearing fees.
Vehicle services will include registration renewals, ordering duplicate registrations, being able to pay property taxes and changing one’s address.
In a later phase of the plan, one may be able to order personalized license plates or renew a permanent disability placard through the kiosks.
It is unclear at this point if voter registration will be offered through the kiosks in the future.
“It’s looking like we’ll have a small handful of kiosks roll out this fall, up to 10 by the end of the year, and the full 20 by the end of Q1 2024,” Homan said in an email to North State Journal.
Homan also said that the kiosk plan was part of House Bill 199, an N.C. Department of Transportation agency bill. While the provision for the kiosks is not currently in the bill, Homan said the NCDMV hopes to add this portion back to the bill or that it could be included in another bill.
House Bill 199 passed the House 111-5 in May but is still working its way through Senate committees. The kiosk provision is not in the current version, and while the final budget has not yet been published, the current text does not include language or funding for the proposed kiosks.
The cost for the kiosks is not yet known, with Homan indicating they are “not under contract at this point” and that the kiosk vendor would “be paid via a convenience/processing fee, similar to how PayIt gets paid for online services.”
