Calif. Dept. of Motor Vehicles Unveils New Web Site

Department of Motor Vehicles Director George Valverde announced the launch of a brand new public service marketing campaign for 2007 -- "Driving Change," and an enhanced Web site -- all designed to encourage customers to "Save Time, Go Online," by utilizing the department's recent string of new and innovative online services. The DMV's new-look Web site is located at www.dmv.ca.gov.

"Our goal is to drive customers to do business on their time, not ours, through our newly-improved Web site," DMV Director George Valverde said during a morning media briefing at the department's South Sacramento Field Office. "We are extremely proud of the enhancements to the site and our very first marketing campaign."

The campaign features fun and creative billboards and entertaining radio spots, all working to help promote the fast and efficient services offered on the DMV Web site. Other DMV-driven marketing opportunities include ongoing grassroots outreach efforts, including partnership development, ethnic outreach, event participation and educating Californians how they can save time by conducting their DMV business online.
Outdoor billboards are being placed in the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus County and greater San Diego areas along major thoroughfares and high-traffic intersections. The radio portion of the campaign consists of :30 and :60-second spots in English and Spanish in the San Diego, Los Angeles, San Bernardino/Riverside, Modesto and Sacramento regions.

The California DMV -- one of the nation's first motor vehicle departments to offer online services to customers -- has created an online renaissance. Vehicle Registration Internet Renewals numbered approximately 3.9 million during 2006, an increase of 34 percent from 2005. More than 976,000 online driver license renewals have been logged since September 2004, and the Department is adding a new online feature every 120 days.

And just last week, the number of Californians who have signed up to become organ and/or tissue donors on the state's Donate Life California Organ & Tissue Online Registry surpassed 1 million -- more than 695,000 of which were registered through the DMV and its Web site. The DMV is also nearing an additional Internet milestone: 500,000 personalized plate reservations.

In addition to renewing vehicle registrations online, customers can also use the DMV Web site to:

• Renew driver's licenses and vehicle registration
• Purchase personalized plates
• Check the license status of driver's education or traffic schools, new or used vehicle dealers and more
• File change of address or vehicle transfer forms
• Calculate fees and taxes due
• Request refunds
• Find the nearest DMV offices, hours of operation and wait times
• Schedule office appointments for up to three transactions or for three separate customers
• Make appointments for both car and motorcycle driving skill tests
• Study the Driver's Handbook, the Motorcycle Handbook, the Parent-Teen Training Guide and more
• Take interactive driver's license exams
• Answer the most frequently asked questions in extensive archives

The DMV is a department under the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, which is under the direction of Acting Secretary Barry R. Sedlik. The DMV licenses drivers, maintains driving records, registers and tracks official ownership of vehicles and vessels, investigates auto and identity-related fraud, and licenses car dealers, driving schools, and traffic violator schools.
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