1-800-MVC-HELP? Legislature seeks online transaction hotline

TRENTON – The state Motor Vehicle Commission wants you to complete your transactions online – so now the Legislature might require them to set up a toll-free hotline to help.

The Assembly transportation committee unanimously advanced the bill, A5686, requiring it Wednesday.

“We heard that there’s a large number of folks that could be doing online that aren’t,” said Assemblyman Dan Benson, D-Mercer. “But we also heard from a lot of constituents that the online transactions are not as simple or easy and oftentimes they run into barriers.”

“Having a hotline to assist those customers with those transactions would be a win-win, both for Motor Vehicles reducing the lines for in-person while at the same time being a boon for those that no longer would have to go in person,” he said.

During the pandemic, which caused a backlog because MVC agencies were closed for nearly four months, the agency began making many more transactions available online, including license renewals and replacements and 30 vehicle transactions, including replacement of a lost registration.

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People continue to make in-person appointments for license renewals, even though that isn’t necessary, and the MVC’s systems are going to be fixed in an attempt to prevent that. Even people who renew a license in person receive it through the mail.

The bill was amended to require the hotline to operate, at a minimum, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The original bill would kept the hotline open until 5:30 p.m.

Michael Symons is State House bureau chief for New Jersey 101.5. Contact him at michael.symons@townsquaremedia.com.

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