Nearly a month after the state’s Driver and Vehicle Services updated its computer mainframe, local residents are still waiting for business to return to normal.
“We are at about 20 percent functionality,” said Rock County’s Auditor-Treasurer Ashley Kurtz last week. “With all the different types of transactions, the system needs to be able to process with 100 percent functionality.”
The upgrades took place July 17-24 at each of the state’s 300 motor vehicle offices. Each office experienced delays in service after the upgrades were completed.
The upgrades replaced the 30-year-old Minnesota Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS), according to the state’s Department of Public Safety website.
Locally that meant the license plate tab renewals, title transfers, new plates and other motor vehicle transactions were taking longer than usual to complete.
The new computer upgrade did not affect the driver’s license operations.
Pete Connell is the title clerk with Papik Motors, Luverne. He said the timeline changed significantly after the upgrade.
“Normally it would take only a day. Now it takes almost two weeks,” he said.
Transactions involving another state are taking even longer to be accepted into the statewide computer system, forcing vehicle owners to contact the dealership for temporary permit extensions.
Meg Nelson with the Rock County Deputy Registrar Office said working through the new system errors is taking time.
“It’s been real frustrating,” she said. “I want to do my job but can’t.”
Co-worker David Wrigg said the new system has required re-entering information more than once.
He said he had to “start from scratch” on several motor vehicle applications after the new system issued error messages indicating information was not saved.
Calls to state officials has yielded some mainframe fixes, but not all the errors have been eliminated and local offices are not functioning at 100 percent.
“As long as people have patience and understanding, it will be OK,” Nelson said. “In the last week, we have come a long way.”
Other state Department of Public Service divisions such as the state patrol and local law enforcement have been notified of the driver and vehicle services delays.
Vehicle tabs with a July renewal date have been extended until Aug. 31. Other vehicle transactions such as temporary permits have also received extended deadlines.
For more information about possible delays, contact the local deputy registrar office at 507-283-5024.