Update to interrupt car tag, license systems

A statewide computer system update this week will cause all services provided by county county tag offices and the Department of Driver Services to be offline through Monday, Jan. 18.

The Polk County Tax Commissioner’s office will be unable to process any motor vehicle transactions Jan. 13-18 due to the update. This includes all motor vehicle self-service kiosks.

Officials are strongly urging residents whose driver’s license or ID card is scheduled to expire that month to renew it before the Jan. 13-18 suspension of services. Renewals are allowed up to 150 days before the expiration date.

“This is an exciting and important technology upgrade for the State of Georgia,” DDS Commissioner Spencer R. Moore said in a release. “It will provide customer service enhancements and increased safeguards for personal information.”

The shift is expected to take just two days but Jan. 18 is the Martin Luther King Jr. Day state holiday.

The closure will apply to both in-person and electronic services. When the agency restarts on Jan. 19, anyone using the DDS online services will be prompted to reestablish their existing account for security purposes. Officials also are asking for patience as employees adjust to the new system.

DDS has been planning the transition to DRIVES – Driver Record and Integrated Vehicle Enterprise System – since 2017. It is a partnership with the Georgia Department of Revenue to merge each agency’s motor vehicle function.

For DDS, it will replace the system used to process licenses with a more modern interface with added enhancements.

The Polk County Tax Commissioner’s office advises that walkin customers may experience delays and longer than normal wait times in the days immediately following the update. To avoid such delays, Georgia residents with January and February renewal dates are encouraged to renew prior to Wednesday.

Customers and dealers seeking to conduct any title transactions should complete their business with the county tag office prior to Wednesday, and dealers will be able to initiate electronic title and registration transactions and issue temporary operating permits over this weekend.

Law enforcement will still have access to motor vehicle records during the interruption through a statewide backup file.