While the pandemic continues to impact the way you typically do life, organizations are still doing their best to provide relief amid the chaos. Many companies are taking steps to help people adjust to the unique environment that everyone now lives in.
Businesses like Facebook and Twitter are letting employees permanently work from home. Major corporations like PepsiCo are providing extra pay to front line workers who produce, transport, or deliver products. And some financial companies are covering 30 uses of emergency daycare for employees who suddenly find themselves without childcare.
But what about the companies that most of you don’t work for? What are those organizations doing? One example you can look at is the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The pandemic has unfortunately highlighted the DMV’s inefficiencies instead of bringing out its better side. With longer lines, unavailability, poor communication, and frequent delays, the DMV has become one of the worst organizations to deal with during the pandemic.
However, in an effort to meet consumers’ needs, the New York DMV is testing a program in the remaining months of 2020. The new effort is supposed to provide efficiency to relieve long wait times. But will it actually work during this unique time in your life?
The DMV’s new online services
The New York DMV is pushing more of its services online to accommodate the growing number of people who need the organization’s help.
The department recently announced that it’s jumpstarting a pilot program that will provide an online learner’s permit test for cars and motorcycles and allow people in several locations to register a vehicle online.
Most likely, the permit test will be a successful element in this pilot program. This exam already happens on a computer at the DMV, so setting it up online for people to take at home shouldn’t cause many complications.
Plus, the rules around it are pretty simple. Test takers just have to answer 50 questions, which should take about 45 to 60 minutes to complete. And if anyone is 16 or 17 years old, they’ll need a parent or guardian to supervise them while they take the exam.
For those who pass, they’ll receive an email on how to complete the process in-person at the DMV. For those who fail, there will be opportunities to retake the test.
Ultimately, the online learner’s permit exam isn’t something you should be too concerned about tackling. Taking the test sounds straightforward and easy. However, what doesn’t sound that simple is registering a vehicle online through the DMV.
This service will be available in counties with state-run DMV offices. Those counties include New York, Bronx, Kings, Richmond, Queens, Rockland, Nassau, Onondaga, Suffolk, Albany, and Westchester.
Eventually, the service will expand to other areas throughout the state — the department is working with DMV offices in other counties who need this option. But the expansion will likely depend on how successful online vehicle registration is in the counties that are already participating.
How to register a vehicle online through the DMV
For those of you who want to register a vehicle online through the New York DMV, you might assume that it’ll be simple. The DMV definitely makes it sound that way.
All you supposedly have to do is provide basic information about yourself and your vehicle. Then, you have to provide any required documents by uploading them or sending a picture.
Once you submit the application to register a vehicle, you’ll get an email or call from the DMV about the registration fee you need to pay. After your payment goes through, you’ll receive your license plates, temporary inspection stickers, and registration stickers in the mail. You’ll even get the original paperwork of your vehicle registration for your records.
It all sounds easy peasy. This process is the quick online method that the DMV has set up to register cars, vans, motorcycles, trailers, trucks, boats, ATVs, snowmobiles, and other recreational vehicles.
However, if you know anything about the DMV, it’s that it is notoriously difficult. This is the department’s first time providing vehicle registration online. And while it’s a notable effort, it’s doomed to fail.
Why the DMV’s online service won’t work
The pandemic is forcing many businesses to shift their operations online and use digital tools to maintain—or even increase—efficiency. Most companies can handle this demand because their leaders stepped into the digital era by adopting advanced technology long before the pandemic started.
But the DMV never took this step. Instead of innovating before COVID-19, the DMV continued to rely on slow, paper-driven processes. The department never invested in technology and software to serve customers online. And while the DMV is doing it now, it takes time for a business to implement new technology successfully.
Learning curves, errors, and bugs inevitably pop up when a company shifts to a more tech-savvy approach. Employees have to learn new processes; customer service reps need to know the answers to new questions; and web developers have to continually work through issues that initially come up.
However, the more significant problem is that the effort it takes to effectively implement technology on the backend will show up on the frontend. If you go on the DMV’s website to register a vehicle during its pilot program, you’ll likely run into technological issues.
Pages may load slowly or not load at all. The website may crash when too many people are on. Or, the application that you try to submit may never go through.
While these hiccups are understandable in the initial rollout, these inconveniences are hard to tolerate when these problems could’ve been avoided had the DMV implemented technology before the pandemic. If that would’ve happened, there would’ve been enough time to train employees and perfect the technology, guaranteeing you a seamless experience.
A better option to help you register a vehicle online
If working through the DMV’s learning curves sounds like a pain, then you have another option — and thankfully, it’s another online option.
Barry Risk Management, Inc. provides the opportunity to register a vehicle online. However, the best part is that the company has been offering this online service long enough to perfect the process.
There are no hiccups, mistakes, errors, or technological issues. With Barry Risk Management, Inc., you can register a vehicle without being guinea pigs in a pilot program.
Barry Risk Management, Inc.s’ online option is tried and true. All you have to do is get in touch with a representative, and that agent will help you register a vehicle in no time.
If you need to register a vehicle online, choose Barry Risk Management, Inc. by contacting a representative today!
