Registration renewals, title transfers and other vehicle-related transactions resumed this week at county clerk offices as the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) launched its new vehicle information system.
Those services had been temporarily unavailable since Dec. 29 to complete the transfer of more than 350 million records to the Kentucky Automated Vehicle Information System (KAVIS).
“We are rounding third on the KAVIS rollout, and I’m pleased with how things are going and the collaboration it has taken to get to this point,” said KYTC Office of Information Technology Director Heather Stout. “We are committed to seeing this through, working through any challenges and being available to support the system’s users.”
KYTC implemented a phased rollout of KAVIS, with more counties joining online each day.
Anderson County Clerk Jason Denny has one of the first offices to test the system and resume operations with the public. He said, as expected, clerk offices are experiencing some technical challenges that have resulted in lag times or the inability to complete certain transactions.
Those system errors are reported back to KYTC in real time and many issues have been resolved.
Denny is also pleased that, for the most part, customers have been understanding of the growing pains.
“Whether it came from the governor’s office, the transportation cabinet, KACo or the local counties, the message [about the KAVIS rollout] got out to the majority of people,” Denny said. “So we all did something right there. Customers are being patient.”
KAVIS replaces a 45-year-old mainframe system. The platform now allows Kentuckians to keep their license plate when a vehicle is sold and transfer it to another vehicle.
Vehicle owners are also now required to present their photo ID with their registration renewal, which should allow KAVIS to capture information about other cars, trucks or boats associated with that owner. Merging those records will help identify when a person has past-due taxes that must be paid before any registration is renewed.
Denny said one customer came in owing $290 for current taxes owed and renewal fees. When his accounts were merged showing all vehicles on record, the total rose to $686 because of delinquent taxes.
“That’s going to surprise some customers,” Denny said. “The state and taxing districts are going to get a lot of back-due money.”
The KAVIS rollout is ongoing, and county officials continue to remind residents of possible delays in completing transactions.
All county clerk offices are expected to reopen their motor vehicle departments over the next week.
