DMV Record Fee Could Nearly Quintuple

The cost of accessing an Oregon DMV record could soon quintuple. As I outlined in a report earlier this year, the state is moving to a new model for online commerce--one that will shift the cost of conducting businesses with the state online over to consumers, and away from the state's general fund. The move could save millions of tax dollars a year. State officials have said all along that most transactions will not be assessed an additional fee--that is, if a certain license or permit costs $50, that's the price you'll pay whether you buy it through the mail, online, or in-person. But some types of transactions will incur an additional "convenience fee" for the privilege of conducting business online. The idea is that consumers--mainly businesses--will happily pay a little extra if it the process is faster and easier than, say, writing a check and putting it in the mail.

Until now, the state has been mum on what kinds of "convenience fees" will be levied. But we're getting our first look at a solid proposal. Check out page 20 of this Power Point presentation, which will be presented Friday afternoon at a meeting of the Oregon E-government Portal Advisory Board. In it, the state recommends raising the fee for accessing a DMV record from $2 to $9.68, which represents a nearly five-fold increase.

State e-government officials point out that the current fee is among the lowest in the nation. The new charge would be $1.25 higher than the national average, but lower than the fee charged in Washington state. Of the proposed $9.68 charge, $3 would go to the Kansas-based company that the state has contracted with to run e-government services starting next year.

How does this affect you? In the short-term, you probably won't see any difference. For one thing, the higher fee will be charged only to companies called "disseminators" who purchase DMV records in bulk. Citizens will still be able to purchase their own DMV record for $2 (though I can't say I've met anyone who's actually done this). The disseminators typically buy records by the thousands and re-package them for sale to insurance companies. So it's possible the higher DMV record fee will be eventually be passed along to people who purchase car insurance. Of course, even if your insurance company purchases a new copy of your driving record every year, the extra $7.68 will represent a tiny fraction of most insurance policies. 

The E-government Portal Advisory Board will consider the proposal on Friday. If members approve, the recommendation will be passed along to the Oregon Department of Administrative Services, which gets final say. Oregon E-government manager Wally Rogers tells me there are no additional fee recommendations at this time.