TUCSON, Ariz. - Our new world of social distancing will keep you out of line at Arizona’s Motor Vehicle Division and send you on-line instead.
Coronavirus just keeps making changes to the routines of life and there’s another place where that’s happening---ADOT.
Offices are close to empty at ADOT’s Motor Vehicle Division. For most MVD business going to the Service Arizona web siteis not just more convenient, it’s encouraged more strongly than ever.
They want you to call ahead and make an appointment if you must come in person---and that is a call, not an on-line reservation.
Doug Nick of ADOT says, “It's between business hours. 7:30 in the morning to 4:30 in the afternoon, Monday through Friday. We have a new statewide customer service line it's actually a 602 number, 602-712-2700,
Usually an in-person visit is for something like a first time Arizona License where they need to take your picture or if you have a complex car title issue.
If your Arizona license is about to expire, Doug Nick says you can postpone renewal.
“The governor's executive order of a few weeks ago, gave people whose licenses expire between March 1 and September 1, an additional six months before they need to come back in to get that redone so that's automatically done nobody needs to come in for another six months, if you fall in that category.“
There’s no extension on car registrations because they’re routinely handled on-line under normal circumstances.
Renewing your registration may require an emissions test. That part's not really ADOT it’s the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. That agency offers a one year extension on inspections but only for people 65 and older because they are at greater risk from COVID. There’s an extension fee of nine dollars and fifty cents.
To reduce exposure at the emissions test, inspectors ask drivers to connect the plug for the testing equipment. That helps inspectors avoid entering the car.
ADOT wants you to know it’s computers will be shut down part of next week from Saturday April 18th to Tuesday April 21. It’s for a major system upgrade that was in the works long before the COVID outbreak.
