For motor vehicle agencies, verifying that every registered vehicle is insured is a core safety responsibility but one that has traditionally required significant time, staff and manual oversight. In Rhode Island, that challenge became an opportunity to rethink how insurance compliance could be monitored more efficiently, accurately and with less burden on DMV operations.

The Rhode Island DMV, the Department of Insurance and industry stakeholders launched this effort collectively in 2014. After a competitive procurement process, the state selected MV Solutions (MVS) to help design and implement a new verification program that went live later in 2014.

At the center of the initiative is an electronic, ongoing insurance verification system that compares DMV registration data against insurance records submitted by carriers across the state, quickly identifying lapses in coverage. Once an uninsured vehicle is identified, “it starts the clock,” says MVS President Shawn Goff. MVS then initiates a notification and letter campaign, with subsequent follow-up letters as needed. Customers must obtain insurance or surrender their registration, or it is revoked by the DMV.

“DMVs across the country are stressed with the number of tasks placed on us. Any time we can find a solution to reduce that burden means we can put resources in other directions to further improve customer experiences.”
Bud Craddock, Administrator of the Rhode Island DMV

The web-based system, which allows insurance providers and agents to respond to customer letters in real time, now supports communication with 344 insurance companies and enables approximately 2,000 insurance agents to assist customers directly through the electronic portal. Since implementation, Rhode Island has reduced the number of uninsured vehicles by more than 50%.

“Rhode Island was at the forefront of this electronic system, which provides a more
efficient process for customers to become compliant,” Goff says. “There have been numerous states that have since followed Rhode Island’s lead.”

Refining DMV Services

The program has matured and improved since 2014, with the DMV and MVS working together to refine timelines and enforcement processes. That includes reducing the enforcement timeline from 90 days to 30 days, says Bud Craddock, administrator of the Rhode Island DMV. Craddock is also the current AAMVA board chair.

This underlying partnership, including among the larger insurance industry and
the Department of Insurance, has been pivotal. “Working with insurance companies was instrumental for getting buy-in from the legislature. Without getting a law on the books, we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” Craddock says. “Anytime you can find partners that are easy to work with—that you trust—those relationships go a long way.”

Equally important has been the impact on DMV operations and customer experience. MVS handles outbound notices and frontline customer support for insurance compliance. “We were able to reassign people to the front-end services, the true customer touch points,” Craddock says, helping reduce wait times and improve overall service delivery. “DMVs across the country are stressed with the number of tasks placed on us. Any time we can find a solution to reduce that burden means we can put resources in other directions to further improve customer experiences.”

Both partners see opportunities to build on the program’s success, including through shorter compliance windows, which already exist in other jurisdictions, Goff says. “These process improvements we’ve made—reducing the number of letters going out, more accurately identifying uninsured drivers, giving customers and agents the ability to respond to these notices electronically through the portal—it’s truly having an impact on reducing uninsured vehicles,” Goff says.