As motor vehicle administrations around North America strive to get more work accomplished with fewer people on staff, technological solutions have played an important role. One jurisdiction, Georgia, has done so by instituting electronic titling and registration (ETR).

The state requires all auto dealers (except those who sell fewer than 10 cars per month on average) to use electronic titling and registration software. When a car is sold, dealers enter the buyer and car information into the system, and it is transmitted directly to the proper authorities at the state motor vehicle offices.

Brent Bennett, director, Motor Vehicle Division of the Georgia Department of Revenue (DOR), sees the ETR system as a way to leverage private partnership to successfully meet the needs of Georgia’s constituents. “The process is expedited not just internally but also for the customer,” he says. “Because the information is preloaded for us, we don’t have to manually enter that information. This allows our customers to receive their documentation much more expeditiously.”

Auto dealers utilize third-party vendor software to access the DOR system, and those vendors bear the responsibility for any updates to the particular product being used, technical support for the dealership users, as well as quality control for the information that goes into the system.

The standard titling and registration procedure would have seen dealers sending paperwork to the county motor vehicle offices by overnight delivery or courier. Staff would input the information, issue the title documents, then wait for the consumer to visit to retrieve their plates, all resulting in numerous touch points for DMV staff.

One vendor Georgia uses in concert with auto dealerships is operated by DLRdmv, a company established in 2016, which has also implemented its e-titling software in Florida. DLRdmv Vice President Justin Davis outlines benefits of ETR for multiple stakeholders.

For consumers, ETR streamlines the process of getting permanent tags; they receive a plate in the mail as opposed to having to make an in-person visit. ”Dealers can do something electronically for $10 instead of sending a FedEx with a self-addressed stamped envelope to get the title back; so, you save $15 just in FedEx fees,” Davis says. “Not to mention that the paperwork is out of your hands, and you don’t know when it’s coming back, and if it gets rejected, you might have to FedEx back a second or third time.”

Auto dealers also get a boost in their customer experience ratings when buyers don’t have to visit the DMV for their plates. And because titling and registration data is in the system nearly instantly after a car purchase, law enforcement can rely on the information they retrieve even when they run a temporary tag. “Because of the electronic process, every temporary operating permit (TOP) that’s assigned by a dealer has a specific date,” Bennett adds. “When law enforcement runs the TOP, they can tell when that plate was issued and when it expires, so they can know whether or not this taxpayer would be in violation. So, it definitely helps law enforcement.”

Davis also speculates that ETR has an environmental benefit. “At the very least, 1.5 million car trips were taken off the road for that first year, for each consumer going to get their own plate. Plus, dealers aren’t driving those title applications in. If each of those trips is about 10 miles, we’re saving tons of CO2 [from going into the atmosphere], not to mention avoiding the fender benders and wrecks.”