Long Lines Continue at DMV After Software Rollout

Long lines and packed parking lots greeted Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles customers again Wednesday, the day after the state agency rolled out a new computer system.

After spending hours at the DMV yesterday, some people returned Wednesday after being told that their car titles were missing from the system.

"I fell asleep twice. Wake up. Still didn’t call my number. It was so backed up you couldn’t even breathe," said Yvette Thompson-Brentley.

After 13 hours at the Enfield DMV, Wednesday afternoon she said she was no closer to getting her new car registered than she was on Tuesday.

She wasn't alone.

"Absolutely terrible. I was here yesterday for eight hours, got nowhere. I was on the phone for three hours," said Enfield resident Robert Bernier.

DMV officials said of the 40 million records transferred during last week’s upgrade, there have been 900 instances of missing data so far.

After seeing long waits at the main office in Wethersfield on Tuesday, some people tried the Enfield branch instead. While there were fewer customers, the DMV’s online wait time calculator showed the wait was actually slightly longer for some services in Enfield, including registration and express.

"I just thought that they would have more people on and they would extend hours to help facilitate the lines and make them more quickly," said Laurie Lafreniere, of Suffield.

The DMV is encouraging customers to get out of line and go online. Some 1,000 people stood in line Tuesday when they could have taken advantage of online services instead.

The DMV has expanded its online services and enlisted the help of AAA to take care of some in-person services, like license renewals.

"We really expected a lot of foot traffic given what you’re seeing at DMV. We’re really surprised that more people have not been coming in," said AAA Spokesperson Amy Parmenter.

Greg Gibb didn’t have to wait at all to get his license renewed at AAA.

"It turned out to be a much better decision than standing in line for hours at the DMV," said Gibb.

There is a $3 service fee at AAA, but Gibb says the 15 minutes he spent getting his license was worth not having to wait in line.

For more information about the DMV’s computer upgrade, see the fact sheet online.

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