Full Report (PDF) - Office of the Legislative Auditor

xMOTOR VEmCLE DEPUTY REGISTRARS• What are the revenues and expenses of deputy registrars? How doesthe cost per transaction vary among public deputies? How do profitsvary by size of private deputy?• What options are there for improving customer service or reducingcosts?To answer these questions, we surveyed motor vehicle officials from all 50 statesand interviewed deputy registrars and other interested parties. We collected financialdata from the Department of Public Safety and a sample of 101 deputy registrars.To measure customer waiting times, we made over 200 visits to deputyregistrars.In general, we found that most large deputies did well financially, but most smallpublic deputies lost money and most small private deputies had relatively low incomes.We found that most deputy registrars provide good customer service, andthere was no clear advantage for public or private deputies. To improve the system,we concluded that the focus should be on making the system more responsiveto the customer. DPS regulations that protect the financial interests of deputyregistrars tend to discourage changes that could improve customer service.MINNESOTA COMPARED WITH OTHERSTATESStates use a wide variety of systems to register and title motor vehicles and to renewdrivers' licenses. To provide access for the public, states supplement the statecentral office with state branch offices, county or municipal offices, or privateagents. Nine states use state employees exclusively. Another 17 states use a combinationof state employees and private agents. Twenty-five states delegate muchof the motor vehicle customer service function to counties or municipalities.Twelve of these 25 states, including Minnesota, use a combination oflocal governmentsand private agents.Twenty-ninestates useprivate agents,but the type ofservice theyprovide varieswidely.Altogether, we identified 29 states that use private agents in some capacity. Theservices provided by private agents vary widely among states, ranging from fullservice (driver's license renewals and motor vehicle titles and registration) to a singlefunction. Private agents in 22 states, including Minnesota, provide at least two .functions, usually motor vehicle titles and registration.We compared Minnesota's administrative fees with fees in states that clearly distinguishthe administrative fee from the tax (or user fee). We excluded feescharged by regi~on services in six states .because they provide differe~t servicesthan Minnesota's deputy registrars and because they are agents of the customerrather than agents of the state. Altogether, our comparison group included32 states for motor vehicle registration renewal, 30 states for motor vehicle titles,and 13 states for drivers' licenses. We found: