The Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is ready to resume assessing late fees on First State motorists.
Gov. John Carney’s COVID Emergency Order ends Tuesday, July 13.
And that’s prompting Delaware’s Division of Motor Vehicles to end its suspension of late fees. It will start assessing fees on expired vehicle registrations and/or driver’s licenses on Monday, August 2.
“The reason that we had implemented this was we really - during the height of the pandemic - we really didn’t want people having to come into DMV if they didn’t absolutely have to do so," said C.R. McLeod - the director of community relations for DelDOT. "So as a convenience we did waive all of those fees that came with your driver’s license being expired, your car registration being expired. So those were just some of the things that we implemented during the pandemic.”
McLeod emphasizes that expirations that occurred between March 14, 2020 through August 1, 2021, but have been renewed are not subject to late fees - only new and current expirations as of August 2, 2021 will be charged.
If you do have an expired (car) registration or driver’s license,up until August 2 you can get it renewed with no penalty," said McLeod. "And that’s why we’re really trying to get out ahead of this now and give everyone several weeks notice.”
McLeod says there are currently 186,581 expired car registrations in the state. The late fee is $20, which would equal about $3.7 million in late fees.
McLeod reminds Delwareans driver’s license or vehicle registrations can be handled online.
DMV buildings return to full capacity Tuesday, July 13 and pre-COVID Class D road tests and counter eye exams also resume, with specific guidance in place from the Div. of Public Health to protect both customers and staff.
July 13 also marks the return of driver license/vehicle registration suspensions for bad checks, along with uninsured motorist customer notifications for any outstanding balance owed to DMV.
