PHOENIX – For many Arizonans, transferring a vehicle title may no longer require a visit to an Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division or an Authorized Third Party office.  MVD has unveiled the eTitle online service, which gives many customers the option to do this transaction on their computer, tablet or mobile device.

“Going to an MVD or third-party office can be time-consuming, so having  eTitle available for basic customer-to-customer transactions simplifies the process by allowing many customers to do this online,” said MVD Director Eric Jorgensen. “People go online to do their banking, pay bills, file taxes and a lot more, so expanding our digital offerings to include basic title transfers is a common-sense innovation. It’s one more way MVD is getting Arizonans out of line and safely on the road.”

A basic transfer is one in which the seller must be an individual owner, or two or more owners who have the “or” legal status. The vehicle must be titled and registered in Arizona and have no liens or brands (such as salvage title). The buyer must be an individual owner with an Arizona credential.

With eTitle, the first step is for the buyer and seller to each set up a personal account at AZ MVD Now, an online portal available through ServiceArizona.com where customers establish a secure online account to do multiple MVD transactions.

AZ MVD Now uses multi-factor security protocols requiring an account to be password-protected and verified by sending the customer a text or phone message to verify the security code. Out-of-state residents cannot use the system.

 

The eTitle process should not begin until after shopping and negotiations are done, and both parties are ready.  It takes just a few minutes but customers are given 24 hours to complete the process.

eTitle guides the buyer and seller through the process and once completed, the title information is verified and updated in the MVD database. Paper titles are more susceptible to fraud, so eTitle is a consumer protection enhancement as well as a convenience.

With the transfer complete, the buyer can print a temporary registration at home as well as the temporary paper license plate to be displayed on the vehicle until the permanent plate is sent to the buyer. The buyer finalizes the transaction by paying applicable title and registration fees to the MVD.

The MVD does not have any role in the actual sale of the vehicle such as determining the price.

For more information: azdot.gov/eTitle.

PHOENIX – Opening Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division offices at 7:30 a.m. has proven to be a popular success at an additional 11 locations where expanded hours have improved overall customer service.

The change is now permanent at offices in Apache Junction, Bullhead City, Casa Grande, Cottonwood, Flagstaff, Kingman, Lake Havasu City, Nogales, Prescott, Show Low and Yuma.

“It works. Because the doors open at 7:30 instead of 8 o’clock, we have fewer people lined up to be the first in line,’’ said MVD Director Eric Jorgensen. “Our employees’ schedules can be more flexible, which means we have more people available to serve customers at the busiest times such as the lunch hour. It also means we process paperwork faster. That cuts down on the need for workers to catch up on those tasks at the end of the day, which significantly lowers overtime hours and saves taxpayer dollars.”

The expanded hours were first tested in Tucson beginning in mid-2016 and resulted in shorter customer wait times and lower overtime costs, leading the program to be expanded to the Phoenix area as well. These initiatives stem from the implementation of the Arizona Management System, which empowers employees at every level of state agencies to come up with new innovations to help government serve customers more efficiently.

The added daily hours also allow MVD to proceed with a program to continually train Customer Service Representatives as the agency modernizes its infrastructure. On the second Wednesday of each month, MVD offices will open at noon to allow time for employee continuing education programs.

For more information: www.azdot.gov/mvd

PHOENIX – With approximately 150 state highway construction projects scheduled to start in any given year, Arizona Department of Transportation engineers constantly look for ways to save time and money in designing and building these much-needed improvements.

Over the past two years, this focus has had ADOT engineers teaming with engineering colleagues from the private sector to speed how projects are designed by improving the process that gets the work started. This includes issuing task orders, or contracts, to private engineering firms that will be preparing the technical construction plans for upcoming projects.

As a result of this collaboration, ADOT has been able to reduce the time needed to issue a task order from approximately 150 days to an average of 50 or fewer days.

“Improving project delivery is a major priority for us,” said Steve Boschen, who leads ADOT’s Infrastructure Delivery and Operations division. “Our review and simplification of the process will help keep future highway construction projects on schedule.”

ADOT manages a highway construction program that often has more than $900 million in work underway each year, so improvements in this area help improve the quality of life in Arizona through more timely improvements to the transportation system.

This is National Engineers Week, organized by the National Society of Professional Engineers to promote understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers. At ADOT, engineering is behind every activity that maintains, improves and expands the state’s transportation system, from rehabilitating bridges to paving highways and creating the Loop 202 South Mountain Freeway. Common to all those engineering efforts is a commitment to continuous improvement.

To improve the task-order process, ADOT used the Arizona Management System championed by Governor Doug Ducey to assemble a team that included consultant engineers to identify both waste and opportunities.

Consultant engineers have praised the time-saving effort.

“Several tools were created to speed the process, including checklists, simplified forms and ways to monitor the task-order process,” said Randy Simpson, a professional engineer who is vice president with the firm AECOM. “As a member of the Arizona engineering consultant community, I appreciate the opportunity this effort provided to improve the way our industry delivers transportation infrastructure improvements.”

A faster start for project design is especially important when construction schedules are moved up. That’s been the case in Maricopa County, where a rebalancing of transportation tax revenue has allowed regional planners to advance the number of Phoenix-area freeway projects that will be under construction by 2020.

Accelerated projects include adding lanes along Loop 101 between I-17 and Princess Drive as well as along Interstate 10 between Verrado Way and State Route 85. Both widening projects are now scheduled to start by 2019, rather than well after 2020.

“We count on our engineers and the entire team at ADOT to get the most out of the investment taxpayers are making in projects that make travel more efficient and, most importantly, safer,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “Accelerating projects is a priority as our engineers team with partners in law enforcement and highway safety to make travel as safe as possible.”

PHOENIX – It just became easier to do business with the Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division, and more enhancements are on the way.

For the first time ever, customers can now set up an online personalized account to manage all their MVD needs through the new AZ MVD Now portal, which is accessible through ServiceArizona.com.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said MVD Director Eric Jorgensen. “AZ MVD Now works like having an account with an online retailer. This will revolutionize how people do business with MVD much like people’s shopping habits have been transformed by the internet. This will open the door to maximize the number of MVD transactions done online. Right now that number is a little more than half, but eventually most will be available through AZ MVD Now.”

“Among the first major improvements we will unveil sometime in 2018 is allowing customers to transfer titles online, which will make it much easier for people to buy and sell vehicles without having to do paperwork at a physical location,” he added.

The current ServiceArizona.com method for conducting individual, point-in-time transactions remains in place, but AZ MVD Now, which represents the ongoing implementation of the Arizona Management System championed by Gov. Doug Ducey, provides a higher level of individualized service, including:

• Create an account: AZ MVD Now allows you to manage your interactions with MVD. All of the vehicles titled and/or registered in your name are associated with the account.
• Fund the account: When paying at an MVD office or online, you can still use a traditional form of payment such as debit, credit or EFT. Or you may pay with funds in your new financial account.
• Issue a prepaid voucher: This functions like a store credit and allows flexibility of who pays for transactions.
• View a title: A vehicle owner can see full title details on vehicles they own. Additionally, there is a limited view where a citizen can look up a vehicle to confirm the vehicle is eligible for transfer.

Jorgensen noted, “Arizona’s MVD is among the first motor vehicle agencies in the U.S. to adopt this technology that will make it easier for MVD to fulfill its vision to get Arizona out of line and safely on the road.”

NOGALES – Drivers in Mexico who have completed innovative safety instruction offered by the Arizona Department of Transportation are proving far less likely to be flagged for safety violations when their vehicles arrive at international ports of entry.

It’s a dramatic improvement that’s saving international carriers time and money, making Arizona roads safer and helping Arizona better appeal to drivers who might otherwise use ports in California or Texas.

In December, the 106 drivers with International Border Inspection Qualification training who entered the U.S. through commercial ports operated by ADOT’s Enforcement and Compliance Division did so without a safety violation that required taking their trucks out of service for repairs.

Since August when the program began training drivers in Mexico, just two of 667 qualified drivers – 0.3 percent – have entered Arizona with a violation that required immediate repairs. The rate is about 5 percent among other commercial drivers using ADOT’s international ports.

Through ADOT’s International Border Inspection Qualification, the first such program in the U.S., Enforcement and Compliance Division inspectors made eight trips into Mexico in 2017 to educate international truck drivers and company leaders about safety requirements for trucks driving on Arizona roads. More training is scheduled in Mexico for 2018, including three sessions  in February.

“This outstanding program has been great both for Arizona and for our neighbors in Sonora,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “In addition to making roads across Arizona safer, we are reducing inspection times and making Arizona’s international ports more appealing to commercial carriers.”

The class has the support of Sonora Gov. Claudia Pavlovich and Mexican trucking leaders.

ADOT inspectors check every commercial truck entering the U.S. at Nogales, Douglas and San Luis for safety violations. The most serious violations require that trucks remain at the port of entry until repairs can be made, a costly process that can cause significant delays for commercial carriers.

In addition, drivers who complete the International Border Inspection Qualification can use the Whats App smartphone app to contact inspectors with questions before they approach the border. That allows companies to make needed repairs more economically before drivers get on the road.

Another benefit of the program: More drivers are choosing to enter the U.S. through Arizona’s ports instead of those in other states. Meanwhile, being able to focus on higher-risk vehicles has allowed ADOT officers to find more violations despite needing to conduct fewer high-level inspections.

“More trucks entering the country in Arizona means an even greater boost to our economy,” Halikowski said. “Those drivers use more services and buy more items in our state, which helps not only border communities but all of Arizona.”

The International Border Inspection Qualification program stems from ADOT’s use of the Arizona Management System championed by Gov. Doug Ducey. This approach to continuous improvement empowers employees at state agencies to come up with innovative ways to better serve customers.