Sometimes, being pointed in the right direction is all the help we need. And the new Chatbot at AZMVDNow.gov does exactly that for Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division customers.

Need to change your address? Chatbot will show you the way.

Looking for information about a “sold notice"? Chatbot can assist.

Want to make an appointment at an MVD office? Chatbot provides the details.

“By necessity, there’s a lot of information on the MVD website,” said ADOT MVD Director Eric Jorgensen. “Our goal in creating Chatbot was to make it easier for people to find the right information, so they can quickly complete their transaction.”

In its first week of being active on AZMVDNow.gov, Chatbot had 26,000 interactions with users, helping them find the information they needed. At AZMVDNow.gov, Chatbot appears on the bottom of the page on a mobile device and in the bottom-right corner on a computer screen. 

To complete some MVD transactions online, users must log-in to their account at AZMVDNow.gov, which launched in April. More than two-thirds of all MVD transactions can be completed at AZMVDNow.gov, including common ones, like registration renewal, requesting a replacement license, updating insurance information, sold notices, 3-day permits, getting a motor vehicle record and many more.

Every current MVD customer has an AZMVDNow account. To date, about 1.5 million people have activated their account. To activate your free account, go to AZMVDNow.gov and follow the prompts.

What do a grateful assistant fire management officer and the mother of a civic-minded 4-year-old boy have in common?

They both recently sent thank-you emails to Arizona Department of Transportation employees whose "above and beyond" efforts deserved extra recognition.

In an email, James Robbins, an assistant fire management officer with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, thanked everyone at the Prescott Valley Equipment Shop. 

For nearly five years, Robbins said, the shop has swiftly repaired and consistently maintained the small fleet of heavily used firefighting vehicles he managed while in a former position. The shop is one of 21 such ADOT facilities across the state that provides vehicle services to more than 40 government agencies.

“Whether it is a fire crew carrier, heavy duty chipper, pickup truck or a fire engine, new or old and abused, your team has rallied to help us get back on the fire line as quickly as possible time and time again,” Robbins wrote. “Every one of your team members has acted in a professional manner and truly seems to do their best in helping us with our mission, and I want you to know that we truly appreciate it.” 

It’s not often that maintenance shop employees receive such accolades from someone who took the time to put together a note and send it, said Lionel McFarlane, ADOT maintenance operations manager.

“This was an unusually nice gesture,” McFarlane said.

In the next thank you story, Jack Eldridge, 4, was on his way to preschool with his mother when he spotted trash on Loop 101 Pima Freeway near the 64th Street off-ramp.

“We should stop and clean this up,” Jack said to his mom, Jennifer.

Jennifer said she thought it a good idea and decided to see if she could organize a cleanup with some of his preschool buddies and their families.

She reached out to Mary Currie, ADOT’s Adopt a Highway communications programs manager, and asked if they could clean that stretch of L-101.  

“This is my 4-year old’s idea and I want to try and see it through,” Jennifer wrote.

Currie researched the issue thoroughly with several other ADOT employees. The finding was that particular segment, located in the busy urban Phoenix area, is unsafe for volunteer activity. In fact, the area is part of the Adopt a Highway Sponsor Program, but clean-up activity is on hold as maintenance crews continue the ongoing widening project in that area.

What’s more is that volunteers have to be at least 12 years old and have a parent sign a participation form to participate in the volunteer program. 

So while the answer was “no,” it was the way Currie said it that meant so much to Jennifer. That and the fact that her correspondence resulted in a speedy cleanup of the area. 

“She (Currie) took the time to call and say how much she appreciated my child’s interest and talked about other ways our family could get involved,” Jennifer said. “She sent us about 12 lapel pins that say 'Keep it Grand,' pencils and 'Stormwater in the Desert' activity books.”  

Jack cherishes the items and carries them around in his backpack, she said.

“Thank you so much for your letter and the materials you sent to us! We are thrilled!,” Jennifer wrote. “I will look into the Adopt a Highway program for my husband and I to get involved with (and for Jack too when he’s age-appropriate). By the way, I noticed a week or so ago that the exit at 64th Street and the 101 is CLEAN (at least for now). Jack noticed too! So, thank you so much!”

But even better, he and his mother shared the materials with his preschool class, and his teacher used them for a unit about sustainability and pollution and urged them to pick up their own trash.

“Mary went above and beyond!” Jennifer said. “I really appreciate the work you do.”

For her part, Currie shared credit with the other ADOT employees who helped create this story.

“For this family and a classroom of 4-year-olds, you’ve set in motion a belief that being civic-minded can make a difference in the community,” Currie told her fellow employees in an email. She also sent them the thank you from Jack, Jennifer, and Jennifer's husband, Ashton.

Jack and other kids can click on the ADOT Kids link to learn more about transportation and have some fun while learning too. If you would like to learn more about adopting a segment of highway with your family or friends, visit the site for the Adopt a Highway Volunteer Program.

Unless you’re in the service of issuing driver licenses, vehicle titles and registrations, you probably haven’t heard of the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. But if you are, like the thousands of people working at the Arizona Motor Vehicle Division, the AAMVA Awards are a pretty big deal.

And Arizona’s MVD was a big winner again in the 2020 AAMVA Awards, winning two awards in the national contest.

“I’m excited for all the people who work at MVD when their efforts result in awards and recognition for their creative and thoughtful solutions,” said MVD Director Eric Jorgensen. “One of our core principles is to always be looking for ways to improve a process, reduce the time people need to get a service from us and make things easier for everyone. Every day, we’re striving to become more efficient in order to get Arizonans out of line and safely on the road.”

MVD’s online Travel ID Document Guide was recognized in the Interactive Presentation category for Public Affairs and Consumer Education. This online tool simplifies the  process of learning what documents are required to obtain a REAL ID. The step-by-step guide condenses the necessary information into easy-to-read instructions.

MVD’s recent adoption of virtual inspections of Authorized Third Party offices earned it an award in the Improvement Through Efficiencies category. MVD performs regular inspections of these businesses and some are in remote locations, requiring as much as a 12-hour round trip drive. In 2018, inspectors began using Apple’s FaceTime on a trial basis. The virtual inspections were so successful that the program became fully functional in 2019, saving hours of driving time and reducing expenses.

“AAMVA is always so proud to recognize the excellent work our members do for the communities they serve,” said AAMVA President & CEO Anne Ferro. “Through their efforts, MVDs and law enforcement agencies make drivers and vehicles safer, identities secure, and ultimately, save lives.”

It's no secret that events of this year have caused serious disruptions to how the Arizona Department of Transportation operates. Nowhere is this more evident to the general public than at ADOT’s most customer-facing aspect, the Motor Vehicle Division.

Prior to the declaration of the public health emergency in March, the MVD had enjoyed years of improvement in customer service performance in areas such as reduced wait times, calls being answered more rapidly and an expansion of online offerings. 

While the goals of continuous improvement and innovation have not and will not change, the realities of operating a business during a pandemic have meant those energies must be channeled to a new way of doing things.

• Every day, MVD looks at ways to make its system better. Prior to March, MVD was able to process 14,000 people per day in offices statewide. COVID-19 requirements drove us to an appointment-only system that allows us to serve only 5,000 customers per day in offices. The remaining customers have to be helped by phone or computer, or at Authorized Third Party offices. In addition, due to COVID-19, MVD has had only about 75% of its workforce available on any given day. Unfortunately, it is still not clear when the COVID-19 crisis will allow MVD to utilize its full office-processing capacity again. 
• The good news is that things are improving as countermeasures are being implemented. For example:
  • In July MVD handled about 5,000 phone calls a day. That number today is closer to 13,000. Because some of our staff are home taking care of family or other issues but are still able to work, we are utilizing software that routes customer calls to those employees. We are also exploring the possibility that people may drop off documentation for some services at an MVD location and the completed work returned by mail. Other ideas are being considered and we are testing them for their effectiveness. If they prove valuable, we will put them in place. Our commitment to continuous improvement means that we never stop looking for innovations that we can measure and improve upon.
  • In the meantime, we know that many people are frustrated with delays getting documents from the MVD. Although most of these – including plates, driver licenses and registration renewals – are being mailed within standard timeframes, we are still hearing of delays from our customers. In the case of registration tabs, once your payment is received and processed, the MVD system is updated. Even if you have not received your updated tags, your vehicle shows to law enforcement and MVD as currently registered. If your payment was on time, your vehicle should be registered and no late fee applied. 

We are listening and MVD is currently examining every step of processing items to determine if there is something, other than the postal service, causing a delay. That analysis is currently in progress. This is a high priority issue for me and MVD.

I have been meeting with MVD executive staff on at least a weekly basis; typically, we meet three times per week with the ultimate goal of exploring every possible way to improve how we serve our customers safely, efficiently and with professionalism. That is my commitment to you.

On this date in 1931, the Arizona Highway Commission authorized using copper license plates for automobiles.

We talked about this distinct era in the state's license plate history in a blog last year, but for the 89th anniversary, here's the gist:

The idea was a product of supply and demand. The metal was plentiful, but the price had plunged during the throes of the Great Depression. 

“The red metal has suffered greater during the present depression than any of the industries, copper having reached a lower price level than at any time since it has become one of the great commercial metals," according to an Arizona Highways magazine article printed in September 1931.

"The result has been that all of the copper mines in the state have either gone on a greatly curtailed basis of production or have entirely closed down, thus throwing thousands of miners out of work, with the result that the entire state has been seriously affected.”

With this in mind, the commission approved the plates as a way to help the copper industry get back on its feet. Only 400,000 residents called Arizona home at the time and only 112,000 vehicles were registered. Still, that meant more than 70,000 pounds were used to produce the plates in 1932. It apparently didn't have the desired impact, as Arizona only continued making pure copper plates for a couple more years before the experiment was dropped.

Not many copper license plates have survived in good condition, and those that have are collectibles. You can find and purchase them online – for a pretty copper penny.