Backlog growing as county clerks deal with errors from new vehicle registration system
Kentucky's transition to a new vehicle registration system has been more difficult than anticipated, resulting in a growing backlog of requests from drivers seeking to renew their registration, officials with county clerk's offices around the state said Wednesday.
The statewide switch to the new computer system, known as KAVIS, began Jan. 1. The previous system, AVIS, had been in use for 47 years.
Since motor vehicle branches in Jefferson County and other counties around the state had to shut down computers for around a week, officials had to catch up on a backlog of registration renewal requests, which has become harder to resolve because of the technical issues that have arisen, said Erran Huber, communications director for the Jefferson County Clerk's Office.
"So in effect, we have been hamstrung by the way the system is currently set up, and by the system not having the portions that we need, it is creating a huge backlog for us," he said.
Jefferson County officials say the new system often calculates taxes incorrectly, forcing office workers in the motor vehicle branch to take extra steps to make things right.
"We are having to call the (Property Value Administration) every time someone comes in for a basic renewal, because the taxes that need to be there aren't in there and that's the way the system is set up," Huber said.
Kentucky County Clerks Association President Tabatha Clemons said in a statement that officials have seen improvements with KAVIS each week, "there are still times when the program is unresponsive or specific transactions are not processing."
"Because of these issues, we are being forced to turn away customers," said Clemons, who is also the Grant County Clerk.
The clerks' association said it wants customers to exercise patience while offices work with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to solve reported issues with KAVIS.
"Although we have faith in the KAVIS team and their ability to correct the issues, we must be transparent with our customers," Clemons said. "Wait times will be longer, and there are transactions that we cannot process. We would love to specifically identify the problem transactions but that changes daily as the programmers work to fix issues."
Here are some tips the association offered for making visits to the county clerk's office as efficient as possible.
Bring your driver’s license or state issued identification card.
Bring your renewal notice and previous year’s registration.
Bring your Kentucky proof of insurance printed or refer to your County Clerk if there is an insurance email address or fax number available.
Vehicle owners in Louisville can renew their vehicle's registration at a motor vehicle branch of the Jefferson County Clerk's Office or through Kentucky's online registration portal.
Reach reporter Leo Bertucci at lbertucci@gannett.com or @leober2chee on X, formerly known as Twitter
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KAVIS system upgrades causing pain for drivers, clerks
