Vehicle services
offered online

City officials hope the technology
will reduce long lines

Tired of long lines at City Hall? Then get online.

City officials want more residents to use services through the Internet to reduce the long lines that snake out of motor vehicle licensing and permits stations and satellite city halls.

More services available The following services are now available on the city's Web site at www.honolulu.gov » Motor Vehicle Fee Inquiry at www3.honolulu.gov/mvrfeeinq » Motor Vehicle Title Inquiry at www4.honolulu.gov/mvrtitleinq » Special (Vanity) License Plate Order at www4.honolulu.gov/specialplates » Motor Vehicle Registration Renewal at www4.co.honolulu.hi.us/mvrreg

And a lot can be accomplished through the Internet, including inquiries about vehicle fees.

Residents also may search vehicle titles, request personalized license plates and renew their motor vehicle registration on the city's Web site at www.honolulu.gov.

But despite the technology, only 4 percent -- 20,247 of the 514,425 motor vehicle registration renewals -- are processed via the Internet.

"They're online. They're not being utilized as much as we want them to be," said Salvatore Lanzilotti, director of the Customer Services Department.

A new feature called motor vehicle fee inquiry is also available on the Web site. It "will allow anyone to determine the cost for the majority of motor vehicle registration transactions processed by the city Motor Vehicle Branch. ... It will reduce manual calculation errors and eliminate the need for the publication of weight tax tables to calculate the amount of taxes and fees due," Mayor Mufi Hannemann said at a news conference yesterday.

"If used by motor vehicle dealers, and we believe they will use it because it's something that they have asked the city to do in previous years. This program can reduce the number of dealer-submitted transactions that are rejected due to calculation errors," Hannemann said.

"That really helps the dealers," Lanzilotti said. "For them, it's a blessing. There's no discrepancy on what is owed and what they get from the customer."

It also protects consumers because they'll see exactly what they should have been charged, he said.

For now, the city is taking steps to alleviate some confusion for those who still choose to do things the old-fashioned way.

It installed signs to better direct people to the correct line at its City Square facility at 1199 Dillingham Blvd., the busiest and largest motor vehicle licensing and permit site on Oahu.

"We get complaints all the time," Lanzilotti said. "They don't know where to go. They're in a hurry. They want to get in and out. They would stand in line for 30 to 45 minutes only to be told they're in the wrong line."

Each sign is color-coded and includes a geometric shape that represent a designated function such as cashier or driver's licenses.