The Missouri Department of Revenue plans to turn on new equipment in early November that will speed up lines, lessen annoyance, and connect all of its systems.
“With this roll out, there’s going to be new computers, scanners and a tablet for the customer,” Ken Struemph, the director of the Division of Motor Vehicle and Driver Licensing stated.
While around 175 new work stations at the 275 license offices will speed lines, the tablet will allow the license applicant to verify their information for inaccuracies.
“The license will look the same, but the experience will be different, because it should be able to be processed a lot quicker than it had in the past,” department Director Wayne Wallingford stated.
According to Struemph, removing the need for trips to the local license office will speed up the procedure.
Every other renewal period, which is 12 years between travels to the office for a license, adult drivers between the ages of 21 and 49 will be allowed to renew their licenses online.
He added that in the event that a driver’s license is lost or damaged, they will be able to get a new one online.
“If you happen to lose your driver’s license, you can go online and get a duplicate driver’s license every other time,”Struemph stated. “We don’t want to open up duplicates to where I am going to apply for 10 and share them with all my buddies. You can get one duplicate online, and then the next time you would have to visit a driver’s license office.”
Between November 6 and November 11, license offices will not process any applications for driver’s licenses or non-driver identification in order to implement the system. On November 7, some offices will close completely. On November 8, all offices will close. By the time they reopen on November 12, following the Veterans Day holiday, all offices should be equipped with the new system.
Easy online navigation, the removal of the requirement for new drivers to submit a hard copy of their Missouri State Highway Patrol driver test to work, and ease of use for staff members processing licenses are some of the new features.
Struemph stated that the $33 million cost of installing the new system is a component of the department’s comprehensive modernization of driver and vehicle licensing, which was made possible by legislation passed in 2021.
In order to finance the technological advancements, that measure mandated that auto dealers turn up 10% of the administrative costs that customers paid.
In order for the department to begin collecting sales tax on vehicles at the moment of sale, the second phase—which will be operational in July 2026—will link the agency with auto dealerships.
According to Wallingford, there should be fewer cars on the road with temporary tags that have expired until all dealers are collecting sales tax.
Sales taxes are currently collected at the license office at the time of registration and can amount to several thousand dollars for a new car. There was no way to determine how many owners were operating automobiles and trucks with temporary tags when the statute requiring dealers to collect the tax was passed since the department’s current system is so antiquated and ineffective.
A fee from each transaction is used to fund the operations of the contractors who run each license office in the state. Currently, a person must wait in two lines at each location if they need to renew their license and file or renew their vehicle registration at the same time.
Drivers will still have the option to renew their licenses with a REAL ID compliant license or one that does not require the REAL ID certification.
The federal law, which was passed in 2005 in reaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, mandates that states confirm individuals’ identities using documents like passports or birth certificates, their legal status through citizenship or permanent residency credentials, and their Social Security status.
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Obtaining a non-compliant license requires many of the same documents as REAL ID.
To enter some federal institutions, a REAL ID-compliant card is required by law. Following multiple extensions, a REAL ID will be needed as identification while boarding airline aircraft as of May 7, 2025.
According to Struemph, one aspect of the new system will enable drivers to view their license via an internet application. According to him, one of the security aspects of the new app is the use of biometric technology to confirm identity.
