LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A new system in how dealerships request vehicle registration and plates with county clerk's offices has created a backlog and headaches for all involved.
What You Need To Know
- The Jefferson County Clerk’s Office is temporarily closing two locations to address a backlog
- This is due to a new statewide system for how dealerships process car registration, which has been marred with issues and wait times
- Jefferson County has a backlog of 6,000 registrations to complete
- The West Branch and Downtown offices will be closed from July 8 through July 19
To address these issues, the Jefferson County Clerk's Office is closing its West Branch and Downtown locations from July 8 through July 19 at 228 Army Ave. and 200 S. 5th St., respectively.
“(The Kentucky Automated Vehicle Information System) was unveiled in January, and there were a lot of speed bumps then," said Ashley Tinius, Jefferson County Clerk's Office director of communications, media and public relations. "We've tried to make progress, but unfortunately, it is much more time-consuming for the clerks. And the dealerships are really suffering."
KAVIS is the system the clerk's office uses to process cars bought at the dealership. Prior to the system switch, Jefferson County could routinely process a car registration order in two days or fewer, but now it can take a dealership several weeks to get back plates for its buyers. Registration requests have been piling up since January.
“We’re up to 6,000 pieces of work in our backlog,” Tinius said.
Tinius said the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office and others around the state did not have ample time to train its staff on the process. When the offices are closed, staff will work solely on thousands of forms as they address the backlog and process dealer work.
"In the long run, I do think it will make it better for everyone to get this done," said Lauren Votruba, a clerk's office employee who just bought a car from the dealership within the last few weeks.
Votruba said she wasn’t planning on buying a new vehicle, but emergency mechanical issues led to a rushed purchase. The East Side resident said without a vehicle, it would make commuting to work challenging.
Even with the backlog of registration forms, she was able to drive her new car off the lot with dealer tags.
"I’m just waiting on the official paperwork to come back, but the dealership is taking care of that through the clerk’s office," Votruba said.
With a dedicated staff of approximately 30 office employees, working solely on dealership orders, Tinius said she believes Jefferson County can get caught up. She added the backlog should not discourage residents from purchasing a car if they're in the market for one.