Arizona’s Motor Vehicle Division Online During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Social distancing will keep you out of line at Arizona’s Motor Vehicle Division and send you online instead.

Coronavirus keeps making changes to the routines of life and there’s another place where that’s happening—ADOT.

Offices are close to empty at ADOT’s Motor Vehicle Division. For most MVD business, going to the Service Arizona website is not just more convenient, it’s encouraged more strongly than ever.

If business with the agency must be done in person, they  are requiring that you call ahead and make an appointment. Please note, this type of reservation must be done with a phone call, not an online reservation.

Doug Nick of ADOT says, “It’s between business hours are 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. We have a new statewide customer service line that customers can call to make an appointment, 602-712-2700.”

Most MVD business can be done online, but usually an in-person visit is for something like a first time Arizona license where they need to take your picture or if you have a complex car title issue.

If your Arizona license is about to expire, Doug Nick says you can postpone renewal.

“The governor’s executive order of a few weeks ago, gave people whose licenses expire between March 1 and September 1, an additional six months before they need to come back in to get that redone so that’s automatically done nobody needs to come in for another six months, if you fall in that category.“

There’s no extension on car registrations because they’re routinely handled online under normal circumstances.

Renewing your registration may require an emissions test. That part’s not really ADOT it’s the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. That agency offers a one-year extension on inspections but only for people 65 and older because they are at greater risk from COVID. There’s an extension fee of $9.50.

To reduce exposure at the emissions test, inspectors ask drivers to connect the plug for the testing equipment. That helps inspectors avoid entering the car.

ADOT wants you to know its computers will be shut down part of next week from Saturday April 18th to Tuesday April 21. It’s for a major system upgrade that was in the works long before the COVID outbreak.

Click here to visit the Service Arizona website.