[The following article appears in the May 1994 edition of
_Public_Sector_Quality_Report_, pages 2 and 3.]

           SO. CAROLINA EYES IMPROVED MOTOR VEHICLE SERVICES  

     While a number of state and local agencies have taken steps
in recent years to improve and streamline the motor vehicle
licensing process, it's likely none has taken quite so extensive
a look as the state of South Carolina.  

     At the behest of the state's General Assembly, which
apparently had heard one too many complaints about long lines at
Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices and employees who lacked
the "patience, proper attitude or compassion to deal with the
public," a quality team was formed last year to study DMV people
and processes, and to suggest improvements.  

     Among other data collecting steps, the team reviewed more
than 800 comment cards received by DMV in 1993. Though 83 percent
contained positive comments about DMV service, 17 percent
registered complaints about long lines and rude employees.
Customer interviews revealed a similar satisfaction level.
Interviews with DMV workers indicated that problems within the
system often made it difficult to provide timely, responsive
service. Based on its data, the team identified three key areas
for improvement:  

     -- Frequency of customer contact Reduce the frequency with
     which citizens must interact with DMV.  
     
     -- Waiting-line environment: Minimize waiting. Make the
     waiting atmosphere more pleasant.  
     
     -- Transactions: Simplify licensing and registration
     transactions to minimize customer misunderstandings,
     delays, and cases in which customers are unable to complete
     transactions on the first attempt.  
     
     The team released its findings earlier this year. While many
of the suggested changes remain in proposal stage, the following
sampling might offer your organization some ideas on improving
the quality of a customer transaction-oriented system.  

-- Biennial vehicle registration (implementation begun in August
1993). Although the fees to be paid will double, customers will
only confront the registration process once every two years.
Starting July 1, in a cooperative venture with county officials,
customers also will be able to pay both vehicle registration fees
and property taxes at a single site, the county treasurer's
office. County offices will be linked by computer to the DMV, so
county clerks can record when registration fees have been paid.
DMV, in turn, will mail a license plate decal and registration
card the next day. In the meantime, the county provides a receipt
which gives a customer 30 days in which to display the new
validation sticker.  

-- Title issuance at branch offices (implemented). Previously,
all titles were issued from  headquarters in Columbia, primarily
for security reasons. The old way took two to four weeks before a
title reached the customer's mailbox. Now DMV has expanded title
issuance to at least one branch office in each of seven regional
districts. Larger safes have been installed at each office to
hold the secured documents, and the turnaround time to customers
has been reduced. DMV also is investigating what it calls
"paperless" titles, by electronically linking the DMV and the
financial institutions who hold title to vehicles for which
they've loaned consumers money.  

-- Roving information specialists (implemented). These DMV
employees "work the waiting lines" to answer customer questions
and ensure that paperwork is in proper order. The result? Once a
customer reaches the service desk, his or her transaction is more
likely to be completed expeditiously. As the team's report
states: "Customers much prefer finding out early in the visit to
the DMV that they require additional documents, rather than
standing in line, reaching the counter worker and being told the
same."  

-- 30-day extension stickers (implemented). If the DMV
experiences a computer malfunction, and thus waiting time becomes
too much for some customers to bear, this sticker (affixed to the
driver's license) lets the customer return at a more convenient
time, with no threat of penalty in the interim.  

-- Reduced mail-in fee (implemented). Previously DMV charged an
extra dollar for mail-in registration. Because mail-ins reduce
the number of walk-ins, the mail-in surcharge has been dropped.  

-- Dealer issuance of tags and vehicle registrations
(recommended, would require legislative action). DMV issues about
500,000 first-time registrations each year, about 162,000 of them
based on the sale of a vehicle by a franchised car dealer. DMV
has created a task force to explore the option of having dealers
issue registrations and license tags directly. Estimates indicate
DMV could save nearly 24,000 work hours yearly by handing over
what it now calls "dealer work" to the dealers.  

-- Notarization and proof-of-insurance. Currently registration
documents must be notarized and "proof" of liability insurance
(name of insurance company, policy number, agent's name,
effective dates) must be given at time of registration. A survey
of DMV employees showed these two requirements to be among the
top three reasons customer transactions could not be completed on
the first attempt. Legislation has been introduced to waive the
notarization and to allow a customer's sworn signature to satisfy
the proof-of-insurance requirement.  

     In several cases the team made suggestions the members knew
would necessitate further study and debate. For example, the team
suggested expanding the driver's license renewal period from four
years to five, and extending the life of license plates from six
years to 10.  

     The team's report summary makes this point: "To blame the
workers...for the problems encountered by... citizens when trying
to register a vehicle or obtain a new driver's license only deals
a glancing blow at the true issues. A front-line worker's role is
often one of damage limitation; they become buffers, absorbing
the impact of dissatisfied customers...while the root causes, the
organization's systems, standards and culture go unchanged."  

CONTACT: Suzie Rast, Quality Coordinator, South Carolina
Department of Revenue, (803) 737-4533.

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