New Jersey Assembly Passes Bill to Create Call Center to Help Drivers Complete Transactions on MVC Website

New Jersey drivers are set to get a helping hand in navigating the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission website. A new bill, known on the state legislature’s docket as A3663, will require the MVC to create a call center to help customers use the commission’s website. The bipartisan piece of legislation passed the Assembly with a margin of 70 to 1. Among the terms instituted by the bill are that the call center is located in New Jersey and that representatives help customers in English and Spanish. Once the call center is open, users of the MVC’s website can contact the support line from 8:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon for problems that might arise when navigating the website and completing online transactions.

Assemblyman William Moen Jr., a Democrat from Camden who co-sponsored the measure, said that while the MVC has made great strides in making its services more accessible by switching to an online platform, there is more than the state can do to help users of the website. In creating the call center, Assemblyman Moen contends that the state is giving residents a valuable tool and will help drivers complete online transactions. In analyzing the MVC’s website, members of the Assembly looked at how the commission had restructured online transactions in the past few years.

In November of 2020, the commission sought to reduce the number of people waiting at MVC offices by allowing drivers to complete more than half of their transactions on the MVC website. This decision was made when MVC offices reopened in July of 2020 after closures created by the coronavirus pandemic. During this time, MVC offices were swamped with customers, and the agency’s helpline was so inundated with calls that most customers had to wait for extended periods to speak with representatives. Before becoming a law, the bill must pass the New Jersey Senate and be signed by Governor Phil Murphy.