The state Motor Vehicle Division, perhaps the most-dreaded bureaucracy in state government, is making changes.

Among new twists for motorists dealing with the agency are the ability to make an appointment with a clerk and an express lane for carrying out the most common transactions.

In addition, residents can use a new Web site to fill out and print some forms before visiting an MVD office, as well as renew registrations at a discount and check the wait time of a local office before leaving home.

"Each one of these changes should have a tangible, real impact on the wait times and the level of a customer's satisfaction," Taxation and Revenue Department Secretary Rick Homans said.

"For the first time, it puts all the information a customer needs about MVD on one centralized location, so if there's ever any question about what document a customer needs, for example, it's all right there on the Web site," he said.

The new features are part of a series of changes the division is making to become more customer friendly. Many of them come after a $500,000 study that recommended modernizing the way the state does business with its customers. As part of its overhaul, the state will also do a multimillion-dollar upgrade to its computer system and update its automated phone system.

The most notable changes for MVD customers include:

• The ability to make appointments at some offices for first-time, noncommercial driver's licenses, first-time identification cards; first-time vehicle title transfers, and driver's license renewals for customers 75 years and over.
• A "fast track" lane at many locations for people over 75 and for those with the most simple transactions, such as vehicle registration renewals.
• Discounts of 5 percent off the base registration rate for renewing registrations online.
• The addition of 16 new clerks who are on duty to help from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., often the busiest times at MVD offices.
• The option to print forms online for changes of address, bills of sale, vanity plates, applications for handicapped parking placards and for confidential records releases. Eventually, the forms will be submittable online as well.

Other changes are coming next year, Homans said, including the ability to pay by credit card at MVD field offices and to make appointments for the most complex transactions. Customers will also be able to look online for the status of new driver's licenses, which are now shipped from a central location and not handed out on the day someone applies.

Homans said it was time the state updated the site.

"MVD is one of the biggest retail businesses in the state, with $400 million in revenue, 2 million transactions (a year) and 350 employees, and it's never had a real Web site to communicate with its customer base."

The new Web site has much more information than the previous one regarding what a customer needs to complete certain transactions and will serve as the authority for both customers and clerks. That will help avoid a common problem that results in more than one trip to MVD.

"They would get one answer on the phone (about what documents are needed) and another when they get to see the clerk, and then they pull out their hair because they've wasted a lot of time and have to come back the next day," Homans said.

The site also has tips for customers, like visiting an MVD office on Wednesdays and Thursdays to avoid crowds.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at www.greenchilechatter.com.

On the Web

• The Motor Vehicles Division's new Web site is at www.mvd.newmexico.gov