Believe it: New Mexico MVD ranked 6th in nation

THE AGENCY WE LOVE TO LOVE? While many New Mexicans may be quick to gripe about the Motor Vehicle Division, you have to wonder if their anecdotes are a little moldy.

Perhaps the only good thing about COVID-19 is it brought New Mexico drivers and vehicle owners actual MVD appointments, as well as more online options when it comes to registering, renewing and more. (Go to mvd.newmexico.gov to make an appointment or take care of business online.) These reforms, put in place to keep clients and employees safe, are still going strong and keeping clients and employees sane.

Look no further than the fact that our MVD is now ranked sixth-best in the nation in a new survey by CarInsurance.com. Drivers 18 and older from all 50 states were asked how their MVD was doing, and scores were weighted 40% on overall satisfaction, 20% on accessibility of offices and wait times, 10% on records accuracy, 10% on staff courtesy, 10% on fee structure and 10% on digital experience.

No surprise, the top-rated MVDs have “excellent digital services.” And New Mexico was rated particularly high on value and wait times. N.M. MVD Director Htet Gonzales says in a news release the ranking “is incredibly gratifying. Our team has been working very hard over the past several years to provide our customers the best possible service we can. Our switch to an appointment model has dramatically improved our service time in field offices, and more and more customers are taking advantage of our growing online offerings.”

The Top 10 motor vehicle agencies in the survey, from No. 1 down, are Indiana, Alaska, Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Georgia and Idaho.

BUT WHY 45 DAYS TO GET MY LICENSE? That all said, David Duganne has a concern. He emails “I recently renewed my Real ID N.M. driver’s license online. I thought it was interesting the temporary license that arrived by email indicated my new plastic license would ‘arrive within 45 days’ by mail. When I asked MVD about the long arrival window, the reply was the vendor is located in Springfield, Ill. Even though there is a disclaimer in the MVD email, I don’t particularly like the fact sensitive personal info is being handled by an out-of-state vendor and these documents are floating around in the U.S. mail system cross-country.

“At least there is the option of renewing for eight years, “ David says, “but at some point, older N.M. drivers will have to get a yearly renewal. This does not seem to be a very efficient or secure way of obtaining a new ID/license. For the record, my new license did come within two weeks, after submitting payment online.”

Charlie Moore, who handles information for MVD, explains “Idemia, the company that prints our licenses, was the winning bidder the last time we issued a request for proposals on the contract in 2019. The RFP had very strict security requirements in order to comply with the RealID Act, and Idemia was able to meet those requirements. The company produces credentials for many other states.

“Secure document printing is highly complex, and all Idemia facilities are certified by an independent auditing organization — NASPO International. Our licenses currently are printed in their Illinois plant.”

And David’s experience was more the rule than the exception. Moore says “two weeks is the typical turnaround time for a license. The 45-day window is somewhat outdated.”

P.S. THE EAGLE VISTA MAP IS WRONG: David has one more quibble. He says “on the MVD website, the Albuquerque Eagle Vista Field Office is shown in the wrong location on their map. It is supposed to be north of Irving Boulevard, not between Paradise Boulevard and Irving. I brought this to the attention of an MVD agent, but it has not been corrected yet. Even the ‘get directions’ is incorrect: It takes you to a nonexistent place on Eagle Ranch, close to Paradise Boulevard. The office is actually on the other side of Irving, going north toward Costco.”

Moore says “thank you to the reader for bringing the map issue to our attention. The listing for Eagle Vista has the correct address, 9651 Eagle Vista Rd. NW, but our mapping software has a glitch that changes it to 9647 Eagle Ranch. We will be requesting a fix for that.”