Online vehicle registration on Oahu jumped 11 percent in 2018, and city officials are urging other motorists to do their annual renewals online as well.
The 184,925 motor vehicle registrations renewed online last year were roughly 28 percent of the 666,150 renewals made by vehicle owners in 2018.
City Customer Services Deputy Director Randy Leong said the number of vehicle owners renewing online has been trending upward for a while. In 2016 there were 158,613 online renewals, or about about 26 percent of all renewals; in 2014 there were 125,044 online renewals, about 21 percent.
A breakdown on the number of renewals done through the mail and in person at satellite city halls was not immediately available, but the department’s intent clearly is to divert as many people away from the lines at the bustling satellite city halls.
“We want to encourage more people to take advantage of government-service options that get them out of lines and allow them to quickly handle tasks involving vehicle registration,” city Customer Services Director Sheri Kajiwara said in a statement.
GOING ON THE WEBOnline vehicle registrations on Oahu have been gradually rising each year. Total renewals online and the percentage of total renewals:
>> 2018: 184,925 (28%)
>> 2017: 166,308 (27%)
>> 2016: 158,613 (26%)
>> 2015: 147,704 (25%)
>> 2014: 125,044 (21%)
Source: Honolulu Department of Customer Services
To renew online, go to honolulu.gov/csd and click on the “Vehicle Registration Information” box. Major credit cards and debit cards are accepted with no card fees charged.
The city first began offering online registration renewals in November 2000, Leong said. The once-ubiquitous return envelopes that used to accompany vehicle registration forms were eliminated in 2011 when the agency redesigned the packets sent out to encourage more online renewals.
To conduct an online transaction, the vehicle already must have a valid City and County of Honolulu registration. The renewal notice must show a current mailing address, and a current vehicle safety inspection must be on file. The registration must be within 45 days of the expiration date.
Expired registrations cannot be renewed online.
Other available online services, including applying for driver’s license replacement and “gold star”-marked duplicate driver licenses, also can be found at the Customer Services website at honolulu.gov/csd.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Honolulu’s Deputy Customer Services Director Randy Leong as Randall Leong.