The dealers say the Division of Motor Vehicle's program would inconvenience customers, force dealerships to hire more employees and drive small dealers out of business.

"This is serious," said Larry Dawson, who owns Larry Dawson's Auto Sales in Nitro. "The old system is working fine. But now they're saying, 'You're mandated. You have to do this.'"

In response to the complaints, DMV Commissioner Joe Miller announced Wednesday that the agency would postpone the start of the electronic tag program until March 31. The agency also plans to offer dealers a second program option that incorporates fewer changes.

"We're not trying to force this down anybody's throat," Miller said. "We are attempting to work with the dealers and consider their needs, which is what we're doing with the extension. They felt the schedule was too aggressive, that we were moving too fast."  

The changes would affect more than 1,300 car, truck, motorcycle, ATV and trailer dealers across the state.

For years, dealers have issued temporary tags to customers after they purchase vehicles, then filed the required paperwork at a DMV office or mailed the information to the agency. The DMV subsequently sends permanent license plates to vehicle owners.

Under the new system -- managed by a private information technology firm -- dealers would log into a DMV computer database and enter information about the new vehicle owner and purchase, while customers wait for the temporary tag to be printed at the dealership. 

The West Virginia Auto and Truck Dealers Association has been "bombarded" by questions and complaints about the new program in recent weeks, said Ruth Lemmon, the group's executive director.

"We've tried to educate the DMV on our concerns with this program," Lemmon said. "We support the electronic transfer of records, but this has to be done right, and this program is not right."

Dealers plan to meet with DMV officials on Aug. 4.

Pete Lopez, owner and president of Spencer Auto Group in Roane County, praised Miller for trying to bring the state's temporary tag system "into the 21st century." But Lopez doesn't believe the current proposal would do that.

"The program is a good program, if it's put in the right way," said Lopez, who serves on a DMV advisory board. "It's just not ready yet. We have to find the right program."

Miller said the electronic tag program would save the state money and make things easier for dealers and their customers. He said 19 other states have adopted computerized temporary license plate systems. Miller cited the following advantages:

| The program would relieve dealers of any financial liability between the time when a customer purchases the vehicle and the state processes the temporary tag.

| Police and other law enforcement agencies would be able to trace a temporary tag number to determine who owns the vehicle. The new owner's name would be entered into the DMV database -- which police routinely use -- at the dealership.

| The DMV would no longer have to pay to print more than 180,000 temporary cardboard tags a year. The temporary license plates would be printed at dealerships.

|The DMV would be able to track whether motorists secure permanent metal license plates within 60 days of receiving a temporary tag, as state law requires.

| Dealers could access a DMV database to determine a vehicle's title, or ownership, history. "It would keep them from getting a pig-in-a-poke with some of their trade-ins," Miller said.

At the Aug. 4 meeting, DMV officials plan to tell dealers that they have two choices: They can sign up for the entire electronic tag program, or they can choose only to print temporary tags at their dealerships, while filing customers' paperwork the traditional way.

The second option would require that dealers have only a fax machine and printer, Miller said. 

"They could do everything else manually," he said. "We're adjusting the program. My goal is that all dealers will say this is a great system."

The DMV has hired West Virginia Interactive -- a division of Reston, Va.-based NCI -- to manage the electronic tag system, after three other potential vendors were disqualified. NCI, which runs temporary tag programs in other states, had a contract with the state Office of Technology, Miller said. The company will receive $2 per transaction.

The DMV and West Virginia Interactive have already started to test the electronic temporary tag program at nine dealerships in West Virginia.

Some dealers have complained that they've sold cars and issued temporary tags, but customers haven't received permanent license plates within 60 days, said Dawson, who has owned the Nitro pre-owned vehicle dealership for 24 years.

"It's not being done in a timely fashion," he said.

Miller acknowledged that some "glitches" have popped up. "But the problems that have come up, most of them we've been able to resolve in 24 hours," he said.

Miller said a second program-testing phase with 500 dealers would start next month and conclude on Dec. 31. 

In recent weeks, dealership owners have fired off letters to Gov. Joe Manchin and talked to state lawmakers about the proposed temporary tag changes.

Dawson wants the DMV to exempt dealerships that sell fewer than 30 vehicles a month from the electronic system.

"The new system is going to force the smaller dealers to go out of business," he said. "They might not have a computer-savvy person on staff. It's like you're asking an electrician to do a plumbers' job, but they're not a plumber."

The changes also would require customers to wait longer in the showroom, Dawson said. Some may decide to walk out the door, he said.

The DMV has met only once with Kanawha County dealers to explain the new electronic temporary tag system.

"We got a letter that they were doing this," Dawson said. "We weren't given a choice. This just isn't right."

Next year, the DMV also plans to consider a switch to a "paperless" electronic vehicle title system, if the electronic tag program proves successful, Miller said.  

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4869.