West Virginia to Become First State to Provide Vehicle Titles in Digital Format

December 14, 2022

Mountaineer News

State Transportation

CHARLESTON, WV - Starting next year, West Virginia will become the first state in the nation to completely digitize vehicle titles and launch an online process to obtain vehicle registrations, Gov. Jim Justice announced Wednesday.

While no official launch date has been set, Justice said the state will unveil a “first of a kind” customer portal in the first quarter of 2023 that will allow residents of the Mountain State to complete all vehicle title and registration transactions remotely. The new portal will also give residents the option to access their vehicle title online or on their phone, similar to an airline boarding pass, according to the governor’s office. “No longer will there be the long lines at the DMV,” Justice said Wednesday. “It’s an upgrade that will revolutionize the process of vehicle titling in West Virginia and make it more secure and faster.” The online portal will accelerate the time it takes for the DMV to process title and registration transactions and will update the state’s existing paper system that is a “very time consuming and insufficient process,” DMV Commissioner Everett Frazier said Wednesday.

Frazier noted some states offer portions of the electronic lien and title program, but West Virginia will become the “first state in the nation to go fully digital.”

The governor’s office estimates the new system will reduce paper waste by 4 million pages per year and “significantly reduce” the amount of time West Virginians spend waiting in DMV offices.