Dept of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division, is Driving Better Service
3 September 1999
Department of Revenue, Motor Vehicle Division, is Driving Better Service Your Way With Implementation of 'GRATIS'
Georgia Registration and Title Information System Will Change the Way
Georgians Receive Their Tags and Titles
ATLANTA, Sept. 2 -- Georgia has the 9th largest vehicle
population in the United States and will now join 27 other states having
state-of-the-art systems to ensure that all registered vehicles in the state
are accounted for and that proper state records are being maintained. Jerry
Jackson, Commissioner for the Department of Revenue, is proud that "over the
coming Labor Day weekend, the state of Georgia will be installing a statewide
Y2K compliant computer system to support our tag and title operations."
September 7, 1999, Georgia will implement "GRATIS," (Georgia Registration and
Title Information System), a real-time, integrated vehicle registration and
title processing system for the state of Georgia. "GRATIS" replaces the old
system of handling registrations and titles, which had become labor-intensive,
cumbersome and error-prone. Milton Dufford, Deputy Commissioner of the Motor
Vehicle Division of the State Revenue Department said, "GRATIS will improve
the speed and efficiency of registration and title processing in Georgia,
benefiting local vehicle registration officials and their staff, law
enforcement agencies, auto dealers, auto owners and purchasers, insurers and
the driving public."
GRATIS is modeled on North Carolina's state title and registration system
("STARS") and will make it much easier for you to register, renew and title
your vehicle. With GRATIS emission inspection data is recorded in the system
at the time of the inspection and is immediately available to the tag
specialist when registering your vehicle. County tax commissioners' offices
are able to process tag and title transactions on-site immediately, sharply
reducing waiting time for new titles. Normal registrations take only minutes.
Mailed-in registration renewals are processed in minutes, not days. New
titles can be mailed to the owner or lienholder the day after a title
application is filed. Dufford said, "The efficiency of the 'GRATIS' system is
very, very important to us. We continuously look for ways to improve Motor
Vehicle, so we'll be looking at 'GRATIS' to improve our service to our
customers." He indicated, "The citizens are going to notice the efficiency of
being able to have on-line, real-time updates from county to county."
Additional benefits include user-friendly tag decals, with the car's
license tag number on each decal. The "GRATIS" centralized database permits
information to be shared throughout the state in all participating counties,
helping to stop the registration of stolen vehicles and aiding in the
collection of county ad valorem taxes. The "GRATIS" program will provide
consistent name identification, with registrations and titles matching the
owner's name on his/her driver's license.
One of the largest benefits of "GRATIS" is the effect the program will
have on law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement agencies will have real-
time access to information about vehicle registration and ownership. With
over 500,000 State Patrol road-side traffic stops each year, "GRATIS" will
provide immediate access to the name, address, and other information about the
owner of a vehicle, tag number, Vehicle Identification Numbers and title
numbers to officers. Robert Hightower, Director of the Department of Public
Safety, said, "The 'GRATIS' system is very important to the Georgia Department
of Public Safety and to the Georgia State Patrol. I know it is very important
to the Sheriff's departments and the police departments across the state.
Getting this timely information on the computer system so that data is
available to any law enforcement officer making a traffic stop and identifying
the vehicle, is invaluable to the officer. It is good for them because of the
danger involved in what appear to be routine stops. All of our law
enforcement officers are put in a tremendous amount of danger anytime they
stop a vehicle. When they stop a vehicle that may be involved in a crime or
that may be stolen, it makes it that much more dangerous."
Fully funded by the state of Georgia, "GRATIS" will provide significant
cost savings for state and county governments, as well as automobile dealers
and lenders. Please note that many county tag offices will be closed, or have
reduced services, on Tuesday, September 7, 1999 to make the transition to
GRATIS.
Counties participating:
Appling Atkinson Bacon Baker Baldwin
Barrow Bartow Berrien Bibb Bleckley
Brantley Brooks Bryan Bulloch Burke
Butts Calhoun Carroll Catoosa Charlton
Chattahoochee Chatham Chattooga Cherokee Clarke
Clayton Clinch Coffee Colquitt Cook
Coweta Crawford Crisp Dade Dawson
Decatur DeKalb Dougherty Douglas Echols
Effingham Elbert Emanuel Evans Fayette
Floyd Forsyth Franklin Fulton Gilmer
Glascock Glynn Gordon Greene Gwinnett
Hall Hancock Haralson Harris Hart
Heard Henry Houston Irwin Jackson
Jasper Jefferson Jenkins Johnson Jones
Lamar Lanier Laurens Liberty Lincoln
Long Lowndes Lumpkin Macon Madison
Marion McDuffie McIntosh Meriwether Miller
Monroe Montgomery Morgan Murray Muscogee
Newton Oconee Oglethorpe Paulding Pierce
Pike Polk Pulaski Putnam Quitman
Rockdale Schley Seminole Spalding Sumter
Talbot Taliaferro Tattnall Taylor Terrell
Thomas Tift Toombs Treutlen Troup
Union Upson Walker Walton Ware
Warren Washington Webster Wheeler White
Whitfield Wilkes Worth