Press Release - 09-26-2014

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, September 26, 2014

STATEMENT FROM COMMISSIONER BARBARA J. FIALA

The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles today announced that it will allow customers to exchange any license plate that is experiencing peeling free of charge, and that customers who previously exchanged plates for the same reason can receive a refund of $28.75. The action comes after recent reports from some DMV offices of peeling plates occurring on some older blue and white plates. Commissioner Fiala sent a bulletin to DMV offices statewide to ensure immediate implementation of the new policy.

“While the peeling plate issue appears limited in scope, we want to work with impacted customers who have plates experiencing peeling and make it easy for them to exchange their plates, or receive a refund,” said Commissioner Fiala. “We are continuing our investigation into why peeling is occurring in some of these older plates. In the meantime, we want to make it easy for our customers to exchange plates experiencing peeling, or to receive a refund if they have exchanged peeling plates in the past year. The DMV has taken many steps over the past few years to serve our customers better, including self-service, touch-screen kiosks in our offices and vastly expanded online services. Today’s action is part of these efforts to continue to put drivers first. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes our customers.”

Beginning today, customers can exchange their peeling plates at their local DMV office. Customers seeking a refund for peeling plates exchanged in the past year may use the form at http://dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv215.pdf (customers should write that they turned in a peeling plate in the “reason for refund” area at step 3 of this form) and mail it to: NYS Department of Motor Vehicles, Refund Section, 6 Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY  12228-0126. License plates showing natural aging, chips or cracks are not eligible for a free exchange. Customers wishing to exchange plates showing natural aging must pay the $28.75 replacement fee.

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