Record Search Service

Log Into Record Search Service

If you regularly need to search DMV records for driver license, registration, vehicle (title) or insurance information, then Record Search Service is the service you need. Our typical clients include government entities, attorneys, insurance and private investigators, process servers and building/site security personnel.  

See Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) for more information about permissible uses of DMV records.

You can apply for a new Record Search Service account online. 

Apply for a Record Search Service Account

We will review your application. If your application is complete, we will create an account for you. We will send you your account number and password. We will send you information on how to access and use your new account.

According to the NYS Vehicle and Traffic Law, we must charge a fee to search DMV records. Private persons, commercial organizations, and not-for-profit organizations must pay a search fee. There is a fee of $7.00 for each search that you make with the Dial-In service.

There are some organizations that are exempt from search fees. Any public organization, its officers, a volunteer fire company, a volunteer ambulance service, or a legal aid bureau or society, or other private entity acting pursuant to section 722 of the New York State County Law, that makes a search for a public purpose, is exempt from the search fee.

Paying customers must include a deposit with the application. Your first deposit must be enough to pay for two months of searches. When we accept your application, your deposit is added to your new account balance. When you make a search, we subtract the search fee from your account balance.

Payment by credit card is NOT available at this time.

You can use your account to pay for the mail-order searches and the online searches. If you must pay a fee for the service, your account records will reflect your debits and your credits and show your account balance.  For more information, please visit our Escrow Accounts page.

The information available to District Attorneys and Courts without the Tickets in Records Request Service function only includes conviction data. District Attorneys and Courts do not currently have information about the original charge and the conviction.    

DMV may terminate access to Tickets in Records Request Service at any time, without prior notice in the event of any unauthorized access or misuse of the information provided by tickets in Records Request Service. The individual that signs the agreement is responsible for ensuring compliance with the terms of Tickets in Records Request Service by individuals that they designate as authorized users.  

User Requirements

• Users must only use the Tickets in Records Request Service function in conjunction with the prosecution of traffic tickets.  
• Users must not share access credentials with anyone.  
• Users may access personal information contained in the Tickets in Records Request Service function only in conformance with the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994 (DPPA) (18 U.S.C. §2721, et seq.).    
• Users must report suspected or confirmed violations of the DPPA to the DMV Information Security Office, within one (1) business day of discovering any such violation by email to [email protected] or by telephone to 1-518-4022676  
• Users must agree to indemnify, keep and hold harmless the State of New York, its agents, officials and employees, from any and all claims for injury or damage to person or property, deaths, losses, damages, suits directly attributed to the negligent, improper or unauthorized use or dissemination of personal identifying information provided hereunder.  

Record-Keeping Requirements 

• Users must maintain records of searches   
• COMPASS function for 5 years from the date the search was conducted.  
• Records of searches conducted must be promptly provided to DMV upon request.  
• Records must be organized to permit retrieval by the license number of the subject of the search. 

The business records you keep must exist prior to the search you perform and must establish the business purpose of the search.  

Common examples of business records include invoices, retainer agreements, employment applications, consent forms, crash reports, surveillance reports, and numerous other types of records.  The Terms of Service of your Search Account require you to maintain these records and to provide them to DMV when requested.  

DMV inquires about searches to monitor compliance with the Records Search Service Terms of Service. You must respond to the inquiry about whether or not you have business records that support your search. Your response will be considered an incomplete reply if you do not give us the business records. You can complete an inquiry at any time if you send us the requested acceptable business records.  

If you performed the search on behalf of a client, you will need to show permissible use of your client and your client-agent relationship.  

If you personally did not perform the search we have inquired about, please check with the other users of your Records Search Service account to see if one of them performed the search. If none of the known users performed the search, contact us immediately.  

If you do not respond to our inquiry about a Records Search Service search, your search privileges will be suspended until you respond.  

If a motorist asks the DMV if his records were searched, the DMV supplies them with the name and business address of the Records Search Service account holder, and the time, date, and search criteria used to search for the records.  

We do not disclose the Records Search Service account numbers of the account holder that performed the search.