Most Iowans will soon be able to renew their driver’s license on-line, likely starting in mid-July, but Iowa Department of Transportation officials say they’re hearing from Iowans who’ve already been tricked by on-line imposters.
Mark Lowe, director of the Iowa DOT’s motor vehicle division, says there are a number of websites that offer information about how to renew your driver’s license.
“They may provide information on how to get your driver’s license in online services and they’ll have you fill out information and pay for something, but what you’re getting is just an easy guide that provides information that we really provide on our website,” Lowe says. “So then people have either shown up at our offices or they’ve called and said, ‘Well, I paid $14 for this, but I haven’t gotten my license yet and it’s because all they were doing was buying some information and not conducting an online transaction that they can only do through us.”
The key is finding the Iowa Department of Transportation’s website, which ends with a dot-gov — and clicking the link for the Motor Vehicle Division. Lowe stresses, however, that online license renewal is not available now.
“Because of the way the legislation was set up we’ve got some rules to pass which we will hopefully transact at our July 9 commission meeting and that once that’s done we’ll open up the site hopefully sometime in mid-July and we’ll make sure that’s well-known,” Lowe says. “But we want folks to make sure that when they look at it, they’re seeing that they’re on an Iowa DOT site and not any type of site that’s a .com or a .org.”
The Iowa Motor Vehicle Division website is likely to be updated in July once driver’s license renewal goes online.
Legislation signed into law by the governor in mid-May ensures most Iowans between the ages of 18 and 70 will be able to renew their licenses online. However, Iowans with medical or vision problems or other restrictions on their current driver’s license will have to go into a DOT station to renew their licenses.