Your registration renewal might’ve gotten lost in the junk mail

We know your mailbox is full of holiday cards, bills, and ads right now, but don’t just automatically toss those postcards in the pile. You might need them to renew your car tabs.

My car registration is due at the end of this month. Yes. I am one of those people who are still getting their tabs. I have been checking the mail for a while, looking for my renewal letter from the Department of Licensing. I know it must have come. It usually arrives well before the tabs are due.

It turns out. I likely threw it out because renewal letters are no longer being mailed. The DOL switched to smaller, two-sided postcards for renewals in August. Most of the postcards I get are junk mail. Straight to the recycling bin.

And if you’ve done business with the DOL on the web, it’s likely your renewal notice was sent by email and not in the regular mail at all.

Why the DOL changed registration renewal notices

I asked the DOL’s Christine Anthony why the agency made the change.

“It came down to efficiency, and it came down to cost,” she said. “It costs a lot more to send a letter that sometimes had what we call buck slips in there with other information. And postcards are just easier.”

There’s a QR code on the postcard so you can renew instantly and have the tabs sent to you.

An example of the postcard sent for renewing tabs.

But with a change like this, has the DOL had any issues with people missing their registrations because they tossed the postcard?

“We’ve been closely tracking the number of renewals to make sure that they haven’t gone down, and we haven’t seen a big decrease in the number of renewals that are being done,” Anthony said.

Using your email for your DOL business is the easiest, safest, and cheapest way to do it.

“Aside from costing less, emails and postcards reduce paper waste,” Anthony said. “Email notices have other advantages like greater security and privacy, instant delivery, and one-click access on our 24/7 online renewal portal. And emails will never end up in your neighbor’s mailbox either.”

And one more simple tip, you can always find out when you need to register your car by looking at your license plate. Who knew?

Chris Sullivan is a traffic reporter for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here. Follow KIRO Newsradio traffic on X.

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