PETERSBURG, Va. -- Stephen Holland has 21 years in the trucking business. His company, Bluewater Transport specializes in heavy hauling.
But in recent months, Holland says getting tags, license plate stickers, and the fuel tax sticker is a waiting game.
“It’s a big mess," said Holland. "I got to run my trucks illegal because we don’t have registrations that are legal.”
“Yesterday morning, when I called, I was 334 in line. This morning I called at 7:59 and I was 445,” he added.
The delay equals out to a lost revenue.
“I got truck payments, trailer payments,” said Holland.
Looking out at the lot where Holland keeps his trucks, several vehicles sit there inactive.
"That truck costs me $2500 a month for it to sit there,” said Holland.
The truck has expired 30 day tags dating back to October and so does a second one. Another truck has February 2021 license plate stickers and a 2020 fuel tax sticker.
On Monday, Holland says he was stopped by State Police in North Carolina at the scale house.
"They gave us a warning and let us go,” he said.
He worries the next time he’s stopped he won't be so lucky and his truck will get parked.
“So they’ll make me park the truck right there in the parking lot and they won’t let you move it, till the tags are fixed,” said Holland.
Holland says he’d like to see the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) make the online process for new tags and renewals easier to navigate and to work through the backlog of calls quicker.
CBS 6 reached to the DMV about delay concerns with commercial truckers. A spokesperson says the DMV switched to a new online system last July for commercial users and she says DMV has experienced a larger number of issues with that new system than anticipated.
That has led to extremely high call volumes.
DMV says they have increased work center staff by 40%to help reduce processing times.
Commercial customers are encouraged to renew their fuel tax stickers online or my mail.
