AAA Northeast: Challenges Prevent Non-Member License Services

AAA Northeast’s decision to stop offering licensing services to the general public has drawn the ire of Gov. Dannel Malloy.

“This is unacceptable," Governor Malloy wrote in a letter to AAA Northeast. "AAA Northeast's decision to stop servicing non-members is rather shocking since Connecticut has always valued our working relationship with AAA.”

AAA Northeast has offices in Branford, Danbury, Fairfield, Hamden, Milford, Norwalk, Stamford and Waterbury.

AAA Allied locations will continue to service non-members and members. It has locations in Avon, Cromwell, Enfield, Manchester, Old Saybrook, Plainville, Waterford and West Hartford.

A $5 convenience fee applies to non-members.

Some challenges have made it impossible for AAA Northeast to continue to offer license services to non-members, said spokesman Fran Mayko. One of the challenges is that licenses have to be REAL ID compliant, a federally secure standard that increases processing time by almost 50 percent.

The number of office transactions has nearly doubled while the number of non-member transactions has increased from 17 percent five years ago to nearly 50 percent in 2016.

"The combination of these factors has created a situation that adversely affects the ability of AAA to deliver the high levels of service that our members have come to expect," Mayko said.

AAA Northeast has offered licensing services to the general public since 2001. It contacted the DMV in September to say that it will only service members.

“I am hopeful that the State will demonstrate a willingness to work with AAA on this matter,” said Mark Shaw, AAA Northeast CEO. “After working so closely with the DMV for all these years, and completing well over a million registry transactions at no cost to the state, I remain optimistic that we will find a way to move forward that allows our longstanding partnership to continue.”

Earlier this year AAA affiliates approached the DMV about offering registration renewals services to help lower DMV wait times. That service was made a reality.

Malloy said that he will direct the DMV to take any legal steps necessary to resolve the matter.
“AAA Northeast has a contract in place with the DMV...and that requires it to provide 60 days written notice prior to termination of that contract,” Malloy said regarding licensing services.
The DMV said in a statement that it is disappointed in the actions of AAA Northeast.

We remain fully confident in our partnership with the state’s other AAA organization known as AAA Allied. It has been a strong partner since 1992 and has provided high-quality license services to all citizens, whether AAA members or not, when they have visited AAA Allied offices. We know this same level of service will continue as they open their doors to the customers of AAA Northeast.

AAA Northeast estimates that 10 percent of non-members who use its licensing services become members and its customer transactions grew by 14.3 percent in recent months, Malloy wrote to the organization.

Image via Mark Goebel/Flickr Commons