NY Department of Motor Vehicles System Restored

By Gilbert Falso :: 4:36 PM

Most time spent at the department of motor vehicles can be frustrating, but it was a particularly bad day to visit the DMV in New York on Monday. Computer systems that manage New York’s DMV data were down across the state, affecting offices from Manhattan to Buffalo, and preventing police from checking some motorist records.

Today, the system appears to be back up, according to a DMV spokesperson. The problem developed after a mainframe server that the department uses for data and transactions was upgraded over the weekend, and had passed a testing phase properly, but couldn’t handle the load of actual business early in the week.

On Tuesday, the system was still slower than normal, but most of the glitches had been worked out. The agency is making allowances for New Yorkers who missed a deadline due to the computer problems.

NY’s DMV has 35 offices in major cities across the state, and also supports branches in many county clerks offices in rural areas of the state.