DVDL replacing over 2,400 temp plates
The new licence plates will be used on all vehicles
(CNS): The Department of Vehicle and Drivers’ Licensing has revealed that there are around 2,400 temporary vehicle registration plates that now need to be replaced. In a release from the DVDL Monday, officials said that the replacement process started last week and that by the end of next month all of the vehicles in Cayman with temporary plates will receive new plates that are compatible with the Electronic Vehicle Registration (EVR) system. All registration plates are being embossed on-island by DVDL, and the department claimed the plates and new windscreen coupons are tamper-proof and cannot be removed for illegal use on other vehicles.
Police had been concerned about the delay in the rollout of the new system, leaving increasing numbers of cars on the road with only temporary laminated paper plates, usually sitting on dashboards, which made it more difficult for them to do their jobs. That was highlighted when the car used in an armed robbery at Foster’s supermarket earlier this month had no registration plates.
DVDL Director David Dixon thanked the public for their patience but offered no explanation for the delay. “I also want to recognise my staff, and those from the vendor, Toennjes, for their dedication and long hours during this transition,” he said, adding that the vendor has been on-island in recent weeks, managing setup and training of DVDL staff.
The DVDL said the initial focus is on replacing the temporary plates with new permanent plates, as well as issuing registration plates to newly registered vehicles. Owners who were issued temporary plates are reminded that, when collecting the new plates, they must bring in the temporary plates, the windshield coupon (if not expired), as well as their logbook.
About 2,400 temporary plates have been issued in recent times, and all of these should all be replaced during May 2017, the department said.
Starting in June, DVDL will begin the process of replacing the registration plates on vehicles which are up for renewal that month. Customers will be issued the same plate number, and there is no cost for the new plates. Drivers are advised to renew their vehicles at the same location as done previously, as this is where the new registration plate can be collected.
Plates are being issued at all three DVDL locations on Grand Cayman: the headquarters at 990 Crewe Road; Unit 9 in Banks Plaza on Reverend Blackman Road, West Bay; and Unit 2035 in the new South Coast Plaza, Breakers. Owners of vehicles being registered and licensed for the first time will pay the usual $75 fee for a the new set of plates, as well as the associated fees based on the respective categories of vehicles.
While the new plates are to be attached as normal, the new coupons must be posted in the centre of the inside of the windscreen, directly below the rear-view mirror. An instruction pamphlet is provided along with the new registration plates.
Category: Local News
Just got my plates this week. What a complete disaster!! The plates don’t have holes for screws so they need to be inserted in a plate holder which doesn’t fit every car. Once inserted, they can no longer be removed without damage.
Who is responsible for this? What a mess! This is an outrage and someone within government has to take ownership.
Within a few years, these plates will be falling off the cars since the holders will not be held in place properly.
Just when i thought cayman couldn’t get any worse lmao you really out-did yourself ill be the next caymanian living in florida
So I called the DVDL today to find out the procedure to have the temporary plates changed. A female answered and she said you will need insurance certificate, Logbook, the temporary plates and peel off the coupon that’s on the car. You will also need to choose a number and wait to be processed. I asked what would be the estimated wait time to get it done and she says 1hour to 1hr and 15mins.
I am so not looking forward to getting my temporary plates changed, may have to take a sick day from work to get it done, my lunch break is 55 mins not even a full hour!
They need to open ALL branches on a Saturday/Sunday just to facilitate persons who don’t have that time to sit and wait to process.
I spent ove 2 hours at Crew Rd DMV yesterday. The procedure is not sorted out… They have no clue what’s happening and after 40 minutes AT THE COUNTER i finally got the plates. The staff has not been trained and the transfer from temp paper plates to the new ones is clearly not working properly. Scanning problems, staff not knowing how to process the switch, etc. Anyway, as the rep told me, I was “lucky to get through so fast as others are waiting 3 – 4 hours”. Good luck!!!
If this really was a true Electronic Vehicle Registration (EVR) system, then we should be able to download the new plates over the internet.
You need the RFID plates that are linked to your EVR profile.
It is great that the DVDL web site has been updated in a timely manner to advise the population of the details re collection, installation, required documents etc.
Yeah right, you stay there waiting for that.
I believe people are being called in by groups to collect their new plates? If so that makes sense in reducing the pile up – no pun intended
So crime is so out of control here that we need all this?
There are thousands of cars, taxis, and trucks that shouldn’t be on the road. Many without valid registration or insurance. Many that are not safe or mechanically sound. They’ll begin to stand out in the next year as the new plates get into circulation. It has been too easy to pretend.
Pretend you say? How about pretending this is a solution…LOL.
Save IT.
I have two and half years before my coupon expires so hopefully they would have gotten their act in order and ironed out the kinks by then for me to get my electronic plate quickly.
Will have changed to a completely different system by then.
Very much looking forward to the first reports of some DVDL staff member attempting to affix plates to a car and scratching the bodywork to F in the process.
Hurry up, line up and wait. Why could this have not been thought through better than it has been?? Seriously. This just goes to show why people are commenting so negatively and it makes this department look pathetic.
I hope that during your training sessions you include customer service and friendliness. We have no choice to be there, it’s no fun standing in line that way without a fun roller-coaster at the other end, instead you get a surly grumpity stump that doesn’t smile. Well, actually I have had several friendly staff encounters at the main centre but having just been to the new Barkers set up, they are not pleasant. There’s no direction there, you just have to pay attention to who comes in behind you to figure your place in ‘line’.
Barkers or breakers?
The Breakers-Barkers? place is just for the third world. That’s what they have trained for their whole lives. Standing in line won’t work there. I think it was a another vote buying thing.
Not to be nit-picky….but does anyone know if we all get uniform white “hey y’all, watch this” tourist plates or does this come in a “belonger-class”, “yield-or-else” yellow, or the elusive, “diplomatic-immunity” red plate? What would Cayman be without its aids of recognition to instruct on-road behavior, and defensive awareness? We can just intuitively feel that white plate is going to go all the way around the traffic circle in the left lane with no signal. Bless their hearts.
2/5/2017 and so far all the ones I have seen are getting white plates so we will all look like tourist’s
I recall, back in gentler times, the DVDL would write and sign a square receipt that you would then artfully refashion into a polygon and squeeze through a flap into the round plastic friction cozy your insurance company would send you. Technically you could lick the plastic and slap it on anywhere on the front window, but your first stop check the Heat would ask you to relocate to bottom left corner to make it easier on them. There is a long proud history of over-complication at DVDL. Bless.
I just bought a vehicle in Grand Cayman and I am shipping it to the Brac. It will be due for licensing in July or August. You say we must collect new licence plates from where the vehicle was first licenced. How will I do that with the vehicle in Cayman Brac. Will you send the plate to Cayman Brac or will I have to ship my vehicle back to Grand Cayman. How will this work. Please advise
Good question. You should call them and write back what they said.
Why do I get the feeling that I’m going on a wild goose chase to track down ‘my number’? When I get to GT they will say no, sorry try West Bay, when I get to West Bay, they will say no sorry try Breakers, only to be sent back to GT where it was all along!
Nope. The numbers as far as I am aware are not pre-assigned. You get the next number available. Pre-assigning would be stupid if you ask me.
Article said customers would get the same plate number, how else would this occur if they are not pre-assigned?
New plates for new cars will get the next number in line
So you install the plates yourself or do you have to wait for them to do it ?
Strange question. Have you ever had a license plate installed by an DVDL employee anywhere in the world?
Probably asking because at some point DVD said the plates couldn’t be stolen or switched because they were tamper proof. He’s probably wondering how, if you can screw the on yourself, you cannot unscrew them.
BYO Phillips-head screw driver.
As someone working in the private sector who is held responsible for decisions made, I am utterly disgusted by the constant lack of any responsibility and the respective consequences for any civil servants or elected members. No wonder very few on this Island have much respect towards Government and its employees.
It is absolutely shocking and disgusting that nobody is going to be held responsible for the serious risk and security issue they subjected the entire population to by having thousands of cars driving around without much of any sort of ID visible.
That on top of the already ignorant stance by the police towards vehicles where the owner choses to only install only one license plate on the back of the vehicle and the increase of “black out” license plate covers used is scary as hell.
How on earth is the public supposed to “support” the RCIP by calling in suspicious vehicles and activities if so many can’t be identified? What if someone gets run over or someone’s child gets knocked down? Are they seriously suggesting that a “subscription of the vehicle” is going to suffice. Ok, well it was a white Honda (or maybe Toyota) off you go…..
What is happening with the Q plates and personalized plates? Customers paid extra for these so I assume will get the same custom plates… if not, is the money being refunded for these custom plates?
Existing placed are being replaced. Replaced means a new one with the SAME number. Get it?
A logical assumption but could this be confirmed?
Ok. But are the relevant authorities actually going to get serious about the blacked-out plate covers?
Ask your new MLA to advocate for such a change to the relevant law. NO COVERS.
Excuse me. No Dark Covers if you must. But I’m not replacing my license plates every so often because they fade and strip so easily. Hopefully the new ones are much better in that regard! I personally witnessed this with my car as my plate covers broke, and in no time (maybe a year) my plates were stripping!
I’m still using plates that went through Ivan. Granted, they aren’t super-pretty, but they are readable!
2400 is not accurate i saw vehicles with temporary number with T6523
I bet if someone gave you a few weeks to think about it, you might come to the conclusion that they didn’t start at T0001
They started in the 4000’s so 2400 is probably about right.
I saw a T0003 the other day, so….Mind you, it was a metal plate and I think they have been using these for some time for trade plates and temporary plates post import. Perhaps Mr T0003 just didn’t replace his! Question is what number did they start the paper plates at.
Saw a T6650-something today. Lots of work ahead! Hopefully they can streamline the transfer at DVDL so that “now serving” times are less than a half work day!
“in the centre of the inside of the windscreen”? The reason the coupon presently is placed to the lower side is to ensure vision is not obstructed, surely.
They were on lower left to make it easier for officers standing on the side of the road to visually locate the coupon and confirm validity during stop checks. Whereas an RFID device can be theoretically read from a cruiser 100m away.
I agree, the coupon will obstruct I think this will end up being a point of contention and may even end up in court with the Department being held liable.
Its obvious that this was not thought out thoroughly enough.
@Think first: article says it goes behind the rearview mirror…how exactly will it obstruct your line of sight when it is fastened behind your mirror? Do you have X-ray vision?
“directly below the rear-view mirror” what part of this say’s behind?
Surely it’s a typo or mistake. Even Toënnjes literature shows scannable Holographic RFID IDeSTIX coupons (3rd License plates) on the top left of the windscreen. Time will show that people will put these where it makes logical sense, not in a nuisance location because a pre-roll-out CNS article instructed them to do something counter-intuitive. In any case, these are fairly small – nothing like the big sticker squares we have now.
http://www.toennjes.com/rfid-identification/
The intention is for it to go on the windscreen directly below the point where the arm for the suspended rear mirror drops down from glass – that should put the coupon behind the mirror itself and out of your line of sight. The 3″x5″ rearview mirror already obstructs sufficient glass to hide a 1″x2″ coupon out of driver line of sight. Unless you are a complete moron – then put it in the middle of your windscreen where the sight-line to the mirror stops. Most intelligent people will figure this out.
Think you need to read article again. Coupon will be placed inside windscreen at centre directly below rear view mirror.
Directly below where the arm attaches to the windscreen – ie behind the rearview mirror that is suspended in front and below that attachment point. Go to your car and figure this out. Geeeezus.
The word used was “below” you dumb-behind!
Read it again. Says BELOW the mirror, not behind it. OP is right.
What if you have tint on your windshield in that area like most cars here do?
if your tint extends below the rear view mirror, you are probably breaking the rules on tint. Mind you, no one seems to enforce that so why not just stick the coupon where ever you like. It’s not as if anyone is ever going to ask or hold you to account. That’s the type of society we have become. DO what you want based on the possibility of being held to account rater than what’s right.
Is anything on this island thought out thoroughly?
They seem pretty good at getting caymanians to leave
Why do we need electronic plates AND a windscreen sticker? Surely these new plates should be enough on their own as all vehicular information should be tied into them.
Shhhhh…stop making sense. Two plates and a windscreen chip equates to three times the proprietary materials cost for Toënnjes! Think of those starving German children we’ll be able to feed!
What about the Brac people that have temporary plates? There’s no instructions for them. ????
Brac does not need this. Why??!!! Just because Grand Cayman has it?!!! Stop behaving like spoiled children. “We want it because Cayman got it”.
They haven’t found a good way of securing the plates to the horses, yet.
Idiot
I sincerely hope Mr Dixon looks at today’s Compass cartoon, which accurately depicts how his department operates, at least up until now. If they cannot cope with existing customers what is going to happen when they try to process 2,500 new plates within one month, in addition to regular business?.
The staff that work in these places like most government agencies don’t give a hoot how long you have to wait, they never have to endure it themselves. So here we go with a modern electronic plating system, but you still have to go to back in time a century to get a coupon and a new log ‘paper’ printed each time, oh and lets not forget the feeble attempt at the online system, which has never worked properly. They should be spending money on getting this fixed first. There should be no need for anyone to have to go to these morbid places at all for renewal transactions.