2-13-08

Walpole Offers Online Vehicle Registration

By Chuck Bingaman, Contributing Writer

            Walpole residents can now register their vehicles in their pajamas, bathing suits or any other attire they choose!  Twenty-four seven!

            Town Clerk Sandy Smith and her assistant Wendy Walsh have announced that Walpoleans can register their vehicles from the privacy of their homes or offices simply by logging on to the town web site, www.walpolenh.us, supplying the usual car information as well as their bank account and bank routing number (on each check) and following simple instructions.

            According to Smith, the system will eliminate extra trips to the clerk’s office and, often, waiting in line for assistance.  And, it will help Smith and Walsh even out their workloads and acquaint people with Walpole’s web site and the other information and services it offers.

            “Forty-three New Hampshire towns now offer “E-Reg”, our online vehicle registration service,” according to Sandy Rowe, President of Interware Development, the Mont Vernon, NH company that created the software.  “Actually it’s part of a larger software package for New Hampshire clerks to use called “Clerkworks” that is used by 100 towns around the state.”

            “Since we debuted the E-Reg program in 2005, over 63,000 vehicle registrations have been made online,” Rowe said on Wednesday. 

            Using the E-Reg system costs an extra $1.50 per car and a $1.00 transaction fee that covers bank account verification and the mailing of the vehicle owner’s new registration and stickers to him.  So if one registers a single car, it will cost $2.50 more than it would if it was done at the Clerk’s office in Town Hall.  If two cars are registered at once, it would cost $4.00 more.  Otherwise, the fees remain the same.

            So far, users must arrange for their bank accounts to be directly debited for the vehicle and handling fees—no credit card payments yet.  Rowe said that she is working with the New Hampshire Department of Motor Vehicles to set up credit card payment.  “We would like to do it, and the DMV has referred the matter to their office of information technology to assist in working out the details.”

            Walpole vehicle owners can register through E-Reg up to two months before their vehicles are due for re-registration or up to one month after registration was due.

            For complete information or to proceed with registration online, Walpole vehicle owners need simply call up the Walpole town web site, http://www.walpolenh.us/town_clerk.htm, and follow directions.  For further information, call the Walpole Town Clerk’s office at 603-756-3514.

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