The Department of Motor Vehicles has introduced new programs
that allow customers to report a change of address and file a
Notice of Release of Liability through the DMV Web site at
www.dmv.ca.gov.
Staff Report
Sacramento – The Department of Motor Vehicles has introduced new programs that allow customers to report a change of address and file a Notice of Release of Liability through the DMV Web site at www.dmv.ca.gov.
“Similar to other services we now offer online, these two have the potential of saving time and money for our customers by eliminating unnecessary trips to our field offices or phone calls into our system,” said DMV Director George Valverde.
What is a Release of Liability? By law, anyone who sells a motor vehicle has the obligation to notify DMV by filling out a Notice of Release of Liability within five days after the sale. The notice releases the previous owner from any civil and/or criminal liability for the parking, abandonment or operation of the sold vehicle by another party.
Currently DMV receives more than 6.4 million Notices of Release of Liability and 1.7 million change of address forms each year. All of them are currently processed manually. Unfortunately, a high percentage of the forms received by mail are either illegible or incomplete, causing customers to make additional phone calls and/or field office visits to correctly update their information. Incomplete or illegible change of address forms can also inconvenience customers by not allowing them to use mail or Internet options to process their vehicle renewals because they are unable to receive the renewal notices by mail.
