A technical outage took out DMV services for people nationwide on Thursday, according to officials in several states.
Authorities said the outage stemmed from an issue with a database maintained by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. The group provides “a variety of technology services including system applications, network services, software products, and standards that enable members to securely share driver, vehicle, and identity verification data with organizations,” according to its website.
Outage resolved, officials say
Update 12:55 p.m. EDT March 21: Officials in Arkansas and Virginia said a technical issue that took down DMV services for people across the U.S. on Thursday has been resolved.
The database issue has been resolved and all state Revenue Offices are operating normally.#arkansasgov #ARNews
— Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (@ArkansasDFA) March 21, 2024
Our system is back up and running after a third-party system outage that affected driver's license transactions at our offices and website. Transactions are once again processing. We appreciate your patience while this issue was resolved. pic.twitter.com/HAMjzsTi2x
— VirginiaDMV (@VirginiaDMV) March 21, 2024
Earlier, officials in Arkansas said that DMVs nationwide were “having trouble issuing car tags and licenses” due to an outage of a database maintained by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
DMVs across the country are having trouble issuing car tags and licenses as the database maintained by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators is currently down. Please be aware of this if you planned a trip to a Revenue Office today. DFA will provide updates.
— Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (@ArkansasDFA) March 21, 2024
Original report: Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias first shared news of the outage on social media.
“We are currently experiencing a nationwide network outage at our DMV facilities,” he wrote at 10:10 a.m. CDT. “All DMVs across the country are currently down.”
⚠ ADVISORY: We are currently experiencing a nationwide network outage at our DMV facilities. All DMVs across the country are currently down.
— Secretary Alexi Giannoulias (@ILSecOfState) March 21, 2024
Please call us at 800-252-8980 before you visit our DMVs, as these circumstances may impact operating hours or services. pic.twitter.com/1FMcJytBzf
Officials in Virginia said the issue stems from “a third-party technical outage” that halted online and in-person driver’s license services. It was the American Association of Motor Vehicles Administrators affected, Colorado officials said.
ALERT! Due to a third-party technical outage, driver's license services are currently unavailable online and at all in-person locations. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please stay tuned to social media for updates. pic.twitter.com/vELbF0LbyY
— VirginiaDMV (@VirginiaDMV) March 21, 2024
It was not immediately clear when services might be restored.
Check back for more on this developing story.
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