§ 202 — Fees for searches and copies of documents

New York § 202

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law VAT: Vehicle & Traffic
• Title 2: Department of Motor Vehicles; Commissioner

Text

§ 202. Fees for searches and copies of documents. 1. Except in those\ncases in which it is provided by law that no fee shall be charged, the\nfees for searching the records of the department of motor vehicles kept\npursuant to the provisions of this chapter and for furnishing copies of\ndocuments in said department kept pursuant to the provisions of this\nchapter shall be as provided in this section. Provided, however, that\nno fee shall be charged any public officer, board or body, volunteer\nfire company, volunteer ambulance service, or legal aid bureau or\nsociety or other private entity when acting pursuant to section seven\nhundred twenty-two of the county law, for searches or copies of\ndocuments to be used for a public purpose.\n 2. Fees for searches of records. * (a) The fee for a search which is\nmade manually by the department shall be ten dollars.\n * NB Effective until April 1, 2026\n * (a) The fee for a search which is made manually by the department\nshall be five dollars.\n * NB Effective April 1, 2026\n * (b) The fee for a search which is made by direct entry by a\nrequester who has been approved for such entry by the commissioner shall\nbe seven dollars.\n * NB Effective until April 1, 2026\n * (b) The fee for a search which is made by direct entry by a\nrequester who has been approved for such entry by the commissioner shall\nbe four dollars.\n * NB Effective April 1, 2026\n * (c) The fee for a search which is made by means of an electronic\nmedium which has been prepared by a requester who has been approved for\nsuch service by the commissioner and which is processed by the\ndepartment shall be seven dollars.\n * NB Effective until April 1, 2026\n * (c) The fee for a search which is made by means of an electronic\nmedium which has been prepared by a requester who has been approved for\nsuch service by the commissioner and which is processed by the\ndepartment shall be four dollars.\n * NB Effective April 1, 2026\n (d) The commissioner may condition approval for direct entry of a\nrequest or use of an electronic medium by a requester upon the\nestablishment and maintenance of an account with the department with a\nminimum balance established by the commissioner from which fees\nchargeable to the requester shall be deducted. In addition, the\ncommissioner shall prescribe the specifications and procedures for use\nof electronic media and may establish a minimum and/or a maximum number\nof searches which may be contained on any one such electronic medium\nsubmission.\n (e) For the purposes of this section, a search shall consist of a\nsingle entry of an acceptable identifier for the purpose of obtaining a\nspecific category of information relating to a person, vehicle or number\nplate. The commissioner shall by regulation define such categories and\nidentifiers acceptable for such categories. Except as provided in\nsubdivision three of this section, a search of the record of the\ndepartment shall include the furnishing of the information disclosed by\nsuch search, and with respect to searches made manually by the\ndepartment, shall include a certification of such record.\n 3. Fees for copies of documents. The fees for copies of documents,\nother than accident reports, shall be one dollar per page. A page shall\nconsist of either a single or double side of any document. The fee for a\ncopy of an accident report shall be fifteen dollars. All copies of\ndocuments shall be certified at no additional fee. Whenever search of\nrecords of the department is required in conjunction with a request for\na copy of a document, the fee for such search shall be the fee provided\nin paragraph (a) of subdivision two of this section. The result of such\nsearch will be the locating of the document to be copied, or if no\ndocument can be located, a certification to that effect will be the\nresult of the search.\n 4. Registration lists and title information. (a) The commissioner\nshall have discretion to contract with the highest responsible bidder or\nbidders to furnish the registration information specified in this\nsection from the records of all vehicle registrations from any\nregistration period, or number of periods not exceeding five years in\nthe aggregate, with respect to a given territory or information on\ntitles. In such event, the fees provided by this section shall not apply\nto copies of records furnished under any such contract. Any such\ncontract entered into by the commissioner pursuant to this section shall\nnot be for a term of more than two years and shall contain language\nprohibiting the successful bidder from assigning the contract and from\nany use or resale of the information received which use or resale is\ncontrary to the public policy of this state or is contrary to the public\nmorals or welfare. In addition, any such sale of registration\ninformation shall be limited to only that part of the vehicle\nregistration records describing the name and address of the owner of the\nvehicle and the make, model, year, weight, body style, number of\npassengers and cylinders, fuel, license number, type of registration and\ntransaction, validation and expiration date and vehicle identification\nnumber of the vehicle.\n (b) The commissioner shall notify each vehicle registrant that the\nregistration information specified in paragraph (a) of this subdivision\nhas been or will be furnished to the contracting party. The commissioner\nshall inform each vehicle registrant when such registrant first makes\napplication for a vehicle registration or when such registrant applies\nto renew an existing vehicle registration how to achieve the deletion of\nsuch information from the contracting party's file. The contract between\nthe commissioner and the contracting party shall provide that, upon the\nrequest of the registrant made in such manner and in such form as shall\nbe prescribed by the commissioner, such registration information shall\nbe deleted from the contracting party's file for all purposes, except:\n(i) issuance of manufacturer's warranty, safety recall or similar\nnotices, or (ii) statistical complications.\n (c) Any material violation of the terms of such contract by the\nsuccessful bidder not corrected or discontinued within thirty days\nfollowing receipt of notice of such violation will automatically cancel\nand void its contract with the commissioner and disqualify it from\nbidding for the five successive years following such cancellation.\n (d) Any contract authorized by this section shall be subject to the\nprovisions of article nine of the state finance law.\n (e) The commissioner may from time to time require that the\ncontracting party pursuant to this section submit written reports, in\nform satisfactory to the commissioner, concerning the use of such\nregistration or title information.\n 5. Miscellaneous charges. The commissioner upon request may furnish\ncopies of documents and records of searches by means other than first\nclass mail upon prior payment of any additional cost involved in such\ntransmission. Where the cost of such requested transmission cannot be\nreadily determined before transmission, the commissioner may establish a\nreasonable fee to cover the cost of such transmission. Nothing herein\nshall be construed to require the commissioner to provide such service.\n