DMV closing three offices next week

Operations will cease Wednesday at three Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles locations in Northern Nevada.

The Gardnerville office at 1352 Highway 395 will close at 5 p.m. and the Reno Express office in the Old Town Mall at 180 West Peckham Lane and the Sparks Express office in the Silver State Shopping Center at 790 North McCarran Blvd. will close at 5:30 p.m. The office closures are the result of budget cuts approved by the State Legislature last session.

"Closing the three offices will save the department and, by extension the taxpayer, about $1 million by 2012," Director Edgar Roberts said in a news release. "We don't anticipate a spike in wait times as a result of the closures as the technicians who work in the offices slated to close will be assigned to other offices."

The department's main Reno office at 305 Galletti Way will serve the motorists previously served by the Reno and Sparks Express offices.

Residents who previously used the Gardnerville office will have to drive a bit farther, however, to the Carson City office 16 miles away.

Motorists are reminded that many services are available online at www.dmvnv.

com.

The department also is actively seeking to place one of its self-service kiosks at a private location in the Gardnerville-Minden area.

"We would like to maintain a presence in the Carson Valley," Roberts said, "so we are actively seeing applications from valley businesses interested in partnering with the department by hosting one of our self-service kiosks."

The self-service kiosks allow motorists to renew vehicle registrations, reinstate registrations after insurance lapses and print out drive records.

Records are updated instantly and the kiosk dispenses registration documents, plate decals or driver history printouts on the spot.

The application and criteria for becoming a kiosk partner is at www.dmvnv.

com/kiosk.