Josh Stein signed a more than $34 billion state budget this week, and the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles will use it to end annual registration stickers and paper vehicle registration cards later this year. By Oct. 1, the agency is directed to move to an electronic vehicle registration system.
Motorists will still renew vehicle registrations every year and pay the required registration fees. Marty Homan, the DMV communications manager, said, "No, no, you still have to pay a registration fee. It’ll be an electronic system," and said drivers should be able to get proof of registration online, print it, or keep it on a phone.
Marty Homan on online proof
Homan said, "What exactly that looks like, we’ll be developing that, but it will be somewhere online where you can access your proof of registration, and you could perhaps print that or just have it on your phone." That puts the transition on a familiar path: the state is removing mailed stickers and cards while the Division of Motor Vehicles is still building the electronic system that will replace them.
The budget also removes funding that had been used to print and mail registration cards and license plate stickers. North Carolina already dropped windshield inspection stickers in November 2008 and moved to a single gray license plate sticker with the month and year in May 2015.
North Carolina budget changes
The registration change sits inside the same budget Stein signed this week, which also provides funding for 23 new driver’s license examiner positions. Homan’s comments point to the practical next step for drivers: after the switch, proof of registration is expected to move from the mailbox to an online record that can be displayed digitally or printed when needed.
House Bill 1094 provisions
The registration overhaul is separate from House Bill 1094, which Stein also signed this week. That measure orders a comprehensive performance audit of the N.C. Ferry Division with a report due by Jan. 15, 2027, allows earlier driver’s license renewals, extends the deadline for responding to insurance lapse notices from 10 days to 30 days, and creates a statewide three-class system for e-bikes.
For drivers, the immediate change is not a new renewal schedule. It is the end of paper proof arriving in the mail and the start of an electronic record the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles is still developing before the Oct. 1 deadline.
