Renewing a Missouri driver’s license will cost you more

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - Beginning Thursday, August 28, it will cost to renew a Missouri driver’s license.

A new law also raises processing fees for registering a vehicle or trailer. Before the increase, it cost $39 to renew a license for 6 years, including the $12 processing fee. Now, drivers will have to pay $45 for the same renewal period.

Vehicle registration processing fees will go up $3.

The extra revenue will help the contracted license offices maintain their operations by keeping a full staff.

In turn, customers could see shorter wait times. Shay Yates, a customer at the Glenstone License Office in Springfield, says she doesn’t mind paying the extra money.

“Everything else has gone up by three or four dollars,” Yates said. “If it’s $6 more every six years, that’s a dollar a year. If that means that they’re happier and it’s a better experience, there are fewer mad people in there, then yeah, absolutely.”

Back in May, the Glenstone License Office closed. The Department of Revenue told us that the contractor declined to renew. While DOR was able to secure another bidder to reopen the office, Director Trish Vincent says offices in other areas haven’t had the same story.

“We had another county that the office closed in, and we had difficulty getting anyone to submit a bid,” Vincent said.

The DMV in Willow Springs has been closed since May. The nearest location is 20 minutes away in Mountain View.

Lawmakers who passed the new law hope the 50% increase in processing fees will attract more bidders.

“Paper costs more, staples cost more. All those products that you run a business with,” Vincent said. “And so this fee increase is helping them make sure that they can have qualified people working there. Running a DMV is not an easy job.”

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