WV Division of Motor Vehicles

The Mission of the Division of Motor Vehicles is to provide essential motor vehicle and driver services, facilitate interstate travel by promoting reciprocity for West Virginia vehicles and drivers in other states, promote highway safety, and collect revenue for highway maintenance and construction programs.

The Mission Statement is the basis for everything that happens within the organization. For example:

• “To facilitate interstate travel by promoting reciprocity for West Virginia vehicles and drivers in other states” West Virginia’s participation in several agreements allows our drivers to operate in other states without paying additional fees. For example:
  • The Non-Resident Violator Compact (NRVC) allows West Virginia drivers who receive a traffic citation, while driving through other states and jurisdictions, to accept their ticket and continue their travel without an appearance in the issuing jurisdiction’s local court.
  • The International Registration Plan (IRP) allows West Virginia commercial truck drivers to operate their commercial vehicles in other states and jurisdictions seamlessly by allowing West Virginia to collect the fees for all states and jurisdictions with just one application.
• “Promote highway safety” is the reason we have the Governor’s Highway Safety program within the Division of Motor Vehicles.
• “Collect revenue for transportation programs” establishes the Division of Motor Vehicles as the collection agency for vehicle license fees, Driver’s license fees, sales tax on automobiles, reinstatement fees, commercial registrations, etc.  In this regard, the Division of Motor Vehicles collected a total of $408 million in Fiscal Year 2019.  Approximately 91% of the money collected was deposited into the Road Fund.