News

Indiana's BMV kiosk vendor takes blame for causing overcharges

May 11, 2004

INDIANAPOLIS-A vendor hired by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles admitted Tuesday to causing the state agency to overcharge hundreds of people for license plate renewals, according to an article in the Indianapolis Star.

Intellectual Technology bungled the billing process for Internet orders that were placed on March 30, leading the BMV to charge motorists hundreds of dollars more than they owed, President Craig Litchin said.

State officials identified 872 people whose credit card and bank accounts were charged as much as three times the correct amount. The agency has corrected the error with the motorists' financial institutions, said Dan Henkel, a BMV spokesman.

Intellectual Technology is offering to reimburse vehicle owners for any overcharges and checking and banking fees. "Most of the people used a charge card, and the money was put back in their accounts before they knew what happened," Henkel said.

Under a contract with the BMV, Intellectual Technology receives roughly $4.5 million a year to help register vehicles. The company's duties include supplying 36 BMV Express kiosks where customers can renew their license plates.

According to Henkel, the problem started when five of the kiosks failed to transmit billing information to customers' financial institutions following transactions on March 30.

When Intellectual Technology officials tried to fix the problem, a subcontractor for the company wrongly billed the accounts of anyone who used the Internet to renew their license plates on March 30. As a result, many motorists were billed twice.

When BMV learned of the snafu on April 19 they mailed notices to customers informing them about the mistake.  Then BMV officials asked Intellectual Technology to address the situation, but its subcontractor once again mistakenly billed the motorists.

The company has launched an internal investigation to determine how the mistake occurred, but executives believe it was human error, Litchin said. "We're going to make sure it doesn't happen again," he said.