N.Y.
Vehicle & Traffic Law Section 202
Fees for searches and copies of documents
1.
Except in those cases in which it is provided by law that no fee shall be charged, the fees for searching the records of the department of motor vehicles kept pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and for furnishing copies of documents in said department kept pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be as provided in this section. Provided, however, that no fee shall be charged any public officer, board or body, volunteer fire company, volunteer ambulance service, or legal aid bureau or society or other private entity when acting pursuant to County Law § 722 (Plan for representation)section seven hundred twenty-two of the county law, for searches or copies of documents to be used for a public purpose.2.
Fees for searches of records. * (a) The fee for a search which is made manually by the department shall be ten dollars. * NB Effective until April 1, 2026 * (a) The fee for a search which is made manually by the department shall be five dollars. * NB Effective April 1, 2026 * (b) The fee for a search which is made by direct entry by a requester who has been approved for such entry by the commissioner shall be seven dollars. * NB Effective until April 1, 2026 * (b) The fee for a search which is made by direct entry by a requester who has been approved for such entry by the commissioner shall be four dollars. * NB Effective April 1, 2026 * (c) The fee for a search which is made by means of an electronic medium which has been prepared by a requester who has been approved for such service by the commissioner and which is processed by the department shall be seven dollars. * NB Effective until April 1, 2026 * (c) The fee for a search which is made by means of an electronic medium which has been prepared by a requester who has been approved for such service by the commissioner and which is processed by the department shall be four dollars. * NB Effective April 1, 2026 (d) The commissioner may condition approval for direct entry of a request or use of an electronic medium by a requester upon the establishment and maintenance of an account with the department with a minimum balance established by the commissioner from which fees chargeable to the requester shall be deducted. In addition, the commissioner shall prescribe the specifications and procedures for use of electronic media and may establish a minimum and/or a maximum number of searches which may be contained on any one such electronic medium submission.(e)
For the purposes of this section, a search shall consist of a single entry of an acceptable identifier for the purpose of obtaining a specific category of information relating to a person, vehicle or number plate. The commissioner shall by regulation define such categories and identifiers acceptable for such categories. Except as provided in subdivision three of this section, a search of the record of the department shall include the furnishing of the information disclosed by such search, and with respect to searches made manually by the department, shall include a certification of such record.3.
Fees for copies of documents. The fees for copies of documents, other than accident reports, shall be one dollar per page. A page shall consist of either a single or double side of any document. The fee for a copy of an accident report shall be fifteen dollars. All copies of documents shall be certified at no additional fee. Whenever search of records of the department is required in conjunction with a request for a copy of a document, the fee for such search shall be the fee provided in paragraph (a) of subdivision two of this section. The result of such search will be the locating of the document to be copied, or if no document can be located, a certification to that effect will be the result of the search.4.
Registration lists and title information.(a)
The commissioner shall have discretion to contract with the highest responsible bidder or bidders to furnish the registration information specified in this section from the records of all vehicle registrations from any registration period, or number of periods not exceeding five years in the aggregate, with respect to a given territory or information on titles. In such event, the fees provided by this section shall not apply to copies of records furnished under any such contract. Any such contract entered into by the commissioner pursuant to this section shall not be for a term of more than two years and shall contain language prohibiting the successful bidder from assigning the contract and from any use or resale of the information received which use or resale is contrary to the public policy of this state or is contrary to the public morals or welfare. In addition, any such sale of registration information shall be limited to only that part of the vehicle registration records describing the name and address of the owner of the vehicle and the make, model, year, weight, body style, number of passengers and cylinders, fuel, license number, type of registration and transaction, validation and expiration date and vehicle identification number of the vehicle.(b)
The commissioner shall notify each vehicle registrant that the registration information specified in paragraph (a) of this subdivision has been or will be furnished to the contracting party. The commissioner shall inform each vehicle registrant when such registrant first makes application for a vehicle registration or when such registrant applies to renew an existing vehicle registration how to achieve the deletion of such information from the contracting party’s file. The contract between the commissioner and the contracting party shall provide that, upon the request of the registrant made in such manner and in such form as shall be prescribed by the commissioner, such registration information shall be deleted from the contracting party’s file for all purposes, except:(i)
issuance of manufacturer’s warranty, safety recall or similar notices, or(ii)
statistical complications.(c)
Any material violation of the terms of such contract by the successful bidder not corrected or discontinued within thirty days following receipt of notice of such violation will automatically cancel and void its contract with the commissioner and disqualify it from bidding for the five successive years following such cancellation.(d)
Any contract authorized by this section shall be subject to the provisions of article nine of the state finance law.(e)
The commissioner may from time to time require that the contracting party pursuant to this section submit written reports, in form satisfactory to the commissioner, concerning the use of such registration or title information.5.
Miscellaneous charges. The commissioner upon request may furnish copies of documents and records of searches by means other than first class mail upon prior payment of any additional cost involved in such transmission. Where the cost of such requested transmission cannot be readily determined before transmission, the commissioner may establish a reasonable fee to cover the cost of such transmission. Nothing herein shall be construed to require the commissioner to provide such service.
Source:
Section 202 — Fees for searches and copies of documents, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/VAT/202 (updated Mar. 29, 2024; accessed Oct. 26, 2024).
