New licences launched by MPI
Posted By Ashleigh Viveiros
Posted 7 months ago
Manitobans' wallets will soon be just a little bit lighter - but in a good way.
Manitoba Public Insurance launched its new one-piece driver's licence on Monday, finally bringing the province in line with most of the rest of the country.
Instead of the traditional two-piece licence - which features a laminated photo card and a separate driver's certificate, both of which need to be carried to be valid - the new licence will contain the necessary information on one durable card.
The new licence card - which is the same size as the old card - will be made of sophisticated tamper-proof material. It will comply with the standards set out in the Canadian Driver's Licence Agreement, MPI says.
"It's been on our radar screen for a number of years," MPI spokesman Brian Smiley said, adding a great deal of development, testing, and research have gone into the new licence to ensure it meets the needs of Manitobans, as well as the ever-changing U.S. border security standards.
"We were waiting for the finalized security standards so we wouldn't have to do it all over again," Smiley said, noting the one-piece cards have been in the works since MPI took over driver licensing in 2004.
Changes Underway
Starting this week, all Manitobans who apply for or renew a driver's licence will receive the new card, Smiley said.
Technically, they'll first receive a temporary certificate, and will have their new card sent out to them in 7 to 10 business days.
Drivers whose licence photographs don't expire this year won't have to take a new photo - MPI will simply put their existing photograph on their new licence card, Smiley said.
Then, when their photo does expire, the new photo and card will be good for five years.
Anyone who wants to get the new card before their regular renewal date can fill out a special application and pay a $10 replacement fee (this is the same amount it will cost you if you need to change the address on your card in the future).
The plan is to have all Manitoba drivers carrying the new licences by the end of Feb. 2011, said Smiley.
Though Smiley didn't have exact numbers for how much the new card roll-out is going to cost MPI, he stressed the change is going to have, "zero impact on Autopac rates."
Also kicking off this year are the new, multi-year renewals, which will allow drivers to visit their Autopac agent only once every five years, unless they want to make a change to their policy.
The new system was developed after MPI found that the vast majority of its customers - 80 per cent - made no changes to their policy when renewing each year, he said.
Customers will still receive a yearly statement and will pay their licence and insurance annually. But customers can avoid a trip to their Autopac agent entirely by paying online or through telephone banking or automatic withdrawals.
Smiley said only during a renewal year will drivers need to physically check in with Autopac to renew their licences, policies, and identification cards.
Since MPI will be staggering renewals over a five-year period, not all customers will be placed on a five-year renewal cycle right away. Instead most customers' policies and drivers' licenses will expire on their existing licence photo card expiry date.
It will take four years before every Manitoba driver is on the full, five-year renewal system, MPI says.
In keeping with the new renewal cycle, validation stickers on licence plates will change, as well.
Plates will now have a month sticker on the left side (where the day sticker is now), and a year sticker on the right side (replacing the current month/year stickers).
Both stickers will be replaced every five years.
MPI also rolled out a new enhanced driver's licence option for Manitobans this week.
The enhanced driver's licence allow holders to enter the United States by land or water without a passport.
Manitobans who already picked up MPI's enhanced identification card (which allows entry into the States in the same way, but is not a driver's licence), can exchange their card for the enhanced driver's licence at no extra cost upon their first renewal date.
Anyone else who wants the new enhanced driver's licence can get one for $30.
To date, 9,000 people have gotten the enhanced identification card, Smiley said.
For more information on any of the MPI changes, talk to your Autopac agent, or go online to www.mpi.mb.ca.
