By Sean Whaley, Nevada News Bureau

CARSON CITY – The state Board of Examiners this week approved a 10-year, $27.6 million contract to install kiosks in grocery stores statewide where Nevadans will be able to renew car registrations, extend driver’s licenses and perform other tasks that might otherwise require a trip to a Department of Motor Vehicles office.

The contract with Intellectual Technology Inc. will be paid for by charging fees to those using the kiosks, $1 for all transactions but car registration renewal, which will run $3, said Bruce Breslow, director of the DMV. The state is currently paying the company $5 for each car registration renewal, but the amount users will pay was reduced in the new contract.

The purpose of the kiosks is to simplify DMV transactions for the public while at the same time reducing the need for staff to operate the state’s multiple DMV offices, he said. DMV offices may close at 5pm, but a kiosk in a grocery store will be accessible 24 hours a day, Breslow said.

“Let’s say you live out in Summerlin,” he said. “By the time you get in your car, take the freeway, find the DMV office, wait in line at the DMV, get back in your car and negotiate the traffic to get back there, that’s two hours of your life plus a couple of gallons of gas. So certainly a dollar is a better alternative than that.”

The state expects to add 40 kiosks at stores around the state in the first two years of the contract, most in Southern Nevada where the DMV wait times are usually longer than in other locations. More kiosks may be added if there is demand.

The new kiosks are expected to be available beginning next spring. The state has 27 kiosks now, most located in DMV offices, but some services, such as renewing a driver’s license, are not yet available using the existing machines, he said.

The board, made up of Gov. Brian Sandoval, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller, approved the contract.