Issue: Incorrect Credit When Registration is $50 and 13-14 Months of Credit
The ARTS credit calculator gives incorrect credit when the yearly registration fee is $50 with 13 or 14 months of credit availability.
Workaround: Calculate one or two months of credit (depending on whether the credit available is for 13 or 14 months) and add that to the 12-month credit.
Issue: Incorrect Credit When 13-Month Registration Fee is Less than $130
The credit calculator is malfunctioning when the annual registration fee is less than $130 and the credit period is for 13 months.
Workaround: Calculate the credit manually.
Issue: December Birthday, Vehicle Purchased in December
This issue occurs only in a very specific set of circumstances:
- The customer has a December birthday.
- The customer purchases a vehicle in December.
- The customer register for 13 months.
- The dealer does not check the “birthday” box in the fee estimator.
- The vehicle is a model year that will see a rate reduction the following month (January).
If all of those criteria are met, the customer will pay more for the “birthday bonus month.” This happens because ARTS calculates the entire 13-month period based on the rate when the registration starts. The fee estimator will also calculate the fee this way if the dealer forgets to check the box indicating that the customer is purchasing the vehicle in their birth month. In this scenario, it is less expensive for the customer to register the vehicle for one month and then renew for 12 than it is to get the “free” month in a 13-month registration.
Workaround: The DOT has instructed counties not to process these transactions as a 13-month “birthday bonus” transaction. Instead, they should initially register the vehicle for one month and then immediately renew for 12 months. The county can then apply the dealership’s submitted payment across both transactions and the amount should be correct.