AAA Leaves Downtown and Drops DMV Services in Providence

AAA Leaves Downtown and Drops DMV Services in Providence

With only a small sign in the window, AAA has quietly left downtown Providence after more than a decade on Dorrance Street. And with little notice, the organization has also dropped offering Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) services at its other Providence location on Royal Little Drive.

Now, instead of two options in Providence available for AAA members who work or live in the Capital City, they now have to drive to Cranston or Barrington for the closest AAA DMV services.

According to one AAA member who contacted GoLocal, the line at the Cranston AAA office was excessively long -- prompting them to leave after waiting for over an hour, to return the next day.

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GoLocal visited the Barrington branch on Tuesday and found the AAA office busy, but the service was quick. Staff did not know why the downtown Providence office had been closed.

Repeated efforts to reach AAA by GoLocal have gone unanswered.

Meanwhile, the State DMV has been in chaos for months.

In November, the RI Department of Administration via outside counsel John Tarantino filed a lawsuit late against technology giant Hewlett-Packard (HPE). RI is asking the court to order HPE to continue work to complete the new Department of Motor Vehicle technology system. The DMV failure is just one of a number of technology collapses under  Governor Gina Raimondo's administration.

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According to the complaint, “HPE has refused to continue work on the RIMS System without a resolution of payments allegedly owed on additional work completed and additional work to be performed, notwithstanding its contractual obligation to deliver a fully functional RIMS System.”

“The State has considerable concerns about the risks associated with failure of its four decade old legacy computer system written, which is written in obsolete COBAL code. The failure of the State’s legacy computer system would create immediate public safety concerns, preventing the Division of Taxation from placing blocks on license registrations, and impacting the DMV’s ability to renew Commercial Drivers Licenses and register newly purchased vehicles, among others.”

Raimondo made the following statement in November:

“I will do whatever is necessary to protect Rhode Island’s taxpayers against an IT vendor unfairly demanding more money to complete an eight-year-old computer upgrade. When we can finally see the finish line, HPE is trying to double the price of this project.I intend to see that Rhode Islanders get the computer system for which they have already paid. Hewlett Packard Enterprise contracted itself to complete the Division of Motor Vehicles computer project, and CEO Meg Whitman herself pledged HPE to delivering a solution the people of Rhode Island deserve. On behalf of the residents of Rhode Island, I will hold HPE accountable," said Raimondo.

Later in December, the DMV’s system collapsed for the better part of a day.