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DMV Facts & Statistics

DMV Key Facts

The first automobile arrived in Oregon in 1899. Soon after its arrival, in 1905, Driver and Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) began a process for registering vehicles. Oregon started requiring driver licenses in 1920, and DMV began drive tests for licensing in 1931.

Learn more about ODOT and DMV's history.

Today in Oregon there are:
  • About 4.1 million registered vehicles. Of those, about 3.2 million are passenger vehicles.
  • Nearly 3.1 million licensed drivers.
  • DMV provides direct services to customers by:
  • Serving over 13,000 customers every day through 60 local offices around the state.
  • Answering about 1.7 million customer phone calls per year.
  • Responding to more than 3 million record requests per year from businesses and the general public.
  • Fulfilling more than 60 million record requests by law enforcement per year.

Driver-related facts

Each year, DMV:
  • Monitors the driving privileges of about 3.1 million drivers.
  • Issues nearly 200,000 new drivers’ licenses, and renews more than 350,000.
  • Files nearly 100,000 accident reports.
  • Reviews driver medical conditions and oversees re-testing on more than 4,000 drivers in our Medically At-Risk Driver Program.
  • Suspends driving privileges nearly 450,000 times (some drivers receive multiple suspensions).
  • Enters more than 400,000 driver convictions to driving records.
  • Conducts more than 300,000 knowledge and 20,000 skills tests. Third-party testers, regulated by DMV, conduct almost 80,000 skills tests annually.

Vehicle-related Facts

Each year, DMV:
  • Registers about 1.8 million vehicles.
  • Issues about 850,000 titles.
  • Issues nearly 400,000 plates for vehicles. There are nearly 50 different types of vehicle plate designs, in addition to specialty, or custom, license plates.

Dealers/Business-related Facts

Each year, DMV:
 
  • Regulates more than 3,000 motor vehicle-related businesses, including vehicle dealers, commercial driver training schools, commercial and non-commercial driver testing businesses, vehicle appraisers, vehicle dismantlers and others.
  • Sanctions offenders and conducts formal administrative hearings.

DMV Statistics

DMV publishes some annual statistics on vehicles and drivers: