Drivers can now renew license at AAA

For the first time in Kansas, residents can bypass trying to renew their driver’s licenses at the local DMV and head over to the Lawrence AAA automobile club office, 3514 Clinton Parkway.

The AAA Lawrence office is hosting a pilot program that allows its staff to issue driver’s license renewals as part of a partnership between the Kansas Department of Revenue and the auto club.

“We’re trying to extend the services we have available,” Kansas Department of Revenue Secretary Joan Wagnon said Thursday. “Partnering with an organization in the private sector like AAA can help us with extending our services.”

Wagnon came to the Lawrence AAA office Wednesday to announce the new program.

The AAA office in Lawrence is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Kansas Department of Revenue exam offices are closed on Mondays and Saturdays.

Only people renewing their license or identification can go through AAA. People getting a license or identification for the first time will have to go to the state driver’s license office, 1035 N. Third St., because of documentation issues, said Carmen Alldritt, the state’s director of vehicles.

Those intending to renew their drivers license at the AAA office will pay a $2 service charge. But the convenience of being able to complete the task on a Saturday far outweighs the fee, Wagnon said.

“This can keep people from having to leave work,” she said.

James Hanni, executive vice president of AAA’s Kansas region, said renewing licenses at the office seemed to be a natural fit for the auto club. The company serves 230,000 motorists in Kansas. But one need not be a AAA member to renew a license at the office in Lawrence.

While the service is new to the state, Hanni said AAA offices in other states are already issuing license renewals.

AAA expects to later expand the service to its other locations in the state, including Topeka, Manhattan, Hutchinson, Wichita and Pittsburg, Hanni said.