Lake Charles Office of Motor Vehicles reopens after last week’s ransomware attack

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - Some Office of Motor Vehicles locations reopened Monday after last week’s ransomware attack. Lake Charles’ office was one of the eight locations that reopened.

Each location can only provide certain services, according to Nick Manale with Louisiana State Police. At this point, the Lake Charles office can handle basic services like renewing registrations and driver’s licenses.

7News went to the local Office of Motor Vehicle on Main Street to talk with customers and most of them said they were in and out within an hour or less.

“I was getting my registration for both of my vehicles," Pamela Edwards said. “It took me about maybe 40 minutes.”

“I was getting my license replaced, and they moved pretty quick. It was about 45 minutes. I came last week and it took longer than today. They’re doing a good job in there, they’re working pretty fast," Tony James said.

One customer, Gary Williams, said the key is to be patient.

“I had to get a new registration done. It took about 45 minutes because the computers were down, but I didn’t mind the wait. So, I’m happy. You’ve got a lot of people who are in there who are upset, but that’s the way it is,” Williams said.

Other customers said they’d rather go to a public tag agent.

“I came here to get a new license plate because mine was stolen over the weekend. I talked to a lady in there who had been waiting for over an hour and I’m kind of impatient so I said ‘no I’d rather go somewhere else’," Timothy Waters said.

Public tag agents are licensed by the OMV and are able to fulfill most services offered by the OMV with an added fee.

One local agent, Thib’s Auto Titles and Tags, said offices like theirs can help avoid the wait at the OMV.

“We are going to have extended hours on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday from 8 to 530. We’ll be closed Thursday but we’ll be open on Black Friday. Just to help people who weren’t able to get into the DMV last week," Summer Moore, a clerk at Thib’s Auto Titles and Tags, said.

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