Car owners are still unable to register new vehicles or book driving tests online, nearly a week after an IT failure caused by a bungled system upgrade crashed the VicRoads online portal.
The bungled “major upgrade” to the VicRoads site left Victorian motorists unable to perform basic functions such as checking their registration and scheduling a test, and there is no end to the disruption in sight.
The website went down on Friday and was intended to be offline over the long weekend as the IT system was upgraded. However, any mention of when services will resume has now been removed from the VicRoads site, and a spokesman would only say the site would be fixed “as soon as possible”. The automated phone system is also down.
VicRoads has advised customers “most transactions” can be done over the phone or in person at one of the organisation’s customer service centres. Customers attempting to use VicRoads’ online systems are greeted with the message: “We’re making a major upgrade to our systems to deliver faster and more modern services. This is part of our commitment to simplify licensing and registration solutions, and to keep pace with the needs of Victorians today and tomorrow.
“During this time, some online services may not be available. If you are unable to access a service online, please try again later.”
Jeff Zaninelli, the owner of second-hand dealership JZ Motors in Ferntree Gully, said many customer transactions had been affected by the outage over the past week.
Some customers who had bought cars in recent days had been unable to renew their registrations, Zaninelli said.
“We’ve got a lot of other vehicles that the roadworthy [certificates] are unable to be issued, which is putting a bit of a strain on things,” he said.
“[There is a] cash flow issue as well, which affects us at the other end. It stops us buying cars because we’re not delivering cars.”
Zaninelli said he had to be patient, but “it’s very inconvenient for us and the customers”.
VicRoads has been largely silent on the issue, only posting to Facebook on Wednesday afternoon that “some services are temporarily unavailable” and thanking people for their patience.
VicRoads turned off comments for the recent post. However, unrelated VicRoads Facebook posts from May have been flooded with commenters in recent days asking why they have been unable to access VicRoads’ online services since June 5.
VicRoads’ website advises people that if their licence or registration is due, they can still pay via BPAY using the payment details at the bottom of their first payment notice, which they will receive by email or post.
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Angus Delaney is a reporter at The Age. Email him at angus.delaney@theage.com.au or contact him securely on Signal at angusdelaney.31Connect via email.
