El Paso County’s shrinking vehicle registration backlog — created after a state law banning temporary paper license plates took effect in July — may be short-lived as tax-filing season approaches, a surge in car sales that officials fear could once again overwhelm HB 718 processing.

The El Paso County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office is preparing for a two-week shutdown during the holidays – in addition to continuing weekly, rotating closures of area offices – a combination that could create another surge in delays just as one of the busiest car-buying periods of the year begins.

House Bill 718 overhauled Texas’ vehicle registration process by requiring dealers to issue metal license plates at the point of sale and submit title and registration documents electronically through an automated system. The shift created a surge of paperwork that county tax offices must verify before buyers receive their registration stickers.  

The backlog of registrations for consumers that purchased vehicles was at about 6,000 in July, but has dwindled to about 600 as of last week, El Paso County Tax-Assessor Collector Ruben Gonzalez told El Paso Matters. At its peak, the delays meant dealers and buyers would go weeks or months before getting registration stickers. Currently, the waiting period is three to four days.

The delay in processing registrations after the law took effect created a ripple effect that left area car dealers and consumers in financial limbo. Some smaller dealerships were forced to close because they couldn’t get paid for sold inventory without completed registrations. Meanwhile, some car buyers had to return their vehicles when registration backlogs dragged on too long to keep their sales contracts valid.

LGF Motors on Alameda Avenue, Dec. 5, 2025. Many used-car dealerships are adjusting to HB718, which ended the use of temporary paper license plates in Texas. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

“Most people don’t know how it works (when a car is sold) – they think that we sell the car and we get paid right there and then, but it doesn’t work that way,” said Eduardo Anaya, owner of Anaya Motors on Alameda Avenue, in an interview with El Paso Matters.

Anaya said dealers have to submit the deal to financing companies and need the registration sticker to get the funds for the sale. The longer it takes to get the registration, the longer it takes for the dealership to get paid.

“It’s a chain of events that takes time,” Anaya said.

Gonzalez has used temporary fixes such as having tax office clerks work overtime on some Saturdays, closing tax offices for one day out of the week on a rotating basis for clerks to focus on registrations and closing the Westside tax office to address the backlog, but it is not a long-term solution. He said he will continue to use those strategies until further notice and is also partnering with private title companies.

Some local car dealers fear that when the income tax filing season begins in February – the busiest car-buying time of the year – the backlog will return in full force.

“We’re going to go back to square one,” Luis Fierro, who owns LGF Motors on Alameda Avenue, told El Paso Matters.

Gonzalez said he also anticipates another backlog during the busy car buying season, but hopes more dealerships know how to use the Webdealer system to make things go more smoothly.

“We’re just going to have to struggle and do the best that we can,” Gonzalez said.

The El Paso Auto Registration and Titling, 1030 N. Zaragoza Road, a deputy office of the El Paso County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office. (Cindy Ramirez / El Paso Matters)

The law was enacted by the Texas Legislature in 2023 with an effective date of July 2025. HB 718 requires licensed car dealers to issue metal license plates to buyers at the time of sale to prevent fraudulent plates. It also requires they process the title and registration transactions electronically through the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles’ Webdealer system that the county tax office is charged with processing. If there are mistakes, the dealership has to resubmit the paperwork as often as necessary until it is correct.

The law was a major shift in how registrations were previously processed, when dealers would submit title transfer information to the tax office or private offices for review and approval.

The backlog in El Paso prompted public finger-pointing between the El Paso County Commissioners Court and Gonzalez, raising questions about accountability since there was a two-year window to prepare before the law took effect.

LGF Motors on Alameda Avenue, Dec. 5, 2025. Many used-car dealerships are adjusting to HB718, which ended the use of temporary paper license plates in Texas. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

“In preparation for this transition, many other counties and motor vehicle dealers provided early training and began using the Webdealer system well before the July 1 effective date. Unfortunately, Mr. Gonzalez did not take these steps in advance, nor did he require dealers in El Paso County to train and test the system prior to the mandate taking effect. Additionally, he did not adequately reassign staff to support the division most impacted by the new workload,” El Paso County officials said in a news release issued Sept. 29.

Gonzalez, who was first elected as the tax assessor collector in 2016, maintains his office is not at fault and he was not given the proper staffing resources he requested from the County Commissioners Court. He said at the onset of the law taking effect he had three clerks trying to process the hundreds of daily vehicle purchase submissions from car dealers.

“My original plan was for the county to give me the personnel that I needed two years ago (and) I would have had them on board, and I would have had enough time to train them,” Gonzalez said. “If I would have had those personnel on board two years ago, we wouldn’t be in this predicament at all, but they (the county) didn’t do that.”

Commissioners and county officials dispute that assertion.

The county did not deny any specific requests for additional staffing from Gonzalez, Chief Administrator Betsy Keller said.

“From the Commissioners Court perspective, we’ve tried to do everything that we can to try to help (Gonzalez) through this backlog that we’ve been seeing because of this legislation,” El Paso County Commissioner Illiana Holguin said.

The Commissioners Court has approved about $20,000 in overtime for Gonzalez’s office, made a temporary employee pool available and waived the hiring waiting period to allow Gonzalez to fill vacancies sooner.

Gonzalez’s office had 79 full-time positions and one temporary pool of up to six positions as of mid-September. Seven of those positions were full-time vacancies, but three were reclassified Sept. 8 to be assigned to Webdealer operations, county officials said.

Amaya Motors on Alameda Avenue, Dec. 5, 2025. Many used-car dealerships are adjusting to HB718, which ended the use of temporary paper license plates in Texas. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)

Gonzalez’s office still had five full-time vacancies as of Dec. 2, but two positions are expected to be filled by January. Three others are being filled internally by employees who are being promoted this month. The promotions will result in other vacancies of entry-level positions, for which the recruitment process has been initiated, according to the county.

The Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office has budgeted funding of $59,300 for up to six temporary office assistant positions to assist with the property tax season.

“The Commissioner’s Court is working on this issue. We understand the urgency, which is why we approved overtime and additional positions,” County Commissioner David Stout said. “Now it’s up to the tax assessor to put those resources to use efficiently and make sure the job gets done…We will keep working with the tax assessor to make sure he is able to do his job.”

County Commissioner Sergio Coronado said they cannot tell Gonzalez how to run his office because he is an elected official.

“He can take our recommendations or not take our recommendations, but at the end of the road, it’s his responsibility,” Coronado said.

County Tax Office closures

All offices will be closed from Dec. 22 through Jan. 2, 2026.

Westside Tax Office, 424 Executive Center Blvd. Suite 102, is closed until further notice.

Northeast Tax Office, 4641 Cohen Suite B, is closed to the public Tuesdays.

Eastside Tax Office, 2350 George Dieter Drive, is closed to the public Wednesdays.

Ysleta Tax Office, 9521 Socorro Road, is closed to the public Thursdays.

Ascarate Tax Office, 301 Manny Martinez Drive, is closed to the public Fridays.

Information: Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office website.

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