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LAPLACE — Getting “road ready” in record time has become easier than ever with the opening of ABC Title and NOLA Driving Institute at 1101 W. Airline Highway Ste. B in LaPlace.

Both businesses are locally-owned by River Parish families. During a dual ribbon cutting ceremony held on May 6, the community got an inside look at how these businesses offer complementary services with a personal touch.

ABC Title CEO Kurt Bellow Jr. said locations in LaPlace, Boutte, Metairie, Harvey and Uptown offer 95 percent of traditional DMV services. Along with wife Tamara Bellow, partner Jose Boesch and the rest of the ABC Title family, Kurt Bellow is pleased to assist the community with title transfers, driver’s licenses, license plates, state IDs, duplicate titles, registration renewals and much more.

A 30-minute service guarantee has earned ABC Title the nickname “SCARYFAST.”

“We do just about everything the DMV can do, and our wait time is about seven minutes across the board for any service. It’s really about speed and customer service,” Bellow said, noting that ABC Title is also a full-service notary and public tag agency.

“A lot of times when you go to the DMV, you have to have other paperwork with you. It’s got to be notarized first. We do notarizations, document prep, all of that,” he said. “People think places like ABC Title have different software. We use the same software as the state. It’s all the same process.”

These services will be integral to Louisiana residents obtaining a Real ID, which will eventually be required for air travel. Other examples of ABC Title services include vehicle sales or donations, state-to-state transfers, heirships, mobility impaired hang tags and license plates, and golf cart registration.

ABC Title’s LaPlace location hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The LaPlace office is closed Saturday and Sunday; however, those in need of “SCARYFAST” DMV services can visit the Metairie location from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays at 6820 Veterans Boulevard Ste. C.

For more information, call 985-266-2874 or visit abctitle.com.

As of now, ABC Title is not permitted to handle commercial driver’s licenses or name changes. ABC Title is not authorized to issue temporary instruction permits that are required for teenagers to begin driver’s ed. However, after the driver education course is completed, new drivers can come to ABC Title to receive their learner’s permit and full license.

NOLA Driving Institute is conveniently located inside the same office space at 1101 W. Airline Highway in LaPlace. Husband and wife Trever and Tonya Bergeron opened the first NOLA Driving Institute location in 2010. LaPlace became the newest location in November 2020.

“We’ve had a little over 8,000 students, and we’ve driven a little over 2 million miles,” Trever Bergeron said. “We also have locations in Metairie, Norco and Lutcher.”

Tonya Bergeron was inspired to start NOLA Driving Institute after two of her children attended driver’s ed. After they completed their classroom instruction, it took nearly six months for instructors to schedule the driving portion of the course.

“The state lets you take six months to drive the kids, but that’s really too long when they learned everything six months ago,” she said.

NOLA Driving Institute strives to get students on the road within a month of completing classroom instruction. The family-run driving school is trusted in the River Parishes and beyond because of its focus on safety. All students drive in new vehicles with five-star safety ratings.

Teenagers become eligible to take driver’s education at the age of 14 years and 9 months. However, they need to be 15 years old to drive with an instructor and obtain their learner’s permit. Minors take a 38-hour class that includes 30 hours of classroom instruction and eight hours of driving time.

Adults ages 18 and older are required to have six hours of classroom time and eight hours of instruction behind the wheel.
Pricing, upcoming class times and comprehensive information on driver’s education is available at noladrivinginstitute.com. For more information, call 504-382-9715 or email noladrivinginstitute@gmail.com.