INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Vehicle owners who renew their Indiana registrations through the Internet will continue to get $5 discounts next year for doing so.

Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Ron Stiver also said Thursday that plans to extend the number of yearly registration renewal dates from 19 to 45 will begin in January. The registration cycle will run through mid-December, instead of ending in late October as it currently does.

Most renewal due dates now fall in the middle or at the end of the first 10 months of the year. Beginning next year, they will fall on the 7th, 14th, 21st or 28th of each month. Due dates still will be based on the driver's surname, and they will fall later in the year for most individual motorists.

Renewal due dates are often when branches fill up with car and truck owners who have waited until the last day before their license plates expire to get renewals.

"By more than doubling the number of due dates, we will spread out registration transactions more evenly throughout the year and lessen the impact of that last-minute rush associated with any one due date," Stiver said. "This will further improve customer service regardless of whether a customer conducts BMV business online, via mail or in a branch or partner location."

The added due dates are projected to reduce the average number of registrations expiring on those days from 363,000 to 161,000. The most expiring on any single day of the year is expected to decrease from about 625,000 to about 400,000.

The new due dates — also called expiration dates — were included on registration cards issued this year. They also will be included on renewal notices that are mailed out 30 to 45 days before a renewal date, and a card will be inserted telling vehicle owners to look for the new due date and reminding them of the $5 online discount.

The discount was announced late last year. More than 1.3 million customers renewed their registrations online this year compared to just 390,000 in all of 2007. The online renewals this year saved customers $6.5 million collectively.

Stiver also announced a new security feature that will allow the BMV to compare a customer's photograph — taken during a driver's license or state ID transaction — with 6 million other photos in a BMV database to determine whether someone else is using the same picture.