LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The joy that comes with buying a car in Michigan can be soured by the hassle of having to make a return trip to the dealership for a license plate and registration tab.

That's no longer the case at a small but growing number of dealerships.

They're issuing new license plates and tabs immediately, which lets customers drive off the lot with everything they need. For $24, car buyers don't have to bother with temporary plates, return trips or checking the mail for plates and tabs.

"They never have to worry about it again," says Spencer Galloway, chief operating officer for the Grand Auto Family, a group of seven dealerships in the greater Grand Rapids area. "When they drive out of here, it's done."

The Michigan Department of State has thought about the so-called "Dealer Direct" concept for more than a decade, but it stalled because of cost concerns and inadequate technology. Now better technology is allowing the idea to go forward.

More than 20 of the state's 750 new-car dealerships are participating in a pilot program launched by Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land. Thirty more will come online in coming months, and 120 others have signed up to join later on.

The new program lets dealerships link to the secretary of state's office and instantly transfer license plates from the buyer's old car onto the newly purchased vehicle or create new plates and tabs altogether. Dealers also process vehicle titles, though the state still mails them to the owners.

The traditional system requires buyers to drive with a temporary plate and registration and either return to the dealership to get the permanent plate and tab, or wait for them to arrive in the mail and attach the plate and tab themselves.

Terry Burns, executive vice president of the Michigan Automobile Dealers Association, says the program's biggest attraction is convenience.

"Most of our customers today are time-crunched. They want it now, they don't want to make a second trip," Burns says, adding that drivers don't like driving with the piece of paper in the rear window that counts as a temporary license plate.

The onsite service is optional because it costs $24, with the dealer getting half to cover costs and the rest going to the vendor whose software allows the dealership to do the transaction.

Two of Grand Auto Family's five new-car dealerships have the technology, and the other three will install it soon. Galloway says he can't think of any customers who have decided against getting a new license plate on the spot.

"Most customers express surprise. 'You can do that right here? Wow, that's great,'" he says.

Dealerships like the service because it expands what they can offer customers. Letting dealers handle the paperwork also eases crowding at busy secretary of state branch offices, where one or two clerks may exclusively process transactions dropped off by dealerships.

Dealer transactions account for 9 percent of business at branches, which process about 1 million new vehicle title and registrations transactions a year.

Twenty other states have the technology, which also helps calculate taxes and fees for titles, registrations and permits. Entering information at the dealership is believed to reduce potential errors or glitches because secretary of state workers don't have to re-enter paperwork received from dealers, who usually deliver it in person under the traditional system.

State officials and dealers caution the program is in its infancy, and they want to proceed carefully to make sure it runs smoothly. In Wisconsin, where the technology has been in place for years, more than 90 percent of dealerships are using it, Burns says.

The program excludes dealerships that solely sell used cars, though people who buy used cars at new-car dealerships also can drive off the lot with their new license and tab in place.