Think your DMV is messed up?.

[The Big D]

(Note: Using DMV as a collective acronym for whatever your particular state titles the department that handles motor vehicle registrations, driver licenses, etc.)

The Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles has proposed charging citizens $15.00 just to walk in the door and speak to a human being.

No, I am not making this up.

Somewhat blessed in the great state of Maryland to be in the far western reaches where state Motor Vehicle Administration workers are VERY, VERY helpful. They are quite unlike their fellow workers downstate where in several offices one simply cannot conduct business on one visit.

Be safe.

 

[joe44va]

Virginia DMV is quite good. Come on down.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Luckily the RI Governor has already nixed the plan, which would have applied only to citizens wishing to transact business which is available to do online.

 

[Old cop]

Virginia DMV is quite good. Come on down.

I just renewed my VA driver's (enhanced ID) license and in spite of my trepidations I was in and out in an hour, mission accomplished.

 

[bgrafsr]

I'm going to our local BMV tomorrow to get the enhanced DL.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The small town DMV's in central Ohio are very helpful and you are in and out in 15 min except during lunch time at the end of the month then it is 30 or less. In Columbus, my last trip took 2 hrs., at 10:00 Am in the middle of the month! Next week is the wife's turn for new tags! I'm betting 10 minutes or less!

Ivan

 

[LVSteve]

The Nevada DMV has its own pages on Hotels.com and Expedia.

 

[swsig]

Stay away from Texas! Our DMV has created "Mega Centers" in metro areas designed to handle large numbers of people. Except they can't. Hundreds of people are forced to wait 4-5 hours, much of which is spent outside in line because inside seating is limited. You can imagine what that's like in the 100 degree heat of a Texas summer. The Governor has heard plenty from his constituents about this, and has promised increased funding for DMV staff and facilities, but it may take a while to implement. My license is one of the old-style Federally disapproved models (no star on it), so I have to get a "Real I.D." version next month, which requires an in-person visit. I'm not looking forward to it!

 

[Salty RI]

I do my Reg by mail and I go to AAA for my license, in and out in less than five minutes.

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[Scott in NCal]

Frankly, considering how lousy the public treats the employees at DMV I think they do a great job.

 

[DumpStick]

Try renewing a Commercial license in Okieland.

Several years ago I needed to renew. Gota bring a Birth Certificate (!), even though I'm a citizen and have had Okie Commercial license prior.

DMV opens at 8. I'm there at 5am, there is already a line outside, I'm about 10th or so.

Glad I peed before leaving home, and brought a book. Had to wait for the sun to come up before I could read it.....

 

[soFlaNative]

I guess me having a fecal matter job makes me a bit sympathetic to those who deal with the human waste walking thru a door.
Did the star renewal last time for a CDL on an off day and didn't have my gov't ID for the medical waiver on me but the gal at the counter accepted my parking pass as proof of employment!
Take advantage of scheduling an appointment (if available), have your stuff in one sock and understand that pushing just retards the process.

 

[BigBoy99]

This trend of getting rid of real live people is happening all over. WalMart check out lines with people operating them are growing less and less in number each time I visit. The "self check out" areas are getting larger and larger.

Just last week, I was at the local grocery store and the only check out line operated by a person had about a dozen people waiting to use it. I went to the "self check out" area to try and get out of there in a reasonable amount of time. I couldn't get the darn computer to work. It kept telling me do do things which I didn't have a clue how to do. I got so mad, I just left the full grocery cart sitting there and walked out of the store! I have no intentions of ever going back there. I want to shop at stores which have people operating them , not robots.

 

[326MOD10]

Last time I went into the Kansas DMV they should have paid me $15.00!

I had lived in Kansas for about 34 years at this point and had a DL there the entire time.

Go in to get my Real ID. Take my birth certificate and my SS card. Now my birth certificate is the old style one that was issued by my State of birth and is a credit card sized plastic document. Only one I ever had.

And when I was a kid my Mother put our SS card in laminate but the laminate is so old you just have to open it up and the card is inside. I just leave it in there to protect the card.

She looks at both documents and tells me that she cannot give me a real ID because the documents cannot be accepted. The card type birth certificate "could be purchased in any convenience store" and the SS card has been laminated.

After a little discussion over how the card pops right out of the laminate and how this is the birth certificate that got me in the Army, was provided for every job I had, etc.... it was determined that there would be no Real ID for me.

I tell her to just give me my regular Driver's License as I was moving soon and would just get it in the state that I was moving to.

She then ask do you have your DD214? I reply will that get me my Real ID? She states no but I can put on your driver's license that you are a Veteran.

I said "Lady, you don't even believe I am an American so just give me my driver's license and I will be on my way."

 

[Sistema1927]

Just to play Devil's advocate, if they were going to charge for information that was freely available online, that might be a good way to keep wait times down for folks conducting business, and might actually save the taxpayers some coin.

 

[NYlakesider]

In my area the smart and quicker thing to do is not go to a state DMV office.

Instead you go to the county offices as most of them have a satellite motor vehicle office there run by county paid people!

 

[SC_Mike]

I'd be glad to pay someone $15 to go there for me.

 

[MORSNO]

Alaska DMV has been charging $10 extra if you go to the DMV to renew your vehicle registration for years. It's much easier on-line anyways.

 

[mckenney99]

Like Ivan, our small town OH Deputy Registrar is actually pretty good. Maybe 30min on a busy weekday. All of the employees are busy and not messing around. Actually witnessed one taking a spray bottle and wiping down all the counters and gathering up the trash during a lull in activity, just to stay busy. If you listen in on the questions and comments they deal with on a continuing basis, it's no wonder clerks get testy. Big poster signs up everywhere designating what documents are needed for EVERY type of transaction and people still stand in line and then gripe about their wasted time when they don't present what THE LAW requires.

 

[LVSteve]

Frankly, considering how lousy the public treats the employees at DMV I think they do a great job.

Perhaps the public would be nicer to the staff if the state wasn't gouging us when we register our vehicles. Cause and effect applies, even though the DMV employee didn't make the policy personally.

As for the Real ID requirements, I'm not surprised there are issues. Birth certificates vary from state to state, DMV employees don't know all the variations so the answer "No" becomes the safe option for them.

 

[Salty RI]

RI has been charging 10 bucks for a while they want you to do it by mail, I guess not enough people are doing it, so raise it another 5.

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[dave1918a2]

Renew online until age 65. After that renewal is in person or by mail with a letter from Your optometrist that You can see. Prior to 65 the DL is 15 years, after only 5 years. Have to take an eye test and after My last cataract surgery I took the eye exam without glasses and passed. Everything was sharp. Made an appt online, which everyone should do. Was in and out in 14 minutes without cussing or thinking bad thoughts.

 

[pmanton]

Where I live in AZ, going to the DMV is actually a pleasant experience because the personnel are so very nice.

 

[Bekeart]

I have a SOLUTION!

(Note: Using DMV as a collective acronym for whatever your particular state titles the department that handles motor vehicle registrations, driver licenses, etc.)

The Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles has proposed charging citizens $15.00 just to walk in the door and speak to a human being.

No, I am not making this up.

I have a SOLUTION!

Make the Director of DMV and elected position.

IF You do something STUPID; then You get VOTED OUT!

Bekeart

 

[Golddollar]

I don't have an issue with the employees, who all seemed to try their best to help me when the system itself caused letters to be sent to me claiming that I hadn't paid for my Real ID license and that the DMV was going to suspend my driver's license and refer me to the State Police for prosecution. I had to go in twice to a big regional office in Harrisburg because I anticipated (correctly) that this was not a problem that could be resolved over the phone. Luckily I am retired and I didn't have to take time off work. I got letters stating that everything had been cleared up and I'm carrying them in my cars just in case.

 

[Absalom]

Okay, here's my rant on the topic:

We (collectively) have talked ourselves into believing that a national ID of some sort would somehow impinge on our freedom. So we don't have one as a matter of principle.

But ... of course we do. We need one. Because we also have a whole bunch of activities of daily life with restrictions requiring official ID, from flying to drinking age to banking and whatever.

Our national ID is the drivers license. It maintains an illusion of freedom since it comes in 51 different color schemes and theoretically you don't have to get one. But those quixotic pedestrians who do without are regarded like space aliens if they try to do business in normal society.

Here we get to the DMV. Everything would be fine if they just did what the name implies: license vehicles and determine that you're safe and competent to operate one.

Instead, they've been forced to become an identity verification bureaucracy dealing with 51 states' worth of different record keeping systems plus ever-changing and tightening federal requirements. And they're dealing with extraneous stuff from citizenship to what happens to your kidneys if you die unexpectedly.

And people are surprised the DMV remains the poster child for snafus and fubars.

 

[Muley Gil]

Virginia has charged $5 for visits for a number of years now.

About a month ago, I went by the DMV to check on adding veterans status and getting the Real ID star. I was told what I needed. Came back a few days later and it took about 15 minutes to do.

 

[wood714]

I don't go to the big county DMV. I found a small tax collectors office that does all the same stuff.

Then everyone found out about it. Wait times have still been less than an hour.

Had a twilight zone kinda day a couple years ago. Went to the post office and I was the only one there. Left and went to the DMV and there was no line. Got waited on as soon as I walked in the door. I thought I'd try for a trifecta, and stopped at Walmart. When I went to check out there were lanes open with nobody in them. Should have bought a lottery ticket.

Took a pic of the DMV, the lady told me I'd probably jinxed them by taking it.

 

[Salty RI]

You must have been dreaming. [emoji1]

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[Bozz10mm]

Stay away from Texas! Our DMV has created "Mega Centers" in metro areas designed to handle large numbers of people. Except they can't. Hundreds of people are forced to wait 4-5 hours, much of which is spent outside in line because inside seating is limited. You can imagine what that's like in the 100 degree heat of a Texas summer. The Governor has heard plenty from his constituents about this, and has promised increased funding for DMV staff and facilities, but it may take a while to implement. My license is one of the old-style Federally disapproved models (no star on it), so I have to get a "Real I.D." version next month, which requires an in-person visit. I'm not looking forward to it!

Be sure to take a certified copy of your birth certificate or a valid passport. They will not accept anything else as proof of citizenship. Also a copy of your DD214 if you want the Veteran designation.

I just went through the process in August. You can cut the wait time down to 10-15 minutes if you use the "Get in line on line" web site. Start at 7am on the day you want to go to the DMV.

Nemo Q Wait Anywhere