Yesterday at the DMV

[Hermann]

Arrive at 12:45pm leave at 2:15pm. in my time sitting there, they only processed 7 people. They charge a $5 agent office fee. My time at window 4 minutes. A lot of people missing docs ahead of me. When I left there were about 40 people waiting, according to the number slips. There were 2 windows, so paying 2 people at least $15 per to process this paperwork. I'm sure they are losing money. The mass inefficiency of modern government is staggering, when a fee collection agency is so inept, and cares so little about the general public. . .

 

[JeffKeryk]

Arrive at 12:45pm leave at 2:15pm. in my time sitting there, they only processed 7 people. They charge a $5 agent office fee. My time at window 4 minutes. A lot of people missing docs ahead of me. When I left there were about 40 people waiting, according to the number slips. There were 2 windows, so paying 2 people at least $15 per to process this paperwork. I'm sure they are losing money. The mass inefficiency of modern government is staggering, when a fee collection agency is so inept, and cares so little about the general public. . .

I feel your pain!
One of the few good things about COVID was the CA DMV enabled just about everything online. Sooooo much better.
You probably know we have a lotta cars and a lotta drivers...

 

[mrsilv04]

I was pleased when I received the letter in the mail, telling me that i could renew my driver's license online, and they'd mail the new license to me.

If I have to go in person, I've found over and over again, to take the short 20 minute drive to the DMV office in the next county over. It is a mostly rural county, and the county seat where the DMV office is located is only around 5,000 people. The quality of the employees is SO much better, and the line is always shorter.

 

[buster]

I can't stand the DMV. Some of the most miserable people I've ever seen.

 

[Pablo]

Arrive at 12:45pm leave at 2:15pm. in my time sitting there, they only processed 7 people. They charge a $5 agent office fee. My time at window 4 minutes. A lot of people missing docs ahead of me. When I left there were about 40 people waiting, according to the number slips. There were 2 windows, so paying 2 people at least $15 per to process this paperwork. I'm sure they are losing money. The mass inefficiency of modern government is staggering, when a fee collection agency is so inept, and cares so little about the general public. . .

There is zero incentive and little fear of job loss

And when the bigger picture gets stirred up everyone runs around with hair on fire. It's a purposeful game.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

There is zero incentive and little fear of job loss

And when the bigger picture gets stirred up everyone runs around with hair on fire. It's a purposeful game.

Are they incentiveized to improve their performance or do the minimum? My guess is that they're paid to perform the minimum.

 

[paulri]

One nice thing about AAA is that you can do some DMV services there. We did a transfer of ownership there; so much quicker than waiting at our local DMV.

 

[paulri]

Bingo. For my daughters' two drivers tests & trips to get their permit, we went 30 mins out of town to the next one over. A much quicker and easier operation, even including driving time. Plus, it gave me an excuse to get an ice cream with them.

I was pleased when I received the letter in the mail, telling me that i could renew my driver's license online, and they'd mail the new license to me.

If I have to go in person, I've found over and over again, to take the short 20 minute drive to the DMV office in the next county over. It is a mostly rural county, and the county seat where the DMV office is located is only around 5,000 people. The quality of the employees is SO much better, and the line is always shorter.

 

[John105]

My coworker went to renew his license in late April and it took 7 hours. He was afraid it would close (Phila).

I did the same in March and it took 2 1/2 hrs. The shame of it was all the time was spent in line to where they triage the customers. Once I stated license renewal did online (need pic taken) it was < 5 min.

Part of the reason for all this was Real ID being needed to fly.

There were so many elderly women in line with marriage certs from 50-70 years ago. Not accepted by DMV. There was a tendency to argue and take it out on the dmv employee who was politely explaining how to move forward. What an unpleasant experience in 2025!

 

[Bladecutter]

If I have to go in person, I've found over and over again, to take the short 20 minute drive to the DMV office in the next county over.
It is a mostly rural county, and the county seat where the DMV office is located is only around 5,000 people.
The quality of the employees is SO much better, and the line is always shorter.

I am absolutely SHOCKED and FLABBERGASTED that an area with less people living there have less customers than a place with more people that live there.

As for the quality of employees, they don't have to deal with as many customers in a day showing up without the documents that they need in order to get the thing done that they need done, so less stress on them.

All makes sense to me.

 

[eljefino]

They didn't accept my embossed certified copy of my birth cert from 1992. (I'm not from 1992 but the copy was.) It was done on xerox paper but the registrar used the embossy thing to put a 3D seal on it. It's the way it was legally done!

This same birth cert worked fine for me getting my passport, so I used my passport to get my Real ID. DMV clerk seemed annoyed that I had incontestable proof that I qualified and wanted to push through with the application.

 

[ripcord]

 

[JohnnyG]

NC is so backed up on registrations that they are granting a 2 year grace period in order to catch up.

 

[CKN]

Arrive at 12:45pm leave at 2:15pm. in my time sitting there, they only processed 7 people. They charge a $5 agent office fee. My time at window 4 minutes. A lot of people missing docs ahead of me. When I left there were about 40 people waiting, according to the number slips. There were 2 windows, so paying 2 people at least $15 per to process this paperwork. I'm sure they are losing money. The mass inefficiency of modern government is staggering, when a fee collection agency is so inept, and cares so little about the general public. . .

Well.. it's all state agencies. After living in Southern California all my life until 13 years ago-I was dumbfounded how efficient the DMV in Utah is. In and out with an appointment in 1/2 hour. With out an appointment... still less than an hour.
But then again-we are on of the most efficient run states in Country-so this boils over to other things as well.

 

[walterjay]

The DMV used to be terrible here. Several years ago the governor ordered a re-make of the DMV. It got a lot better. Employees were more engaged with the customers. Now a lot of things can be done on line and at kiosks. Not perfect but a whole lot better than most. When I buy a car I pay to have a tag and title company deal with it for me.

 

[goblin]

I'm in CT and my local DMV is usually stellar. NY prior to that wasn't much worse.

What state do you live in, do your local government and services get the investment they need ? How are they funded ?
I'm all for criticizing bad service, when the means to provide good service were given in the first place. Breaking an athlete's ankle then blaming him for not running fast enough is not my cup of tea.

Not defending your local DMV in any way, just curious. Most DMV tasks and services in the US are all figured out, and all the tools to make a DMV office function efficiently in a more than satisfying way are here as well. There's no shortage of knowledge or tools.

And demotivated clerks alone wouldn't be in itself enough reason for failure - even the most demotivated clerk is still dependent on metrics and customers served. The only way where the human factor alone would be the reason for bad service would be some artificial situation where a low amount of customers served is a goal in itself.

 

[Chris142]

I feel your pain!
One of the few good things about COVID was the CA DMV enabled just about everything online. Sooooo much better.
You probably know we have a lotta cars and a lotta drivers...

The DMV near me in victorville has to be the worst in history. I think they go out of their way to upset people and whoever upsets the most people gets in - n - out on Friday.

You can ask 3 workers there the same question and get 3 answers.

When I renewed my license it took 2 days. I brought in the paperwork the letter said I needed.

The first person said I needed something else so I had to go home (35 min 1 way) to get that. Then the other person wanted something else.

I had to make 3 separate trips home to get stuff that was not mentioned in the renewal letter. Instead of giving me a list they made me make 3 separate trips home and back.

After finally getting everything the dolts wanted Their system crashed and I was unable to get a real I.D. so no buying certain things for me in Ca.



Took 2 full days and 2 days of lost pay to renew my license.

It's no wonder people in my area will drive an hour to Barstow or 1.5 hrs to 29 palms instead of dealing with the idiots at the Victorville DMV.

 

[ripcord]

In Washington, the state contracts out to third party vendors who usually run only a single location so they are in competition with each other and there are a fairly good number of them. For their services these vendors get to charge a $3 fee. Both of these factors contribute to efficiently run places. The more DMV transactions they can process in a period of time, the more people choose to return to their location and the more of those fees they get to collect.

 

[chainblu]

When I lived in Charlotte, NC, the county line was just a few miles from my house, so I started going to that (smaller) county DMV. Was in and out in a fraction of the time vs the Charlotte DMVs.

 

[Pablo]

All online

Tabs mailed from local privatized office