DMV - how to skip the lines

Matthew

Matthew

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Matthew
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1) go to DMV
2) wait 40 minutes to renew a driver's license
3) wait 7-10 days for the new license to show up in the mail
4) notice that on the front of the license, in bold red letters, it says "VETERAN"
5) realize that I am not a veteran
6) go back to the DMV, explain the situation
7) let the DMV lady elbow her way to the front of the line so you can get it fixed.

Now I have to wait another 6 years to see if this trick works again.
 
This is how I do it:
1. buy a case of beer(the cheap azz malt liquor stuff)
2. place cans of said beer all over the DMV parking lot
3. wait for all the DMV customers to discover beer and heard outside for the free beer
4. calmly walk to the window in the now vacant line
5. conduct business and go home
 
Wheels said:
Live in a small town. I have never spent more than 15 minutes in the county tax collectors office where all DMV business is conducted.
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Yup, I always chuckle when I hear "DMV horror stories" because I've never witnessed a long line at the local tag office. I do remember it being busy when I was waiting to taking my DL test when I turned 16, but it certainly wasn't a room full of angry people with "take a number" ticket stubs in their hands.
 
Don't know if other states do, but in Michigan you can renew on line and your new license comes in the mail. If you did that the last time, then you have to appear in person the next time.
 
Norman said:
Don't know if other states do, but in Michigan you can renew on line and your new license comes in the mail. If you did that the last time, then you have to appear in person the next time.
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We can do that with car registrations, but not DL. You still have to show up in person for the photo and eye exam.

Our vehicle registration office and DL office are two different places. Both let you call ahead and put your phone number in the queue. Then, when you show up, you don't need to take a number because you already have one. Certain days of the month it's not unusual for there to be a 4 hr, or longer, wait. Once I stopped in and saw the "Expected wait time: 5 hrs" and left. Some days, like today, there really was no waiting for anyone, anyway, but I still got escorted right to the front.
 
Norman said:
Don't know if other states do, but in Michigan you can renew on line and your new license comes in the mail. If you did that the last time, then you have to appear in person the next time.
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I'm in NY. I have renewed my DL by mail since getting it in 1993. First renewal was in 2001, I think. Every 8 years. They don't make you come in, we just need to send in a small card filled out by an eye doctor certifying that our vision is good. My picture is still the same picture from when I was 16-17, I'm 41. I get weird looks from everybody who checks my ID. I was told once that it's not me because we change a lot in 25 years.
 
The DMV here has a kiosk that you can renew your license at. Takes 5 mins at most.
 
I can do DL and registration on line. Which is good because the DMV here is staffed with all women. And they are all on a power trip so you will never get the same answer twice for one question.

If I have to go in I will drive 60 miles to the next town to do business in that DMV.

New Mexico used to give drivers license to anyone that asked for one without question. They got more than a hand slap for that.
 
orange said:
I'm in NY. I have renewed my DL by mail since getting it in 1993. First renewal was in 2001, I think. Every 8 years. They don't make you come in, we just need to send in a small card filled out by an eye doctor certifying that our vision is good. My picture is still the same picture from when I was 16-17, I'm 41. I get weird looks from everybody who checks my ID. I was told once that it's not me because we change a lot in 25 years.
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A fake ID to make you look younger, I never thought of that.....:lol::lol::lol:
 
So why AREN'T you a veteran...ya lazy lima bean? :sosp:




That's alright man, I know that not everyone can be cool like veterans. :biggrin:
 
Matthew said:
2) wait 40 minutes to renew a driver's license
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You are in and out in 40 minutes?

Most things can be done on-line here in yea olde Motor City, but an in-person visit? The only way you get done in 40 minutes is if the person walking down the line doing the document pre-check sends you home empty handed because you done forgot something.
 
Timbeck2 said:
So why AREN'T you a veteran...ya lazy lima bean? :sosp:
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I was an Army brat my whole life until college. I figured I paid my dues that way.

flhrci said:
You get your license in the mail? No way!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Yeah. They take your picture and give you a temporary license printed on that thermal paper you normally get from a cash register. You get the real thing in the mail after they get a chance to print "VETERAN" on it.
 
I don't have "veteran" on my driver's license. I don't think I had a choice either but if I did, I'd still not have "veteran" on my driver's license. My short hair and rugged good looks give it away just fine.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
You are in and out in 40 minutes?

Most things can be done on-line here in yea olde Motor City, but an in-person visit? The only way you get done in 40 minutes is if the person walking down the line doing the document pre-check sends you home empty handed because you done forgot something.
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That time I was. I only get a DL renewed every 6 years. This morning there was no waiting, maybe 5 minutes or so, but I didn't even have to wait that long. Normal wait time is hours.

Once a year I have to get my vehicle registration renewed. For that, I CAN go online. Usually I wait until the last minute, then worry that I won't get the new stickers/registration back in time before the previous year's expires, so now and then I have to go in-person. At least once I walked out when I found out the estimated wait time was 4 hrs. They have a way you can text in advance to reserve a spot in line. The time I had the 4 hr wait I got there right when the doors opened, I was about the 10th person in line, but the overhead display showing the numbers already had a long list of people ahead of me that had called in.
 
orange said:
My picture is still the same picture from when I was 16-17, I'm 41. I get weird looks from everybody who checks my ID. I was told once that it's not me because we change a lot in 25 years.
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LOL. I thought I was bad having my 16-year old picture 10 years later. I just got mine changed.

Also, I can do most of the paperwork online before I head into the office. Last time I needed to update my license, it took me 15 minutes. Had I not done anything online, I'd have been there for at least 30.
 
In Connecticut there are very few DMV offices that offer all services. What that means is that when you're unlucky enough to need a new license (initial or just moved to the state) or need to register your car here, you need to go to (I think) one of 2 or 3 locations in the state that are full service.

Before Connecticut my DMV experiences were limited to upstate NY and New Jersey, where the wait was an hour or less. Once you got called up, they took your paperwork, took your picture and told you to sit down. 15 minutes later you got called up to get your new license. So when I got called up after waiting for 45 minutes at the DMV in Connecticut I thought that was that. Turns out that was just to collect my paperwork. 45 minutes later I get called up again for something else. And the process repeated itself multiple times until, after 4 or 5 hours I finally had my license in hand. I later learned that is par for the course around here. I have yet to meet anyone living in Connecticut that has had worse experiences with the DMV in other states.

Luckily in the future I can just renew through AAA or one of the many smaller local offices.
 
Our vehicle registration office is the biggest problem. You have to do a lot of that in person because it involves paperwork, signatures, and whatever. Figure each simple transaction takes 10 minutes, there are 10 windows, there are 50-60 people waiting on a busy day. That's 5-6 deep at each window, so there's an hour right there. Then figure that out of 10 windows, 2-3 are always on break, someone comes in with messed up paperwork and needs an extra 20 minutes. Then figure that another 10-15 people each hour call ahead and get into line that way. We have a pretty busy county and there are only a couple of offices. Simple registration renewal can be done online.
 
The California DMV has an App that shows real time walk up wait times for each office. I just keep an eye on that when I need to go get something done which is way too often with all the crap I have.
 
Wheels said:
Live in a small town. I have never spent more than 15 minutes in the county tax collectors office where all DMV business is conducted.
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Yup. I transferred titles and registered six vehicles a few years ago, in fifteen minutes, including having two documents notarized. The drive out there was an hour, though. LOL. Pretty drive.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Yup, I always chuckle when I hear "DMV horror stories" because I've never witnessed a long line at the local tag office. I do remember it being busy when I was waiting to taking my DL test when I turned 16, but it certainly wasn't a room full of angry people with "take a number" ticket stubs in their hands.
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You beat me to it. Same here. I've lived in probably 10 states as an adult and Oklahoma has had by far the easiest DMV to get in and out of quickly.

For others - I don't know all the specifics about how it works, but in Oklahoma, the "Tag Agents" are private business that are granted authority to issue tags and licenses and such. I guess kind of like a DPE does for the FAA. So they're all over the place, you can go to whichever one you want, and there is almost always no line. The last time I was in one it took literally less than about 3 minutes from walking in the door to leaving. It's great!
 
When I lived in KC they had contract offices for DL. Here on the KS side it's all county-run offices and there aren't that many.

In my county we have 2 DL offices for 500-600k total population.

We have 2 vehicle registration offices.
 
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RussR said:
You beat me to it. Same here. I've lived in probably 10 states as an adult and Oklahoma has had by far the easiest DMV to get in and out of quickly.

For others - I don't know all the specifics about how it works, but in Oklahoma, the "Tag Agents" are private business that are granted authority to issue tags and licenses and such. I guess kind of like a DPE does for the FAA. So they're all over the place, you can go to whichever one you want, and there is almost always no line. The last time I was in one it took literally less than about 3 minutes from walking in the door to leaving. It's great!
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It's on rare occasion that Oklahoma gets to be an example of something "positive". lol
 
Go to the DMV to stand in line for 30 minutes to discover they gave you a Non-Real ID compliant ID that you paid $40 over....

Tried to go back a second time and got the "we don't show that your paid the $40" lie as you showed them the receipt.

I guess I'll just not go to any Federal buildings or the air base anytime soon!
 
In MO they are still trying to figure out how to comply with Real ID.

This afternoon a measure passed the MO House, but still needs to be approved by the Senate. A few years ago the State passed a law specifically saying it would not comply with Real ID because they said the federal requirements infringed on state privacy rights. Now that the final Jan 1 deadline is on and TSA/Homeland Security will not accept MO driver's licenses as ID for air travel or other federal purposes, there's a big push on to get the law changed.
 
My drivers license is good until I'm 65. Got it when I was 16. Expiring licenses are a money grab.
 
flhrci said:
You get your license in the mail? No way!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Here in TN, we used to get ours issued at the DMV but in the past couple of years they've changed and now give a paper temporary license and the plastic comes in the mail a few weeks later. They must've liked how the FAA's system works so well. :)
 
Ryanb said:
Here in TN, we used to get ours issued at the DMV but in the past couple of years they've changed and now give a paper temporary license and the plastic comes in the mail a few weeks later. They must've liked how the FAA's system works so well. :)
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I'll bet it is because of the "Real ID" requirement.

In NV you can go online and make a "reservation" for a set time. Put in your cell phone number. Separate line for "check in" once checked in for your reservation you are in the que with you cell number, regular update texts and paging when it's your time. Total time in DMV, about 10-15min before you are at the window.

Driver license gets one online renewal. Autos, always do online renewals, and if you are close to expiration, print the confirmation page that you've done your end, if you get stopped, the police can verify through the computers that you have renewed and waiting on the mail. No issues.
 
The County Clerk runs the DMV office here, and they're very efficient about it. I've never spend more than 10 minutes there. I can't renew online because the system barfs on the PO Box address (which is all we have here -- they don't deliver mail to the houses), but the in-person renewal is painless.

When I lived in The City, on the other hand, any trip to the DMV, no matter what time you showed up, was a rest-of-the-day affair. The system seemed designed for inefficiency. Even something simple like turning in old plates took hours and required standing on multiple lines. For example, even if you'd already downloaded the forms for your transaction and filled them in, you still had to wait on the "forms" line for someone to tell you that you already had the forms and give you a number for the next line.

The procedure went something like this:

1. Wait on the forms line and get a number (and forms if you didn't already have them).
2. Wait for your number to be called.
3. Go to the window where someone from DMV looked at your forms and re-wrote everything that you'd already filled in in red magic marker right over the boxes where you'd filled in the information. And get a number.
4. Wait for your number to be called.
5. Take the vision test and get a number.
6. Wait for your number to be called.
7. Get your picture taken and get a number.
8. Wait for your number to be called.
9. Get the total charges for your transaction from a DMV employee. And get a number.
10. Wait for your number to be called.
11. Pay for your transaction and get a receipt.
12. Wait for your new license to arrive in the mail.

When I had a CDL, the process was even worse because of the additional trips to get fingerprinted, the hazmat re-test, the trip to the doctor to get the medical card renewed, and the two-week wait for TSA to confirm that my fingerprints hadn't changed since the last time I'd had them taken. It required three separate trips to the DMV (which I believe is actually banned by the Geneva Convention as torture), one to the State Police for fingerprinting (at a cost of ~$190.00), and a trip to the doctor. The rigmarole and the cost -- $600.00 - $700.00 when all was said and done -- were the reasons I downgraded once I no longer needed the CDL. It just wasn't worth the bother or the cost.

After going through this DMV ******** for years, it dawned on me that no matter what time I walked in the door, I always got done just before closing time. Showing up early to be the first one on line was pure folly, I realized. Even when I was the first one in the door, I was still going to be there all day. It's some kind of DMV rule.

So I started showing up half an hour before closing time. Apparently once you're in the building, they have to process you before they can shut the place down for the day. And let me tell you, DMV right before closing time is not the same as DMV in the morning. I actually called the Pope about it. It was the best evidence for the resurrection of the dead that I could find. You want to witness the dead coming back to life? Stop by the DMV right before closing time. It's like a zombie apocalypse.

Up here, however, DMV transactions are easy. The County Clerks get a vig on the fees, so they're sort of in competition with each other for your business. Apparently anyone who lives anywhere in New York State can go to any DMV office they want, including the ones run by County Clerks; so people who are in the know can lessen their misery by going to the most-efficient offices. I wish I'd learned that sooner.

Rich
 
I belong to Auto Club, as well, I have an account set up with the California DMV the where I can get on line, see all my registered vehicles, and do the renews there easy peasy.... except for the smog... then I have to go somewhere to get it done For title transfers etc..., I'll just got to Auto Club.

If I have to go to the DMV, I just make an appointment...usually the first one in the morning and go.... never more than a five minute wait.
 
The local DMV is the reason I gave up my CDL. Plus the fact I haven't used it in over 10 years.
 
In California the appointments were nice when they worked. Of course after you move into the state you're supposed to register within 20 days and usually the appointments were way longer out then that. Then 2 years later your insurance company lets you know they're cancelling your insurance since your license expired. Turns out it was the Nevada license that was expiring, California issued me a new license, punched a hole in the NV license and then apparently cancelled the California license a week later since I had a Nevada license... that they punched a hole in, yea, wasn't able to wait for an appointment to get that fixed.

Of course, getting that Nevada license originally cost me like 4 hours since they had consolidated half the states DMVs in Reno and there were no appointments, just show up and wait.

So far both trips to DMV here on the Oregon coast have been less than 5 minutes to get to the window. The drivers license took a little longer due to the test and photo and stuff but both were probably under 30 minutes to completion.
 
Ryanb said:
Here in TN, we used to get ours issued at the DMV but in the past couple of years they've changed and now give a paper temporary license and the plastic comes in the mail a few weeks later. They must've liked how the FAA's system works so well. :)
Click to expand...

So does your driver's license have a picture of the Wright Brothers?
 
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