DMV: Not always awful

I set aside time on Wednesday afternoon to go in to the express DMV office (at the mall... ugh) to renew my driver's license, knowing that would be a relatively low-traffic time.

The one woman in front of me in line was actually busy filling out an accident report, so there were two windows open and I was the only person ready to be helped.

I left my house a little after 3:30, drove halfway across town to the mall, renewed my license, drove back, and arrived just after 4:30...

I never look forward to going to the DMV, but between making sure I've got all my documents lined up and trying to hit the low-traffic times, it rarely goes all that badly.

You obviously dont live in Georgia. It is always busy and staffed by the most surly government workers in existance. Usually an all day affair.

That being said the last time I renewed I did it by mail and it is good for 10 years.

i've never been to a busy DMV office.. i guess that's one of the benefits of living in the middle of nowhere..

porksboy wrote: You obviously dont live in Georgia. It is always busy and staffed by the most surly government workers in existance. Usually an all day affair. That being said the last time I renewed I did it by mail and it is good for 10 years.

don't remind me about the one time I went to the GA DMV while in columbus ga... I spent almost 2 hrs in line just to talk to the receptionist... they had a freaking line to talk to her before you could get a ticket/number to talk to a real DMV person... was so stupid...

around here (in FL) it's usually pretty good as long as you go at the right time... but our county is fairly low population in a smallish town...

That reminds me I need to renew mine. In MD that want you to do it by interwebs.

It used to be bad here... 2 hours to renew your registration.. 3 to do your license.

Since they streamlined and actually moved into a mall.. you can get in and out in less than half an hour

There's a DMV office no more than a block from my apt.... it's always a 15min or less trip.

^I know, I'm no longer close to the DMV by my last job.

If you had your stuff in order, I was usually out in under 10 minutes. THose girls had it down.

novaderrik wrote: i've never been to a busy DMV office.. i guess that's one of the benefits of living in the middle of nowhere..

ditto

I went to the PA DMV this morning to renew my license. Place was busy but moved fast. The clerk was quite pleasant too.

Took the current GRM with me figuring I'd have some time to read. Only had time to read Tim's editorial while waiting.

If by not always awful you mean completely awful 100% of the time then I agree with you.

In Michigan it's the Secratary of State office. Of course with budget cuts they have been closing some of them down. Hours are 9-5 4 days, 11-7 one day. You guess what the line is like on the one evening when everyone is off work. A few offices, like 3 for the whole tri-county are open a few hours on Saturday. Line wrapped around the building.... Good thing we can renew by mail.

Glad for ya. I find them so bad I gladly pay the minor fee to one of the tag and title places, where magic regularly happens.

Seems like the past 5 times i have had to go to the DMV, I have been in and out in 20 minutes. Years ago that was not the case, it always took hours.

In VA, they now charge you extra fees for showing up in person at the DMV to do something that you could have handled free of charge online.

Connecticut DMV has gotten exponentially better over the past ten years or so.