Kathleen Pender answers questions on DMV waits.
I’m getting lots of questions about those long wait times at the California Department of Motor Vehicles, and since it’s so hard to get DMV reps on the phone, I’ll try to answer some here.
But first this advice: If you’re frustrated about the DMV, contact your state representatives.
Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, said his office has received 25 complaints about the DMV since April — five times the number it typically gets in an entire year. “It’s an embarrassment for all of us, that our constituents are going through this. Waiting in line eight hours is outrageous and unacceptable,” he said.
Citing “a surge in constituent complaints,” three Republican assemblymen, including Fresno’s Jim Patterson, on July 2 asked the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to investigate the five-plus-hour waits. Patterson said the committee has agreed to hear his audit request at its Aug. 8 meeting.
Patterson said the DMV
requested and received an extra $23 million in fiscal 2017-18 to ramp up for the January introduction of Real ID, a new type of state-issued license and identification card that meets new federal security standards. As part of that, the department said it would open 60 offices every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting Jan. 2. But, as of now, Saturday service is limited to five hours, two Saturdays per month, at 43 offices.
A state audit would take many months, Patterson said. But on Friday, DMV announced it would open 60 offices every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. starting Aug. 4.
The DMV used $14.1 million to hire 400 new employees and “started offering Saturday office hours in January 2018 for Real ID transactions, but they ended in March 2018 because of low customer turnout,” department spokesman Marty Greenstein said in an email. “The new Saturday hours are available for most DMV transactions, excluding behind-thewheel drive tests, not just Real ID customers.” He added: “DMV staff serves all customers who are at the office by 5 p.m., which often means staff is helping customers until 7 p.m.”
Q: Reader Linda Winkler writes, “I made an appointment online for license renewal but want to get the Real ID. Does the appointment that I made for renewal also include the Real ID?”
A: When you make a license appointment online, you must check one of two boxes: “Apply for, replace or renew a Real ID,” or “Apply for, replace, or renew a California DL/ID.”
Greenstein responded, “If your reader booked an appointment for the federal non-compliant card (meaning a regular California license) by mistake, they don’t need to make a new appointment. They can still apply for a Real ID with the appointment they booked.”
Reminder: Real ID is optional, but starting October 2020 you won’t be able to use a regular license or state ID that doesn’t meet the new federal standards to board domestic flights or enter federal facilities that require ID. You could use other forms of acceptable ID, such as a passport.
Q: Irving Waldorf asks, “I have an appointment in August. Will I be able to walk right in to get my numbered ticket?”
A: Impossible to say. The average wait time for all services at 27 Bay Area DMV offices in early June was an hour and 43 minutes without an appointment and 19 minutes with an appointment. But that measures only the time it takes from the moment a person gets a numbered ticket until their number is called.
It does not include the time spent waiting in line to get a ticket, nor the time it takes to complete the appointment. Anecdotally, people without an appointment are spending hours waiting in line just to get a ticket. I asked Greenstein to answer Waldorf ’s question and here’s all he said:
“There is a separate line for customers with appointments. Customers with appointments still must check in and receive a queue number. Typically the line for appointments is shorter than the non-appointment line.”
Some readers with appointments say they are still spending hours at the DMV.
Irene Schwartz said she got to the Santa Clara DMV office at 9:15 a.m. for a 9:40 weekday appointment to get a Real ID and finished up around noon. “Even though my appointment time was 9:40, my ‘checkin’ time was closer to 10:30, according to the intake person,” she wrote.
Schwartz said DMV could speed things up if it put DL 44, the application for a driver’s license or Real ID, online so people can fill it out before they get to the DMV office.
Before this year, this form had to be filled out, on paper, at DMV offices. Starting this year, DMV created an electronic version, but it still had to be completed at DMV offices. That contributed to wait times because staff had to show many people how to do it, Greenstein said. “Hopefully very soon, we will announce that you can fill it out online at home, get a confirmation number and then bring that number with you” to the DMV.
The online application is available and ready for use at https://bit.ly/2L5KPG0.
Q: Donald Turner writes, “I am 85 years old and need to renew my license and register a new car but can't stand in lines for 30 minutes or more. Any accommodation for people like me?
A: All DMV field offices “have specially designated counters for people with disabilities,” Greenstein said. “If a customer who requires special assistance needs to come in before an appointment is available, they are directed to the appointment line to check in and are seated until they are called.” That being said, people with disabilities “are not necessarily given expedited service to have their transaction processed.”
For more on DMV disability services, see https://bit.ly/2L2A33e.
Q: Janet S. asks: “If driver’s licenses expire every five years, and one can usually renew via online or by mail, does this apply to drivers 75 or older?”
A: No. California law requires people over 70 to come into a DMV office to renew their license and pass a vision and a knowledge test. They cannot renew online or by mail. To contact the DMV senior ombudsman program, see https://bit.ly/2L04k2y.