The DMV in your town

[reyd reid reed]

How horrible is it? I have to take #2 son down there tomorrow to get his learner's permit and I'm dreading it. There are at least 300,000 people in this city -- and that's probably a low estimate -- and there's ONE DMV office. ONE!!!! And that might be for the whole county, I'm not sure.

I'm not sure what I dread more, dealing with the DMV tomorrow or the idea of him behind the wheel of a car. Specifically, my car.

Might be the car thing, though. This kid hasn't been able to keep anything with wheels -- tricycles, bicycles, skates, roller blades, skateboards, scooters -- intact for longer than three months at a time.

[qnr]

1. I think there are a few of them in this area. I've gone in to one and

only had to wait about 15 minutes.

[reyd reid reed]

4. Last time I had to get my license, it was fast

But then they moved and shut down all the other offices. Now they're in a smaller office and it's horrible. This time last year, they actually closed it for three months because of some problem with the ventilation system and we had NO DMV here. I can't remember what they did instead, maybe people had to go to Pueblo or Denver.



The one thing that they did do was make it so that now you only have to renew every ten years. But that's stupid, too -- a lot can happen in ten years. Vision changes, changes in appearance, all that stuff.

[sbj405]

2. It took my coworker 3 days to get his license switched from another state

They only process a certain number of non-citizen applications per day. Apparently, the line starts at midnight. Then you may or may not get helped based on the # of people in front of you that have all right paperwork, etc.

And I thought 5 hours for mine was bad.

[reyd reid reed]

5. YIKES!

Makes mine look like it's gonna be a walk in the park.

What a nightmare!

[Chan790]

3. CT DMV is useless

They're so bad that they now make you bring your own photo so that they don't have to employ someone to take your photo. The whole process is paperwork, yet they can't seem to understand their own paperwork. I just requested my driving test, preference for New Britain and Wethersfield offices on a Tuesday or Thursdayn afternoon. It supposed to be balanced out to insure that there is no wait longer than 6 weeks for a test date. I got a Monday 9AM in New Haven...in November. My kid brother hit something on his driving test and passed.

The good part is that it's pretty impossible to fail.

[reyd reid reed]

6. Here you can take a third-party road test

The state certifies private driving instructors to give the test and that cuts down on the wait. Otherwise it's about a month. I can remember when you could go in and test the same day.

All this stuff that's supposed to make things more streamlined...HA!

[Pale Blue Dot]

7. I was only at mine for 4 hours

To get my license switched from my old state to my new one.

[reyd reid reed]

8. I swear, things were faster when they did it all by hand

Computers just slowed everything down.

[GalleryGod]

9. Southern New Jersey and Northern Maryland are lightning fast.

Maryland's Bel Air DMV is so fast they print you a ticket with your expected waiting time on it. Sorry to hear that other states have given-up on taxpayer services,but, not in South Jersey.

[reyd reid reed]

10. Wow

That's amazing. And we had to go and move away from Bel Air when I was 10 or so. Sheesh...

[Chan790]

11. Yes, but South Jersey has other perks...

such as being home to one of the most depressing places (Glassboro) I've ever seen.

I spent a year in Glassboro one weekend a few years ago on a buddy trip with one of my best friends and my brother after getting dumped out of a long-distance relationship (she made me drive down so she could spring it because phone break-ups are "tacky") because they were not ready to leave yet (hint: women are involved). Two things are true of Glassboro:

1.) There is nothing to do in the entire town.
2.) All Rowan girls are insane. Certifiable and mostly violent.

So, to cheer me up, we make a short jaunt to AC, "It's going to be like Swingers, baby" I remember one of them saying. It's like Vegas alright...if the Vegas strip were schmaltzy, smelt like urine and was infested with bottle-wielding homeless people who want my shoes. I ended up getting abandoned, barefoot, while everybody else went to dance at a horribly-overpriced dance club in one of the Trump properties...so I decided (mind you, it's about 4am) to strip down to my underwear and jump in the ocean off Atlantic Beach, strolling right past the Warning, Beach Closed signs. I then got to ride home, 8 hours, in soggy boxer briefs and a Hefty trash-bag kilt.

That having been said, the rest of South Jersey looked very nice, what of it I saw out the car window, and Philly, one of my favorite places on Earth, is just a short drive across the Walt Whitman.

[Arugula Latte]

12. Actually, I've had positive experiences here in Portland.

They were actually fairly efficient and polite. In California, however ... that was a different story.

[reyd reid reed]

14. I've been to one in California, when I lived in Los Angeles,

but it's been a while. Close to twenty years, maybe? I don't know what it's like now but the one here's MUCH worse than theirs was.

[Bossy Monkey]

13. It being the State DMV, consider trying the next county over

assuming the next county over is less populated. The main DMV here is a zoo, but the one up the Interstate a bit is excellent and nearly deserted. Best of luck regardless.

[reyd reid reed]

15. That's something that hadn't occurred to me.

I'll make some calls while I wait for his birth certificate. See if I can do it.


Thanks!!

[AlCzervik]

16. it's bad unless you make an appointment and then it's actually ok.

it's not like you want to go and spend time there everyday but the appointment system has worked out great for me.