Here, the national Driver Vehicle & Licencing Centre was created in the mid-Sixties, and rapidly acquired a reputation for inefficiency and lengthy delays. By 1990 it became an arms-length Agency and seems to have overcome its former reputation.
Yeah, I gotta give props to the Ohio DMV. Whenever I hear people complaining about the DMV in general, I have to :dubious: just a little bit. To be fair, I’ve only been to 3 different DMV’s in the state, but they were all professional and well run. My last time renewing my plates actually did take quite a while, as there was a fairly long line, but I was still out in well under an hour. (I didn’t time it, but maybe 45 minutes.)
Even before they went to the “take a number and a seat” method, they were pretty efficient. Now that there aren’t any actual lines to stand in, it’s a fairly decent experience. I just have a sit and read the Ohio Driver’s guide while I wait for my number to be called. (And they have a big LED screen saying what number they are on.)
If it were actually that bad, I would just renew online or by mail.
Here in Hawaii, it was recently announced the DMV lost all the data of driver’s-license applications and renewals for most of 2017. They said the licenses they’re holding will remain valid but that when it comes time to renew again, they’ll all have to start from scratch. In Hawaii, that means presenting a ton of documents like home ownership or rental leases, utility bills etc. Lucky for us I got my license and the wife here state ID in 2016.
My experience in New York the quality has improved tremendously the last 50 years and jokes about the DMV are as out of date as Nehru jackets and love beads
I’ve had a driver’s license in Ontario for 28 years now, and the service has gotten way better over time. This may be in part because they privatized the customer-facing part of it a number of years ago, and that was correlated to a significant improvement in service, but I think most of it is just better computers and systems.
At the same time that has happened, the process of getting a passport has also become better - in fact, WILDLY better, insanely better, so muc hbetter than the old way seems like a bad dream. That’s a literally an entirely different government. Again, I think it’s just computers.
So, I went to my local DMV today to renew my license. San Diego.
I could have renewed online for a regular license, but I decided to get the Real ID license instead, and that requires an in-person visit. I’m not a big fan of the Real ID law, but it doesn’t look like it’s going away, and as someone who has been through the US Permanent Resident application program, I’ve given just about every possible piece of information about me, including finger prints, to the US government already.
I made an online appointment a few weeks ago. My appointment was for 12.10 p.m. Here’s how it went.
[ol]
[li]I arrived at about 11.55 a.m., and got in the Appointments line. The woman serving this line essentially acted as a triage person, confirming the reason for my visit and making sure that I had the necessary documentation with me.[/li]
[li]She sent me to the License Application line. At the front of that line, I had to get on a computer and fill out a bunch of details about myself and my license application.[/li]
[li]Then, after hitting the Submit button, I got in another line, where I was given a number and told to sit down and wait to be called. I sat down, and about 12 minutes later, I heard my number.[/li]
[li]At the desk, the guy went over my documentation again, took copies of my identifying documents, and did a bunch of other stuff on the computer, and with some forms. I had to sign some forms, and give a thumb scan. He then took my fee, gave me a receipt, and sent me to the Photograph line, telling me to come straight back to him after my photo was taken.[/li]
[li]When I got to the front of the photograph line, I had to scan my thumb again, provide my signature on an electronic pad, and stand for the photograph. [/li]
[li]I then went straight back to the previous guy, who gave me my temporary license, told me the new one would be in the mail in a couple of weeks, and sent me on my way.[/ol]All of this took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The lines were sometimes a bit long, but they were always moving, and the staff members I interacted with (all five of them) were very nice, and seemed to be working pretty quickly and efficiently. I’m not sure that the whole process itself is very efficiently organized, but each person in the process was fine.[/li]
It’s worth noting again that all of this was WITH an appointment. If you didn’t have an appointment, you had to stand in a line outside the building before you could even walk inside. When I was sitting waiting for my number to be called, I heard one guy say that he had arrived at about 10.30, and had not even made it inside the building until 11.30. When I heard him say this, it was about 12.40, so he had already spent over 2 hours at the DMV, and although he was sitting and waiting for his number to be called when I sat down, my number was called before his.
One thing about the process was really quite troubling: the privacy issue.
In the area where we filled out our computer application (Step 2, above), there were people doing applications and people doing license tests (the multiple choice tests before the driving test). After completing the application, I had to stand in a line, and the line was right in the same area, behind the computers where applications were done. I was standing right behind a woman as she filled out her own application on the computer, and it was easy to see the screen. If I wanted, I could have written down her name, address, date of birth, social security number, and drivers license number. Not cool!
As I understand the RealID process in Pennsylvania, I can submit my necessary documentation beginning this fall even though the RealID licenses won’t be issued until 2019 (and my license doesn’t expire until 2020).
In Jordan, it took all day. At the end of the day, when they were finally ready to laminate it, the guy asked me my blood type, which had to be hand-written on the license because there is no A on Arabic typewriters. I didn’t know, but I knew that if I said that, there would be at least another daylong trip back to the bureau when I got the blood test. So I said A Positive, he wrote it in, and laminated my license and handed it to me. Turns out it was a lucky guess, I finally found out my type a couple years ago, and it’s A+.
In Lebanon, to rent a car, I was told I needed either an international license, or a Lebanese endoresment on my own DL. The rental agent took me over to the DMV where they stamped my license with a Lebanese endorsement.
In the US/Canada, all my experiences have been unremarkable in Wisconsin, Louisiana, Oregon, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Kansas, Missouri, Florida. One exception, New Brunswick made me take a road test in order to switch over from Oregon. That’s the only road test I ever took – Louisiana issued me my first regular DL when I presented a Wisconsin learners permit.
No, because people don’t move from one EU country to another nearly as often as Americans move from one state to another, so the overwhelming majority of people will never have to handle this situation.
There’s no French equivalent of the DMV. In the past, you would go to the “prefecture”, that handles most official paperwork, but nowadays, everything must be done online. “Prefectures” didn’t have the reputation to be particularly efficient or friendly, but I personnally never had a bad experience.
I tend to suspect that the reputation of the American DMV is more a caricature, something that people repeat to each other and themselves as a joke than a reality. Or something that has been true long ago, and keeps being repeated, despite not matching reality anymore. These things often happen.
Large vs small towns is also a factor. Once in Missouri I got my motorcycle license simply by showing up. Normally one would have to do this complicated riding test but since their was only 2 of us, and one of the DMV cops knew my father, they just handed us our licenses. I guess they figured out that since we drove them there in the first place we knew how to drive them anyways.
I think it’s all done online here in Israel. I’m not sure that the Licensing Bureau even has physical offices any more; if they do, I’ve never had to go there.
Actually, the times between inspections are defined by the country where the car is registered, not by the EU. For example, my car was bought in December of 2011, got its first ITV in December 2016 and gets the next one in December of 2018 - that’s defined by Spain, because that’s where my car is registered.
If I had a second house in Italy and I wanted to keep my car there, I would have to move the registration before the time the next check would be due according to Italian law (conversely, I could drive down for the Spanish-timed test). The same would be valid if I kept driving the car around but was reasonably sure that I’d always be in Italy come check time: I could just move the car there officially and remember to always check it in Italy (the “I” on the plates would be a nice hint of where to go), or I could make sure to always be in Spain come check time.
I’ve taken my car for long stays to several EU countries plus Switzerland, always stayed a short-enough time that I didn’t need to move it. But each time I did check, and each time the rules were slightly different.
What is the time consuming part in the US? Is it getting a driver’s licence, or registering the car itself? Or both?
In the UK, when you buy a used car you just have to send off the ownership logbook through the post, although I think it can be done online now (it’s been a while since I bought a car). If you buy a new car then as far as I recall the dealership sorts out most of the paperwork. You certainly don’t have to go into an office or stand in line.
And driving licences don’t need renewing. I still have the same bit of paper I got when I passed my test at the age of 17. I should really upgrade it to one of the “new style” (like since the late 1990s) licences, but it is still valid until I am 70.
The only time I ever go to the SAAQ office in Quebec is to get my photo taken, and it’s the same photo used on my Medicare card.
Everything else is done automagically.
Licence renewal: the card is good for five years, and every year the cost of renewing the licence is debited automatically
Vehicle registration renewal: automatically debited from my bank account.
Transferring licence plates: the dealership can handle that. It’s free: $2 if you want a new licence plate for your new vehicle.
Ours need renewing every 2-6 years (depending on the state and various other reasons).
I’ve heard that it can be a problem when people from the US try to rent cars in the UK. Some rental places require that you have a license that is at least 5 years old. And while the American might have been a licensed driver for decades, their actual physical license will only be a few years old at most.
I have only been to the California DMV a few times. You really only need to go there is you are registering a car that you brought in from out of state or purchased used for a private party. If you buy from a dealer they handle that. Or if you need to update your license. Last month I lost my license while at a sporting event and had to get it replaced. I made an appointment and my experience was much like mehndo’s it took a little less than an hour. It looks like you can update your drivers license in CA by mail or internet most of the time but need to come in in person about every 10 to 15 years. To get a real ID drivers license you need to come in in person.
In Artesia, NM area, every government type office I went to, county, local, etc… (various things to do when moving as a person and a business, self employed) wasn’t crowded. But they were all, yes every single one of them, manned by Vogons.* Come to think of it, even the insurance agents and doctors offices were like that, as well. Almost nothing could be done in one visit because there was always some previously undisclosed other document, action, payment, etc… that had to done before the task at hand could be completed. Land of enchantment? I wasn’t enchanted. Even buying a soda at a convenience store in Artesia, NM was a chore, for EVERYONE involved. In a lot of the places I visited/worked in NM, customer service is a theory spoken of only by madmen. It simply doesn’t exist.
In suburban Houston TX area, the lines were longish, but patience would get you what you wanted/needed done in one trip.
In Oklahoma City area, it would depend on which Tag Agency you went to. Word of mouth from friends and co workers helped narrow it down. Some places don’t even have a pick a number system or a place to queue up a proper line. Other places are run like Chick Fil’A, iow they get it done with little mess involved. The online system in OK is goofy, tho. You have to know the EXACT form name before any searches in their system actually bring it up. I figured out that if I google it all first, I can then use those notes to navigate the state system and get what I need.
IMHO, YMMV, this is the SDMB after, someone will nitpick anything…
- They are one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy - not actually evil, but bad tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous. They wouldn’t even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without an order, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. If you want to get a lift from a Vogon, forget it. They are vile and ill tempered. If you want to get a drink from a Vogon, stick your finger down his throat. If you want to annoy a Vogon, feed his grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal.
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Just got my ID renewed at the Washington State Department of Licensing. From the time I entered to when I left, took 25 minutes. Considering I’ve waited a lot longer than that for private doctor’s visits, that’s pretty efficient.
Stopped yesterday to get my picture taken to update my license. It only took 30 minutes, I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t happy enough to smile, though. I have a longstanding tradition of not smiling for my license photo. The woman told me to look at the blue dot and smile. I looked at the blue dot and pretended I was walking around in the prison exercise yard; my best dead eye glare. She waited, waited, waited, but finally took the pic. It is scary af.
NJ has never been horrible, but not necessarily pleasant either.
…then there was that one amazing day several years ago…
My wife had been bedridden for several months, and she was the one who normally handles bills and paperwork around our house. During that time, registration and insurance paperwork had slipped through the cracks.
My daughter and I had been using my wife’s car for the previous few months, and everything seemed in order. Then I noticed the inspection sticker was expiring and decided to get that taken care of. I went to get my paperwork in order and realized that both the insurance and registration cards were six months expired. The insurance was likely fine since we were paying it, just hadn’t put the new card in the car; the registration was another story.
I didn’t know if it had been registered or not.
I drove very carefully to the DMV, expecting Loach to show up in my rear-view mirror at any time, stopping by my insurance agent to get a temporary card.
It took me about 5 minutes to get to the head of the line at the DMV, and the nice lady told me the registration was way out of date. She let me pay it right there, and in 2 more minutes I was out the door with a properly registered car and ready to get inspected.
That exercise should have taken hours to resolve, with multiple lines and fines and other bad things.