Your BMV Experience

I’m sure this will vary greatly from state to state and maybe even within counties in those states.

I remember when the worst days of the year were those you spent standing in line at the BMV likely to be told you were missing some trivial paper and you would have to come back the next day. The clerks were always angry and seemed to look for a reason to not process what you were there for.

Several years ago my state went to an ATM type of kiosk where you could renew your license plates and I thought that was a godsend. More recently I could do it on-line and they just mail everything to me… wonderful! I even just renewed my driver’s license on-line.

Every now and then though I have to actually go to the local branch. Yesterday was one of those days.

I recently got a car in North Carolina and needed to title and register it in Indiana. I took all of the paperwork and my insurance info… walked in and used the touch screen to get my number and took a seat. I was 292 and they were on 276… I thought I should get comfortable. About 15 minutes later after sitting comfortably watching the TV there my number was called. The lady actually smiled at me and asked what I needed. I told her and the first thing she asked is if I brought the car with me… I had not. Apparently they need to verify the VIN on the car with the one on the title for out of state transfers. I was sure this would be the soup nazi moment where she would yell at me “No title for you! Next” but instead she asked if someone could get it there. My boys took it to go grab lunch so I picked up my phone and told them they had to get to the BMV ASAP. They were about 10 minutes away at 5 Guys but said they would head that way. The lady said no problem… lets go ahead and get everything else ready. She then got all of the paper work done… all the time smiling and joking around with me. When it was all done she said she would just have to hang onto the final paperwork until the car got there. When the boys got there with the car I waved to her and she went outside, looked at the numbers, handed me the papers and actually apologized that I had to wait (even though it was my fault).

I even got some 5 Guys fries out of the deal!

So is this drastic change unique, or are BMV’s all over actually becoming a pleasant experience?

In almost every state it’s called the DMV, by the way.

Pleasant? No. Less painful? Sometimes, depending on the location. The level of pain can vary from DMV to DMV, even within a state.

What does the B stand for?

Anyway in Florida you need to make an appointment or be prepared to wait. With an appointment you are usually seen within 5 minutes. If you look at the website you should never be unprepared as all you need to bring for anything is right there.

Bureau… and that is what it is called in Indiana.

Who would have guessed… (other than everyone here). I was curious about the difference in BMV vs. DMV so did a quick Google search and guess what was the first hit.

Here in Merrylande, it’s the MVA. There’s a full-service location about 3 or 4 miles from my house. I just recently went there to title a motorcycle. When you enter, you check in with a clerk who issues you a ticket based on what you need to do - driver’s test, renew a license, titles and registrations, proof of insurance, probably a few other things as well. Then you take a seat till your number is called.

The weird thing is you can’t tell where you are in the queue because there’s no apparent logic to the numbers. For example, at the license renewal windows, I watched them call G4, then G5, then T101… I had C6, and I saw C4 and C5 each go to the title clerk. Naturally, I thought I was next. Naturally, they called D3 next. :confused:

Once it was finally my turn, everything was handled quickly and with no problems. I just sat there in limbo wondering how long my wait would be.

Thankfully, I can renew tags on line.

Huh. My local DMV allows online transactions for some stuff like license renewals, but otherwise is almost exactly the same as it was when I got my permit in 1969. Same building, same interior fixtures, same parking lot, same number of DMV folks working there. Same signs above the work stations even. They added some video screens back in the late 80’s that display the next number, so the DMV people don’t have to shout, so there’s that.

What HAS changed is the population of California, leading to even worse lines. DMV was a total joke in the 60’s, with people driving >50 miles to a DMV that was rumored (generally falsely) to be not as busy. With another 20 million people statewide using the same facilities, the lines are . . . worse. Much worse.

I don’t remember why I had to go in in person, but I made an appointment and waited a little over 2 hours past the appointment time.

Not long ago, I needed to register a trailer in CA. I did my homework and hired someone to come out and do the “verification of vehicle” so we didn’t have to hitch up and thread a 34 foot RV through a grocery store parking lot where the local DMV office is located. Then we made an appointment and once we were there for the appointment, we were done and out the door within 45 minutes. Not so fast! They forgot one of the stickers for the license plate, so I had to go back on another day.

To keep things in balance, when we moved back to CA last year, we needed licenses. Due to the expected level of competence in planning, the local office was closed for remodeling. The next-closest office was also closed for remodeling, so two offices’ worth of business were being dumped into another smaller location that was unable to handle 4x its normal workload.

The wait time to get an appointment was over a month away, so we gritted our teeth and just went there. Nearly four hours later, we were done, with that breathy mechanical voice echoing in our heads.

Now serving, Bee Forty Five, at Window Six
Now serving, Eff Sixteen, at Window Twelve
Now serving, Bee Forty Six, at Window Four

The California DMV has perfected the art of making people resign themselves to a Kafkaesque fate of sitting (if they’re lucky enough to find a chair) for interminable spans of time in a large waiting room that’s drab even by government agency standards. At least the Social Security office has carpet.

Secretary of State in Michigan.

I lived my first twentieth of a millennium in California, which always had a very busy, complicated DMV, and it turned to absolute hell in the last ten years - the only reasonable way to deal with vehicles and licensing was to let a dealer do it, or make an appointment that might be six to eight weeks or more out, or show up first thing in the morning and prepare to wait many hours. (Even with an appointment, you could easily wait two hours.)

The most difficult thing I did was register a smog-waived car, which involved jumping through quite a few hoops and then showing up at 5:00 am on the first business day of the year to have a shot at getting one of the 200? 500? such waivers issued in any calendar year. (I got mine - still have it, technically - but it’s a long story that includes a CHP officer apologizing to me profusely.)

Then we moved to Connecticut. We got new driver’s licenses and registered two cars in just over an hour, including a run to the nearest (it’s-a-joke) smog check place. The specialty car took just a little longer because I had to go to the central office for some inspection and tests.

And this was while the state had a highly pissed-off workforce (ETA: due to furloughs and budget shortfalls) and people were complaining about how incredibly long things like the DMV were taking.

(In fact, I was delighted. I had been told that cars like mine never passed the noise check without borrowing a pair of stuffed sidepipes… and all the highly irritated state minion did was look at me and say, “It’s a little loud, but…” I thus did not get the “Save the Sound” plates with the label LOUDER; no need to tempt the troopers too much.)

Up here, it’s the Department of Licensing, and they handle drivers’ licenses and registration as well as boating licenses, fishing and hunting licenses, and all manner of other professional licenses. The only times I’ve had to visit since moving up here were to swap my CA driver’s license for a WA license, and subsequently to get it renewed every five years. They made me retake the written test when I first got my WA license, but since then it’s just been a matter of paying the fee, retaking the vision test, and having a new picture taken.

It’s also strictly a walk-in business, which is a welcome change from dealing with the DMV in CA - you had to call ahead to make an appointment if you didn’t want to be stuck waiting all day, and you had to book a good 3-4 weeks in advance.

Being a motor head you now have me curious… what kind of a car is it?

Sounds a lot like the setup we have in Alabama. Haven’t had to do anything in the past 5 years except renew my license tag, and I can do that by mail if I want to. Trick is to do it in the middle of the month, not wait for the last week (which 80% of people). Been fairly painless and if the people haven’t been sweetness and light, they have been professional and ungrumpy towards me.

FCM, as I am sure you suspect, the different numbers represent the different types of activities. We have about 5 windows at the local place and they all handle most of the jobs–only 1-2 are specialized.

Cobra.

Since the system requires a longer answer to post, I may as well add: the CHP officer who did the inspection insisted that he had filled out the DMV form correctly, and not to take any shit from the clerk about it. Being suspenders-and-belt-and damn well wanting that rare and precious waiver, I went to DMV a few days before the end of the year for a paperwork review.

Well, the good officer had NOT filled out the form correctly (had to do with manufacture date being specified in a certain way), and the very DMV-lady DMV lady called him on the phone, demanded his ass in her presence, waited fifteen minutes, then educated/chewed him out solidly… but got me the corrected form that would have screwed my attempt come my registration filing.

The CHP walked all the way around the very, very long counter to the door, made a U-turn, walked all the way up to me, shook my hand, and most humbly apologized.

Actually, all of our windows are specialized. The two for titles are on the far right, then 3 for tags to the left of those, and 4 for license renewals to the left of those. On the far left is the testing area and in the front behind the check-in desk is the insurance verification office. That’s how I knew the title tickets weren’t sequential.

The very first time I went to the BMV, I had no idea what papers I needed. I put them on the counter, and the old bag looked at me and said, “That’s pretty. What are you going to do with those?”

Now, where I live, it actually couldn’t be more pleasurable. There’s rarely a line, and if there is, it moves quickly. It helps that I’ve got the right paperwork of course, but the people who work there are actually nice. Five minutes, and I’m out of there, regardless of whether I’m renewing my tags or my driver’s license.

How is “almost every” defined?

I’ve lived/licensed in 2 states, that are both different than the OP. Neither have a “DMV” though I admit most people generically call it the DMV.

I’ve dealt with the MVA and BMV. Both acronyms were pretty obvious to me, too.

ETA: We have at least 5 non-DMV examples in this thread already.

I know this isn’t what the OP wanted to talk about, but it’s an interesting hijack.

The Wikipedia page on “Department of Motor Vehicles” includes a chart showing what the entity is actually called in each of the states and provinces. It notes

I don’t think I’ve ever heard a “DMV joke” that didn’t use DMV. I’d call it the default generic term if there is one.

A real one?

If a replica I still will go to great lengths to get a ride. If it is real I would like you to adopt me or marry me (I’m not gay but I would give it a try for a real AC Cobra).

As a teen and into college I had two car pictures that were always on my wall… an E Type V-12 and a 427 AC Cobra.

I guess I’m hijacking my own thread.