Rules that SCs have decided are in force at the DMV

[taxguykarl]

I think she was a little freaked out at seeing something done correctly for once.

Sounds like something they don't see every day.

[Mondestrucken]

I have had people who hand me their paperwork, all in order, and they are answering questions before I have had a chance to ask: "Yes, sign me up for the Organ Donor registry," etc. Blows my mind. Someone actually read the paperwork.

I know a few of the clerks have wanted to put up signs, but I heard somewhere that the more signs you have, the less people read, and I believe it.

Last week, I had a mother and son coming in to get his permit. She wanted to give me a Xerox copy of his birth certificate. No, we do not deal in Xerox copies of legal documents. The driver's ed school had even thoughtfully attached our list of requirements to the driver's ed certificate of completion. I pointed to it, "It says right here that it must be an original birth certificate with a raised seal. No Xerox copies allowed."

"I didn't read it," she cries. And yes, I heard about her waiting for two hours. She even asked if we could make an exception,

No. I can't. This is my job. I did give them a return pass which allows them to come to the front when they return. But I also tried to review their other documents before they left. "No, no, I have everything."

"Really? The same way you had the birth certificate?" I didn't have to lay on the sarcasm. She handed everything over, and wasn't she glad I made her do so? The proof of social security number was a scribbled number in pencil on a piece of paper. That is not proof.

[Alpha Strike]

...


...In this location, at that particular time, the wait was 100% due to the customers. Boy, they couldn't get anything right.... These people had to be called multiple times, or even waved at or nudged by whoever was sitting near them. Then they never had the right paperwork, and they painfully slowly explained that they didn't have THAT paper, they had this other one, that's okay, right? NO. I know in some cases things can get confusing. But there was no reason these things needed to be holding up the rest of us. Call or look online before you come in and don't have even one thing right, and when the lady explains what you DO need, don't repeat that you have this other thing. I couldn't do that job.

This. A thousand times this. Just give me what I ask for, not what you think I need or imagine I might use.

[laborcat]

I feel extremely fortunate. I've been to the dmv twice in the last three months, once because someone stole my license plates on Christmas morning so I had to get replacements, then again a couple of weeks ago to transfer them to my new truck. In and out both times in less than fifteen minutes at the branch two blocks from my apartment. Or maybe I'm just really lucky with good timing.

[Seanette]

Side note: wonder why both the forums I spend the most time on have threads active this week about DMVs?

[bbbr]

Last time I was at the DMV I had to register a new (to me) car. Took all of maybe an hour including the wait because I apparently hit the correct time of day and I had all my paperwork ready to go. While I was spending my 15 minutes at the counter doing my thing and getting fresh plates there was a kid at the next station over freaking out on the clerk. Apparently the CT and RI DMV's talked to each other about infractions/suspensions/revocations and he was going on about how "unfair it was that just because RI pulled his license that was no reason for CT to deny him one". I left before he was done whining and getting told again and again there was nothing CT was going to do before he resolved whatever was wrong in RI.

[mhkohne]

Last time I was at the DMV I had to register a new (to me) car. Took all of maybe an hour including the wait because I apparently hit the correct time of day and I had all my paperwork ready to go. While I was spending my 15 minutes at the counter doing my thing and getting fresh plates there was a kid at the next station over freaking out on the clerk. Apparently the CT and RI DMV's talked to each other about infractions/suspensions/revocations and he was going on about how "unfair it was that just because RI pulled his license that was no reason for CT to deny him one". I left before he was done whining and getting told again and again there was nothing CT was going to do before he resolved whatever was wrong in RI.

I wonder if his attempt to obtain a license in defiance of RI having pulled it gets him more trouble? No telling why they pulled it, but in a lot of cases, if you lose it in one place, you aren't allowed to go looking for a new one in another state. One can but hope...

[sirwired]

The hard-learned lesson I have discovered about the DMV is: Never go on a Monday or Friday if you can help it. Friday is for procrastinating losers whose license is going to expire over the weekend, and Monday is for procrastinating losers whose license just expired over the weekend. (At least I only need to go in for actual DL's. Plate renewals can be done online, which is nice.)

And, duh, don't go anywhere near mealtimes; mid-morning or mid-afternoon.

[Becks]

When my mom moved back to NJ, which has always had a notoriously bad DVW, but has gotten better, i told her, bring everything you think you might need, along with what you KNOW you need. this way, we won't have to go back. It did take a while but that was due to some computer issues on their part.

a month later i had to renew my license, i had all my proper documentation, and was in and out literally in 10 minutes from start to finish. Then again, i read, nad know what';s needed.

Funny, at one of my appearances at an NJ DMV back in the last decade, I had every single document that they asked for, and more besides...and they didn't like any of them.
I went back the next day with the exact same pieces of paper and it worked.
I will always have a special loathing for them...except that for some still unknown reason, they gave me a valid driver's licence once upon a time.

[Kogarashi]

I will always have a special loathing for them

I tolerate them, because so far I haven't had much trouble with them that wasn't immediately fixed. I do think some are far more disorganized than others, though, and wish they'd get their act together.

First small bit of trouble was when Hubby and I moved to NY. We went to get my name changed to my married name on my DL (something that had to be done in-person, while license renewals could be done online or via snail mail). We read the site, gathered up the paperwork we'd need, and took it in with us. Cue employee giving our marriage certificate an odd look and saying she couldn't take it, and didn't we have something else proving I'd gotten married? (For the record, Hubby and I were married in a state neither of us lived in or has ever lived in, for reasons.) We explained that this certificate was the only one we had, and it worked just fine in UT to get my Social Security card updated and to get me a non-driver ID at the time. The NY employee asked her supervisor, got the okay, and let it through.

The other bit of trouble was when we moved to GA last summer. We went to transfer our licenses, gathered up the paperwork we'd need, and go in. That office is a mess, but that's beside the point (the building is too small for the number of people it processes, the hours are crap but that seems par for the course for government offices, and the main line to get a number to wait in any number of other lines completely bisects the room, so to get anywhere you have to cut through the main line, which nearly goes out the door on any given day because there just isn't enough room in the building).

My turn came up, and I got out the paperwork...and realized Hubby had grabbed a photocopy of the marriage certificate that morning instead of the original. The employee couldn't take that, of course. Luckily, she mentioned that they'd accept a passport in its place, and while I don't have a full passport I did have a passport card in my wallet from our vacation to Niagara Falls, which also worked. So we didn't have to go back a third time (the first time we went, we'd missed its business hours by about 30 minutes).

Of course, I then ended up with a terrible ID photo because even though the camera was placed for sitting patrons, she had me stand up, so it was a toss-up between either getting neck-folds from looking down at the camera, or looking down my nose at it because I kept my chin up. :sigh:

[Catwoman2965]

Funny, at one of my appearances at an NJ DMV back in the last decade, I had every single document that they asked for, and more besides...and they didn't like any of them.
I went back the next day with the exact same pieces of paper and it worked.
I will always have a special loathing for them...except that for some still unknown reason, they gave me a valid driver's licence once upon a time.

Hmm. I know they've gotten better because you just go to one window for everything, where before, you went to one to hand in your docs, another to get them processed, and photo taken, and a THIRD to pay. now, you just go through the lines and line up whereever they tell you, and one window for everything.

[wordgirl]

My state, I have to say, has really nailed the DMV thing.

You can renew your plates and (in many cases) driver licenses online or by mail. There are lots of branch offices. You can make an appointment online, and that appointment is a pretty good approximation of when you will actually be conducting your business with the clerk. Even when I walk in, I'm usually taken care of pretty quickly. And it may just be my excellent luck, but I don't think I've ever dealt with anyone who was rude or abrupt. The worst I could say is that a clerk wasn't overtly friendly, but honestly, that's pretty rare -- they're usually really nice, despite dealing with some demonstrably not-very-bright people.

[Slave to the Phone]

Now that we can do almost everything online in my state, the lines at the local DMV have gotten much shorter which is nice. Back when I was applying for my current job, I realized that we couldn't find my social security card. The only way to get a new one was to go to the local office with ID.

Despite having a valid driver's license, they wouldn't accept it because it was too old. Disgruntled, I went to the DMV to get a new one. Unfortunately, while I had changed my name with social security, I hadn't bothered to change my name on my driver's license because I'm lazy like that. So, armed with my brand new driver's license and not thinking about the name, I went back to the social security office who wouldn't accept it because the names didn't match. License said something like "Smith" and social security card said "Smith-Jones".

Back to the DMV armed with my marriage certificate to pay yet again for a new driver's license with my married name. They wouldn't accept that because I had just signed it "Jones" instead of "Smith-Jones". They would have accepted a social security card, though.

I went home and drank heavily, then went back to the DMV the next day with all of the documentation I had showing that I was using Smith-Jones. I think I really didn't have what was needed according to regulations, but the clerk probably just felt sorry for me and I finally had a driver's license with the correct name (and my spiffy Veteran stamp).

That night, my sweetie went through the file cabinet again and found that he had misfiled my social security card and that it had been there all along. That's when I killed him.

[wordgirl]

That night, my sweetie went through the file cabinet again and found that he had misfiled my social security card and that it had been there all along. That's when I killed him.

So now you're back to being Smith. Off to the DMV with you!

[Daskinor]

After reading all these I feel fortunate that I live in MD.

Last time I needed some major title work done it worked out like this.

11:30: Walk in go to greeter and told him what I wanted to do, he told me what line to stand in and gave me a ticket that basically said; "Here for title work"

11:30-11:45: First stop is Documentation Check, I handed over my ticket and the clerk went through all my paper work and made sure it was in order. handed me a clipboard and a form to fill out, gave me a new ticket with a number so I could wait my turn at the next station.

12:05: I get called up, hand over the clipboard, my documentation and the clerk goes through it. Notices a mistake, asks me to correct in initial. She then makes copies of my documents and files away everything. Hands me a completed form and a ticket for the next station. To pay.

12:10 Get called up to pay, hand them a blank check they run it through, I sign. Get a receipt and another form saying I paid. Along with my last ticket.

12:15 Get called up to pick up the tags and registration. Show them my paperwork to verify its me. Clerk stamps all my forms saying I received my tags. I sign the clerks paperwork.

12:20 walk up to my car, take the transporter tags off put the official tags on. Drive away.