RALEIGH, N.C. — Need to get a driver’s license? A Real ID? Register your vehicle, or anything else DMV related? Prepare to wait.
With a backlog from the pandemic and nearly a third of its position’s vacant officials with the Department of Motor Vehicles acknowledge customers are experiencing extreme wait times.
Long-time Raleigh resident Steve Mayberry, 73, is well acquainted with the DMV and knows that waiting comes with the territory.
“There’s not a person who lives in the state that doesn’t have to deal with the DMV,” Mayberry said.
His tolerance was tested recently, though, when he went to get a Real ID. He tells WRAL Five on Your Side that he was turned away from the three sites that he tried to walk-in to. When he went to make an appointment, he claims he was told that the earliest available appointment in Raleigh was five months out. He said he was then told to try Rocky Mount.
“It’s like I have to choose between the cost of gas or paying my taxes,” Mayberry said.
Mayberry gave up on getting a Real ID, renewed his regular license online, and expressed his frustrations on the Nextdoor app.
“I wanted to publicize that it’s a problem,” Mayberry said.
WRAL 5 on Your Side sat down with DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin to talk about the wait times and showed Goodwin Mayberry’s complaint.
“I’m familiar with this post. It’s quite a popular post on the Nextdoor app,” Goodwin explained.
“I take this very seriously,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin disputed Mayberry’s claim of a five month wait time for a Real ID appointment, and he’s correct. Five on Your Side found several available appointments for a Real ID within the next month or two but none in Raleigh for Mayberry.
Goodwin suggests looking for appointments slightly out of your city or county for more availability.
Tips to speed things up at the NC DMV
- Consider an extended hours office-there are 35 in the state, which open at 7 a.m. and service walk-ins only until 8 a.m.
- Early morning or after lunch time tend to have the shortest wait.
- Visit the DMV’s website often to check for last minute cancellations.
- Make an appointment as a failsafe and go to the walk in anyway. If you get the service just be sure to cancel the appointment.
- Finally, if you do a walk-in you don’t have to wait inline you can check in using a QR code, go run errands and the DMV will alert you when they’re ready to see you. The DMV is working on getting buzzers for folks who don’t have smart phones.
Goodwin believes wait times will improve next year, as the DMV is able to hire more staff, specifically examiners.
“We are actively working with job fairs and other types of incentive options,” Goodwin said. “The entry salary has recently changed from $36,000 to $42,000 a year.”
In addition to adding more staff, the DMV is working on a website update that will show you wait times in real time. Officials explained that it will be very similar to what Great Clips has where you can search a city and see which locations have the shortest wait time, this is something that will not start until 2023.
And to put this all-in perspective, 2022 is not a record year for wait times. The DMV’s head of communications Marty Homan told WRAL 5 on Your Side that they track wait time data and 2018 and 2019 both surpassed 2022. During that time, the DMV blamed longer wait times on Real IDs. The initial deadline for Real IDs for commercial flights was October 2020 but was extended due to the pandemic.
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November 02, 2022 at 02:46AM
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Need to go to the DMV? Prepare to wait for months, in some cases - WRAL News
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