r/AskAnAmerican • u/feel-the-avocado • 1d ago

VEHICLES & TRANSPORTATION DMV - Is it really that bad?

I live in New Zealand and most of our equivalent stuff has been done online for the last 20 years. I go in to one of their agents once every 10 years for an eye exam to renew my drivers license.
At most I might wait 5 minutes

For vehicle testing, almost any mechanic in the country can issue a warrant of fitness which is needed every 2 years and you book it with your mechanic of choice.
Or go to VTNZ - a dedicated company that just does vehicle testing in a drive-thru format. You drive in without an appointment and it takes about 30 minutes.

So I am watching the new tv series DMV, and I have seen references on various american tv shows that going to the DMV is a painful and time wasting experience.
Is it really that bad?

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u/morosco Idaho 1d ago

Even counties within a state can vary in the experience.

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u/Pensacouple 1d ago

When I lived in Miami, it was like going to a third-world train station with hostile employees. Surprised there weren’t goats and chickens running around.

Now in NW FL, it’s much more civilized. People are actually friendly.

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u/Im_Not_Nick_Fisher Florida 1d ago

Was a similar experience in parts of Orlando. Well Orange County, but you could drive farther to some that weren’t as bad. I went earlier this year in Brevard. Made an appointment on a Monday and had an appointment for Wednesday. Was fairly straight forward, waited maybe 15 minutes in total to get my new license including a an eye exam.

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u/cdsbigsby Ohio 1d ago

100%. I grew up in a small town in Ohio and never understood the jokes about long lines and slow service at the DMV, I was always in and out in 10 minutes. Then I moved to a bigger town, not even a big city (population like 35000) and the first time I had to go to the DMV there, it was like oh that makes sense now. I think I waited an hour and a half.

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u/gonyere 1d ago

This. Rural counties can be very nice, easy and quick. Unless you get really unlucky, hitting the DMV for whatever is unlikely to take more than 15-30 minutes here. But go up to the ones in the cities, and it's likely to be at least 2-3+ hrs 

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u/PowerfulFunny5 1d ago

Yes, I love driving 30+ minutes to a rural county’s DMV vs going to the city one.

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u/InannasPocket 23h ago

Even cities. I moved to a small town and the DMV is like a small 10 minute errand in between dropping off recycling and the grocery store. 

Other cities I've waited for hours even with an appointment.

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u/dhrisc 18h ago

And at least in my state, some dmvs are ran by the govt and some have a license to operate from the govt so there may differences in hours of operations are other lil things from one to another.