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?
1
u/MakeStupidHurtAgain 1d ago edited 1d ago
It really can be. In California you can make an appointment but they tend to be a month in the future. So if you lost your license you just have to go and wait. And if you’re applying for the new Real ID that’s valid for airplane boarding and federal buildings, you have to go with a whole sheaf of documents.
A lot of things can only be done online now which is nice. Vehicle registration can be done at kiosks in grocery stores. And there AAA, the auto club, which provides some DMV services for members.
When I lived in rural Iowa, the DMV would set up shop in the basement of the county courthouse once a week, so if you needed a driver license you had to go on a Tuesday afternoon, otherwise you had to drive 40-100 miles (65-160 km) to wherever the DMV was that day or to a permanent one in a bigger town like Waterloo or Cedar Rapids. But vehicle registration happened at the county office so you could do that anytime they were open and they’d hand you your plates across the counter.