The DMV is almost as bad as hospital ERs.

[Lionel Mandrake]

Waits of several hours are common in both of these broken systems. The ERs are a national disgrace, but the California DMV is our very own particular disgrace. A good question for any politician running for statewide office in California is: WTF are YOU going to do about the fucked up DMV? If the answer is to study it, then you should vote for someone else.

[cyclonefence]

1. Be careful what you ask for

(JTA) — A Republican candidate for governor in California said he’d stop comparing wait times at the Department of Motor Vehicles to the experience of Holocaust survivors.

Businessman John Cox had come under fire for telling a story Wednesday about a Holocaust survivor who complained about the long lines when the two met at a DMV in Long Beach, California. “He survived concentration camps, and he said this was worse. He’s 90 years old and he had to wait four hours down in Long Beach. Can you imagine that?” Cox said, according to the Capital Public Radio.

A spokesman for Cox told Talking Points Memo Thursday that the the candidate will “no longer” tell the story, calling it an “honest mistake.”

“The guy said that [the lines] reminded him of 1937 Germany when you had to wait in line to get processed. … John has told this story a few times, he misspoke,” Matt Shupe told TPM. “He basically tried to condense it, you know, and he misspoke. And so it was an honest mistake, there was no deeper implication.”

Cox will face Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and the lieutenant governor, in November, and has been using the long wait times at the DMV as an example of legislative inaction.

https://www.jta.org/2018/08/16/top-headlines/candidate-compared-wait-lines-dmv-holocaust-wont

[Lionel Mandrake]

2. Point taken.

Cox's story trivializes the Holocaust. I'd never vote for such a jerk.

Newsom has made a more reasonable comment about the DMV mess. According to the LA Times:

"Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom called the wait times a disgrace Wednesday in a meeting with The Times’ editorial board, adding that the next governor deserves to be recalled if he doesn’t fix the DMV."

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-dmv-wait-times-20180810-story.html

[Mr.Bill]

3. The problem is

since simple DMV transactions can be taken care of online, just about everyone who is an in-person customer at the DMV has some kind of difficulty with whatever transaction they are there for. I've seen them spend a half hour with one customer. Their also is a boom in private companies, both online and bricks and mortar, who handle DMV transactions for a fee. Before I'd wait in line at the DMV for four hours or more, I'd pay a private business a small fee to handle it for me. But everybody has a different idea about what their time is worth I guess.


I have not set foot in a DMV building in over five years. I either do things online, or I go to the local AAA office where they can do most DMV transactions for you. You don't have to have your insurance with them, just their road service to use this service.

[3Hotdogs]

4. If it's like N.J. you can't go to DMV for license renewal.

That is because of the Patriot Act Kabuki Theater.

N.J. had long lines and fuming customers. It was substantially improved after Republican Gov. Whitman left office.

[Mr.Bill]

5. Do they let people set up appointments in NJ?

They do that in California. For a driving test, you have to have an appointment in my small town because the testers are only there one or two days a week.

For a license renewal, you must go there because they have to take your picture and depending on your age a written test may be required. I was allowed to renew mine two or three times by mail because of a good driving record. I finally went there five years ago to get a new picture on my license just because I wanted to. Otherwise they just keep using the same picture if you renew by mail. But I made an appointment and only waited a few minutes.

[3Hotdogs]

6. Same. Only for a driver's test.

Anything else, you are out in about 15 minutes. 10 minutes if you go in the middle of the month.

[Lionel Mandrake]

9. I have to wait about six weeks (!) for an appointment

at any DMV office within a reasonable distance of where I live. After doing so, the ordeal takes 2 to 3 hours instead of 6 to 8 hours. I get to choose which way I want to lose. I don't know whether to blame the dysfunctional legislature, the governor, or both for this.

[Lionel Mandrake]

7. You have to go to the DMV in California

to renew a driver license if any kind of test is required, whether it's a vision test, a written test, or a behind-the-wheel test. You can't do any of these things online, at an AAA office, or by paying money to a private firm.

[Mr.Bill]

8. Yes, I know. See my post #5. n/t

[More_Cowbell]

10. The CA legislature has its own private DMV office, not open to the public

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article216408570.html

So what do they care?

[Lionel Mandrake]

13. How do we make them care?

With redistricting, their seats are not as safe as before. Their chances of re-election or of moving up to higher office might depend in part on their attitudes toward the DMV scandal.

[BigmanPigman]

11. This story was on the local news this week in San Diego.

There are two problems...money and old computers. The state says it doesn't have enough money to pay
for more staff, have longer hours, and build more facilities. The other problem is that all of the computers break down often, several times a day even. For a state this large you would think they could get their shit together. There is a DMV two blocks from my home and there is ALWAYS a line and has been for the 30 years I have lived here. You have to even wait two months for an appointment.

[Lionel Mandrake]

14. Yep.

That's telling it like it is.

[The River]

12. I Like the CA DVM

I call (or go online) to make an appointment and that line is never long.
It's worse in other states I can name.....looking at you VA.

[Auggie]

15. Part of the problem is this new Real ID. Don't pin all the blame on California.

[Lionel Mandrake]

16. I would say rather that part of the problem

is the California DMV's lack of advance planning for Real ID. Recent newspaper stories have pointed out that the DMV knew all about the looming Real ID requirement years ago. They ignored it until very recently. And now, all of a sudden, they are having problems with it (along with all their other problems).

[Auggie]

17. Agree that someone fucked up ...

DMV could use a shake-up from the top down anyhow. Always felt many employees didn't give a damn. Thousands of unemployed would love to replace them.