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They could not even give me an estaimate on how much the property tax on my vehicle would be, nor tell me anything about getting a CCW permit using my state issued ID.
While going to DMV is not my favorite task, using the Web or mail-in eliminates most of the headaches.
Property taxes are the jurisdiction of the county tax office. Doesn't surprise me much that DMV is not prepared to answer such questions. Similarly, CCW permits and the documentation requirements fall under the dictrict court and are not a DMV function although a drivers' license issued by DMV maybe used as part of the identification part of the process.
Your frustration seems to come from directing questions to the wrong people and I'd bet you're walking in with a chip on your shoulder.
Isn't this a time honored tradition, complaining about the DMV? Who HASN'T complained about the DMV? Now all of a sudden it's a problem? So now you think they're short staffed....let me guess, you're one of those who wants federal employees' to be cut, am I right? So out of one side of your mouth you rail against government employees & then out of the other side you whine about the DMV being short staffed. When will you people just shut it once & for all?
When I lived in Maryland, I dreaded going to the MVA, and now in West Virginia I also dread going to the DMV. I have NEVER had a satisfactory experience in these places, not even on their websites, which are designed even worse than Obozocare's if that can be believed. Both the Maryland MVA and West Virginia DMV are staffed with rude, incompetent, lazy state workers who often go out of their way to give you a hard time for no reason and probably take perverse pleasure in inconveniencing me and making me go back. The websites are also poorly written as to what documents you need to bring and the regulations are ridiculous. I have never had a polite AND helpful person at any branch of these agencies. I'm sure most of the people who work there enjoy their generous pension and comfy union benefits with their yearly pay raises, and feel that the average American who works for a living is beneath them.
But lately I think I have a theory that in addition to all that, maybe the unions and the government purposely understaff all the DMV locations and purposely do not maintain their website well in order to justify current staffing levels. They want the public to be like "yes our taxes are too high and the benefits are too generous but if we cut funding to the DMV it will be even slower and service will be worse." I think this is to keep the public from demanding that they stop giving so much tax money to these agencies and losing their union jobs that working Americans pay for through our taxes. And I think the website is often poorly designed not just because the liberals and Democrats cannot hire decent people (well even Obozo himself can't hire a good IT team) but to force people to have to physically go into the DMV branches, so they can keep their jobs.
As for dealing with the poor excuses of human beings who work at the DMV some of my friends have told me I have to be firm and speak my mind to them and express my displeasure in order for them to take me seriously vs think I am an easy target for their games so they know not to play with me. others in contrast have told me I just have to put up with the rudeness, incompetence, laziness, stupidity and arrogance of these people or else they will try to find ways to retaliate against me like purposely messing up on my license and registration etc so I don't know what the better approach with. I've always bit my tongue and been very respectful to them cause I know their pettiness and the petty power trips they like to go on and after all they are an enforcing agency and they are not really there to serve me. But they always give me the runaround and never are able to even answer the simplest of questions. In WV they did not even know how to answer my question about using my license to apply for a CCW permit or about switching the title over from a different state, and how much the personal property tax is.
I have been to the Annapolis MVA MANY times and have NOT experienced anything near what you have.
When I moved to NC, the people couldn't ave been more friendly and competent.
Also live in CA, and never had any problems. There are a couple of Driver license processing centers (DLPC) only DMVs, and they are like an assembly line. There are no lines, you just go in and they process you super fast. The full service DMVs can get pretty busy, and you will probably need to wait in line if you don't have an appointment.... But that is usually the case in most places. Also, the staff here are pretty nice and courteous, and if you are friendly with them, they can even be chatty + friendly right back. About 90% of the time i get a woman (most DMV workers here are women), and first thing i do is complement something about her, maybe a necklace she's wearing, her super long hair, her smile, or maybe a large visible tattoo, anything... That usually sets the mood for the rest of the encounter.
My experience with the California DMV has been good. Every desk had person working and a customer being served.
[no complaints]
Same here. Had to show up in person for my license renewal - booked a time online, no wait, no muss, no fuss. Polite and professional people throughout. 30 minutes, if that.
Stark contrast to the Green Card renewal process, don't get me started.
ETA: Hey, zombie thread! - and my opinion hasn't changed since 2013, looks like.
On the federal level agencies like the IRS are purposely underfunded so that they cannot be properly staffed and effectively run. But I doubt that occurs with state run DMV's.
I would point out however that MANY people put off going until the end of the month and that creates log-jams. I usually go right when they open up in the morning, get there a little early and I'm done in 5-10 minutes or less.
People that wait until the last day and wind up there with everyone else might be saying "Dang it always takes 2-3 hours".
I went recently to renew my license in Philly-I was in and out in less than 30 minutes. Some will always find something/someone to blame or complain about. Many Agencies are understaffed/overworked though. I'm not sure about the DMV, but when I worked at the Department of Public Welfare-that was definitely the case.
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