North Carolina DMV making changes to fix long lines and limited appointments
If life's a highway, Jacqueline Camradt would call the North Carolina DMV a traffic jam. Thursday, she got her CDL license and drove nearly an hour to avoid Asheville's DMV.
"Because it's a nightmare to deal with," she said. "It's always very, very crowded, and really can't get in. It will take three to four hours, even with a walk-in, so I drove the distance to hopefully get it done quicker. Took about two hours."
She says she tried to make an appointment.
"The next appointment is not available until July. So, I decided to wait because I need my new license to start my new career," she said.
Starting Monday, the NCDMV will only accept appointments through 11 a.m., making room for walk-ins the rest of the day.
"Folks would rather have walk-in opportunities than appointments," NCDMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin said. "And frankly, the data also shows this, 25 percent of our appointments are no-shows."
The NCDMV is extending hours at most branches through August and launching wait times for each location later in May. Rhiannon Eskew wished they had that available Thursday, when she had to go to two different DMVs.
"We had to get vacation time for the day," she said. "The whole day. Because you don't know, you have to sit here all day and potentially get turned away."
North Carolina State Rep. Eric Ager ran into a similar problem when his kids tried to get licenses in Buncombe County.
"Obviously, during COVID I think you had a huge backlog of folks that ended up not going," he said. "And then it's been a challenge ever since. The other challenge has been just being able to hire people."
According to Goodwin, 30 percent of NCDMV jobs are open. To ease lines, Goodwin has gotten DMV workers raises, he's working to put DMV kiosks in grocery stores and on military bases, and lobbying to make Saturday hours permanent, among other things. All this before the NC Real ID deadline in May 2025.
"Every time there's been a deadline, for the real ID, there's been a surge of customers for that," Goodwin said.
Forty-two percent of North Carolinians have Real ID, a form of ID on licenses they'll need to take domestic flights. Drivers have to apply for Real ID in person.