The DMV is good now, actually

Courtesy N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles

Matthew Clayton is good at computers, so he gets assigned a dreaded task by his family members: helping them schedule their DMV appointments online in North Carolina.

North Carolina’s Division of Motor Vehicles has long been considered among the worst of the worst. “It’s as broken as everyone thinks it is,” the agency’s commissioner said last year.

The last time Clayton’s dad renewed his driver’s license, back in 2018, he waited for five hours in line at the office.

“Having a bad experience at DMV makes you really not want to deal with local government,” Clayton said.

But something surprising is happening. The DMV doesn’t suck anymore.

States have modernized their ancient technology and websites. Many now let you reserve appointments, upload documents and renew licenses online. Others have added extra staff to offices and stationed self-service kiosks in supermarkets. Agencies post on TikTok and run clever PSAs with Rob Gronkowski. DMV leaders use private sector strategies and the language of “customer experience” like they’re running Target stores.

Clayton’s mom, grandfather and dad all recently had smooth experiences with North Carolina’s DMV.

Thanks to a new state law, Clayton’s mom easily renewed her driver’s license online in the spring without needing to go in person. His grandfather booked a renewal appointment online a couple of months later and had an easy trip.

Even his dad had an easy time. Clayton helped him make an online appointment at the DMV in July. His dad arrived an hour early for his afternoon appointment. But just two people were ahead of him, and he was done in 10 minutes. He went to run errands and arrived back home by his scheduled appointment.

“My dad said it was the easiest and stress-free time at the DMV ever,” according to Clayton.

It’s easy to overlook the DMV, but it’s the face of state government. Nearly everyone needs something from the DMV at some point in life. It’s the first interaction most teenagers have with a government employee who is not their teacher.

Perceptions of the DMV as slow and bureaucratic from “ The Simpsons ” and “ Zootopia ” are outdated.

DMV wait times are falling drastically around the country. In Michigan , they fell from an average of several hours in some offices in 2019 to under 20 minutes last year. They’ve dropped nearly 80% in Virginia since 2019 to an average of 8 minutes.

North Carolina has transformed its DMV since the bad days of 2024, when the deadline to get a REAL ID approached and a rush of people overwhelmed offices. State lawmakers grilled the DMV commissioner for three hours in a February 2024 hearing for the “abysmal in all caps” experiences people were having.

The state’s problems had been building up for years. Millions of people moved into North Carolina during the pandemic. Meanwhile, DMV workers left or retired, and lawmakers starved the department of funds.

But the legislature changed the law to allow hundreds of thousands of residents to renew their licenses online, saving them an in-person visit. It approved funds to hire drivers’ license examiners, open new field offices and replace old document scanners.

Under a new commissioner since last year, North Carolina redesigned its DMV website, offering quizzes to help people bring the right documents and displaying live wait times for appointments. When people show up in person, they can get alerts on their phones while they wait, much as they would at a restaurant.

The average wait time at North Carolina’s DMV offices was 23 minutes in August, down 86% from last year.

North Carolina residents appear to have noticed the changes. They’re posting on Reddit about their shocking experiences at DMV offices.

“A Fortune 500 company would have been proud,” one said about a trip to a DMV in rural Hickory.

“We’re the front door of state government,” said North Carolina DMV Commissioner Paul Tine, a former state legislator with a background in the insurance industry. “If we’re not delivering the service in the way the modern customer expects, they’re going to have a negative feeling about state government in general.”

There’s no single reason why DMV visits became a nightmare and the agency turned into a national punching bag.

Part of the problem is that every state has an entirely different model for administering services. Some states have centralized systems, and others are run at the local level.

In Idaho, for example, DMV decisions are made independently in each of its 44 counties by 88 sheriffs and assessors. The number of DMV staff and offices differ by county and don’t always correspond to an area’s population or customer demand, said Matthew May, a research scholar at Boise State University’s Idaho Policy Institute who has studied the state’s DMV operations.

The DMV’s responsibilities are also much broader than just drivers’ licenses and vehicle registration. The agency has been pulled into voter registration, organ donation, firearms, and dozens of other functions, all of which are piled onto a shrinking workforce.

Sebastian Jilke has been interested in DMVs since he arrived in America 15 years ago from Germany.

His first experience with the US government was a trip to the DMV in Newark, New Jersey, to get his license. He waited three hours. Soon after, he visited an office in a suburban part of the state and had a quick trip. He was stunned by the difference.

Now a professor of public policy at Georgetown University, Jilke and a colleague recently analyzed Google reviews on New Jersey’s DMV offices for a research paper on “administrative deserts” — areas where government services systematically underperform despite offices and staff.

DMV experiences are often better in wealthier communities, where residents may have more political power, they found. Offices serving clients with limited English proficiency and more complex document histories perform worse. They contrasted DMVs with McDonald’s, where experiences are typically similar across locations.

Going to the DMV is not just a bureaucratic encounter, Jilke said. It’s how people experience government. If DMVs can become more efficient, people’s trust in the public sector may grow.

“DMVs are mundane, but they are consequential.”

图片由北卡罗来纳州机动车辆管理局提供

马修·克莱顿很擅长电脑，所以他的家人给他安排了一项令他头疼的任务：帮助他们在北卡罗来纳州的 DMV（车辆管理局）网上预约。

北卡罗来纳州机动车辆管理局长期以来一直被认为是全美最差的机构之一。“它像大家认为的那样糟糕透顶，”该机构局长去年表示。

克莱顿的父亲上次更新驾照是在 2018 年，当时他在办事处排了五个小时的队。

克莱顿说：“在车管所遇到糟糕的经历会让你真的不想再和地方政府打交道。”

但令人意想不到的事情发生了。车管所不再那么糟糕了。

各州已对其老旧的技术和网站进行了现代化改造。现在，许多州允许在线预约、上传文件和更新驾照。其他州则在办事处增派了人手，并在超市内设置了自助服务终端。各机构在TikTok上发布内容，并与罗布·格隆考斯基合作制作巧妙的公益广告。车管所的领导们运用私营部门的策略和“客户体验”的语言，仿佛他们在经营一家像塔吉特百货这样的大型连锁超市。

克莱顿的妈妈、爷爷和爸爸最近在北卡罗来纳州车辆管理局 (DMV) 都获得了非常顺利的体验。

由于一项新的州法律，克莱顿的母亲今年春天轻松地在线续办了驾照，无需亲自前往。几个月后，他的祖父也在线预约了续办，办理过程也很顺利。

就连他爸爸办事都很顺利。克莱顿七月份帮他预约了车管所的网上服务。他爸爸提前一个小时到达，预约的是下午的档期。但前面只有两个人，他十分钟就办完了。他去办了些事，并在预约时间前回到了家。

克莱顿说：“我爸爸说，这是我经历过的最轻松、最无压力的车管所办理手续的一次。”

车管所很容易被人忽视，但它却是州政府的门面。几乎每个人一生中都会在某个阶段需要去车管所办理业务。对于大多数青少年来说，这是他们第一次接触到老师以外的政府工作人员。

《辛普森一家》和《疯狂动物城》中对车管所办事效率低下、官僚作风严重的刻板印象已经过时了。

全美各地的车辆管理所（DMV）等待时间都在大幅缩短。在密歇根州，部分办事处的平均等待时间从2019年的几个小时降至去年的不到20分钟。弗吉尼亚州的等待时间自2019年以来下降了近80%，平均仅为8分钟。

自2024年那段糟糕时期以来，北卡罗来纳州的车辆管理局（DMV）已经发生了翻天覆地的变化。当时，办理真实身份识别卡（REAL ID）的截止日期临近，大量民众涌入，导致各办事处不堪重负。在2024年2月的一次听证会上，州议员们就民众“糟糕透顶”的办事体验，对车辆管理局局长进行了长达三个小时的质询。

该州的问题由来已久。疫情期间，数百万人涌入北卡罗来纳州。与此同时，车辆管理局（DMV）的员工纷纷离职或退休，而立法者也削减了该部门的资金。

但立法机构修改了法律，允许数十万居民在线更新驾照，省去了他们亲自前往办理的麻烦。立法机构还批准了拨款，用于聘请驾照考官、开设新的办事处以及更换老旧的文档扫描仪。

自去年以来，北卡罗来纳州在新任专员的领导下，重新设计了车辆管理局（DMV）网站，提供测试帮助人们准备所需文件，并实时显示预约等待时间。人们亲自到场办理业务时，可以在等待期间通过手机接收提醒，就像在餐厅用餐一样。

8 月份北卡罗来纳州车管所的平均等待时间为 23 分钟，比去年同期下降了 86%。

北卡罗来纳州的居民似乎已经注意到了这些变化。他们在Reddit上发帖讲述了他们在车管所遇到的令人震惊的经历。

“就连财富 500 强公司都会引以为豪，”一位人士在谈到前往希科里郊区车管所的行程时说道。

“我们是州政府的门面，”北卡罗来纳州车辆管理局局长保罗·泰恩说道，他曾担任州议员，并在保险行业工作过。“如果我们不能以现代客户期望的方式提供服务，他们就会对州政府产生负面印象。”

车辆管理局办事变成一场噩梦，该机构沦为全国的众矢之的，原因并非单一。

部分问题在于，每个州的服务管理模式都完全不同。有些州采用集中式系统，而有些州则由地方政府运营。

例如，在爱达荷州，车辆管理局（DMV）的决定由该州44个县的88位警长和评估员各自独立做出。博伊西州立大学爱达荷政策研究所的研究学者马修·梅表示，各县的DMV工作人员和办事处数量各不相同，而且并不总是与当地的人口或客户需求相符。梅曾对该州的DMV运作进行过研究。

车辆管理局的职责远不止驾驶执照和车辆登记。该机构还承担了选民登记、器官捐献、枪支管理以及其他数十项职能，所有这些工作都压在了日益萎缩的员工身上。

塞巴斯蒂安·吉尔克自 15 年前从德国来到美国以来，就对车辆管理部门（DMV）很感兴趣。

他第一次接触美国政府是在新泽西州纽瓦克市的车辆管理局（DMV）办理驾照。他等了三个小时。不久之后，他又去了该州郊区的一个办事处，很快就办好了。这让他对两者之间的差异感到震惊。

现任乔治城大学公共政策教授的吉尔克和一位同事最近分析了新泽西州车辆管理局办公室的谷歌评论，撰写了一篇关于“行政沙漠”（即政府服务尽管有办公室和工作人员，但系统性地表现不佳的地区）的研究论文。

研究发现，在较富裕的社区，车管所的服务体验通常更好，因为这些社区的居民可能拥有更大的政治影响力。而那些服务于英语水平有限、文件记录较为复杂的客户的车管所，服务体验则较差。研究人员将车管所与麦当劳进行了对比，发现麦当劳各门店的服务体验通常较为相似。

吉尔克表示，去车管所办理业务不仅仅是一次官僚程序，更是人们体验政府运作的方式。如果车管所能够提高效率，人们对公共部门的信任度可能会提升。

“车管所虽然平凡，但意义重大。”