Don't visit CA DMV without an appointment

[Tom]

I'd seen this on TV several times, but witnessed it first hand yesterday when I visited our local DMV to fix a registration issue with a boat. I'd made an appointment, but didn't understand why I had to make it so far out. I arrived early and saw a line out into the parking lot. I asked some folks if they had an appointment, and someone pointed me to the appointment line; Just one person in front of me.

Many of the folks in the long non-appointment line were apparently wanting to get a "real ID" in order to meet the TSA deadline for airline passengers. (CA is one of a few states with an extension.) Hope their vacations/trips will be worth the long wait.

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Good luck getting an appointment less than six weeks out. Had to take the eye and written exam this year for my license renewal.

The EARLIEST appointment I could get was for the day after my birthday so I became one of those people in the three hour line wrapped around the outside of the building and then looped inside like a Disneyland ride. Great fun....NOT

  Didn't know about the airline thing until after my test so I get to go back with my passport and Social Security card. 

I am a AAA member but they can't do the flying ID thing. 

 

[Seilerbird]

When I lived in Reno a trip to the DMV was a nightmare. The place opened at 8 am and if you got there at 7 am there would already be a line around the block. If you got in to see someone by noon you were lucky. Then some local clued me it. Drive thirty miles south to Carson City and there was never a line. Walk right up.

 

[darsben]

Good luck getting an appointment less than six weeks out. Had to take the eye and written exam this year for my license renewal.

The EARLIEST appointment I could get was for the day after my birthday so I became one of those people in the three hour line wrapped around the outside of the building and then looped inside like a Disneyland ride. Great fun....NOT

  Didn't know about the airline thing until after my test so I get to go back with my passport and Social Security card. 

I am a AAA member but they can't do the flying ID thing.

Just use your passport

 

[UTTransplant]

Just use your passport

I always have used my passport. It is bigger and less likely to be lost than a DL IMHO. I do have a real-ID driver?s license, but I still plan on using my passport.

 

[Tom]

[quote author=Arch Hoagland]Good luck getting an appointment less than six weeks out.[/quote]

Aye Arch, that's about how far out I had to make the appointment. When I got to the counter, the clerk told me I'd sold the boat and filed a release of liability. I figured someone in Sacramento entered my vessel ID with someone else's transaction. I asked for a copy/printout of the filing so we could check the signature, but instead was asked to write a statement. The clerk gave me a number so I wouldn't have to stand in the line in the parking lot. I then sat with the 50 or so folks who also had a number at the meat counter, and observed how long the 'no appointment' folks waited in their very slow moving line.

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Yeah once I got to the clerk they gave me a number that they called a half hour later but at least I had a seat by then.

As for carrying my passport I'm not a fan of carrying it around. I travel light when I fly, which is seldom, and the last couple times they lost my luggage so I'd have to have in my pocket all the time. No thanks.

 

[darsben]

Yeah once I got to the clerk they gave me a number that they called a half hour later but at least I had a seat by then.

As for carrying my passport I'm not a fan of carrying it around. I travel light when I fly, which is seldom, and the last couple times they lost my luggage so I'd have to have in my pocket all the time. No thanks.

Did you get the passport card too?
It is good for airlines in USA

 

[sightseers]

I have a question.  Is a valid 2 year old California issued CDL-A  ..  a federal I.D ?

I remember doing the finger print process at DMV for my renewal.

 

[Tom]

Check out this video.

 

[Arch Hoagland]

Did you get the passport card too?
It is good for airlines in USA

No, I didn't get it because I didn't know about it and that it would be required next year. That law has been on the books since 9/11 and I had no idea there was a law like that on the books for the past 17 years. I'm a little slow sometimes..........

And that's why I'm getting it......for the airlines.

 

[SpencerPJ]

I'd seen this on TV several times, but witnessed it first hand yesterday when I visited our local DMV to fix a registration issue with a boat. I'd made an appointment, but didn't understand why I had to make it so far out. I arrived early and saw a line out into the parking lot. I asked some folks if they had an appointment, and someone pointed me to the appointment line; Just one person in front of me.

Many of the folks in the long non-appointment line were apparently wanting to get a "real ID" in order to meet the TSA deadline for airline passengers. (CA is one of a few states with an extension.) Hope their vacations/trips will be worth the long wait.

Wow, in Indianapolis, mid-week, mid-day, never a wait for anything at DMV, or 10 minutes max.  Ours runs like a well oiled machine. I just got my Real ID, but I thought they said your current one was good thru 2020.

 

[Tom]

[quote author=spencerpj]I just got my Real ID, but I thought they said your current one was good thru 2020.[/quote]
See here: https://www.dhs.gov/real-id