I’ve seen firsthand the troubles our citizens have with the DMV. I’ve witnessed the full waiting room and the line stretched around the building at the Fuquay-Varina office in my district. Something has to change. I invited Commissioner Wayne Goodwin to meet me there to talk about solutions.
Here’s what we saw:
James Hall was in constant motion on a recent hot and humid Friday morning in Fuquay. As manager of that location, Hall was making sure customers in line had their papers in order and keeping an eye on things inside.
People began standing outside before the office opened at 8:00 am. Although walk-in visits did not start officially until noon, many of those in line had tried making an appointment and had waited in line multiple times at other offices. They came prepared on this day. One had an umbrella to shade himself from the sun. Another brought a kendama, the traditional Japanese cup and ball toy, to keep himself entertained.
Near the 15-person line, Rep. Howard Penny (R-Harnett), Fuquay-Varina Mayor Blake Massengill, Town Manager Adam Mitchell, Holly Springs Mayor Sean Mayefskie, and I talked with Commissioner Goodwin and his team about why this scene has become common.
We saw the DMV employees doing great work and heard customers leave praising their efforts. They are doing their best within a broken system—a broken system that we are working to fix.
Fuquay-Varina’s influx of new residents from across the country and around the world mean transactions take longer, but long lines are endemic. Ronald Byrd was on his third try to renew his driver’s license. “I tried Sanford since I was down that way but didn’t get in,” he told us. “I went to Erwin, but I didn’t get in there either.”
DMV is trying to overcome its own past experience to solve its customer service problems. Officials told us they tried all-day appointments but moved to morning-only appointments in October 2023 to accommodate more walk-in visits. That left half as many appointments available, forcing more people to show up without an appointment. Commissioner Goodwin promised to try different approaches and measure the results.
Inspired by common practice at hair salons and restaurants, DMV launched an early check-in system called Q-Anywhere to help reduce the appearance of lines and let people wait in comfort. The DMV’s twist on this convenience is that a person must go to the office and scan a QR code to check in. Although people line up before the office opens and can wait outside for hours, DMV practice had been to not make Q-Anywhere available until noon. Wait times posted online, therefore, may not be accurate because they are tied to the Q-Anywhere code. Office managers have since been asked to make the signs available at the start of the day and official notice should be out by the time you read this.
Despite the best efforts of DMV officials to make these recent changes, patience is running out from southern Wake residents. The problem only seems to be getting worse. We also urged DMV officials to explore reworking the design of the office to allow more space for examiners, finding a larger facility for the office, and adding an additional site in the area. All would accommodate more customers in our fast-growing area.
We asked how DMV made decisions on staffing beyond one-day transfers to fill holes, but Commissioner Goodwin admitted that DMV has no system to receive data from around the state to determine where staff should go. They must have data-driven information to accurately allocate resources. If one of my constituents goes to another office in another county because the line is too long in Fuquay, DMV needs to know that.
They don’t. They should.
I am grateful that DMV leadership was willing to visit with us and to measure results of its customer service changes. We want this to be far less painful experience. The citizens of southern Wake County look forward to tracking DMV’s progress.
Rep. Erin Paré represents southern Wake County, including Fuquay-Varina and Holly Springs.
