Department of Motor Vehicles

If you remember you are dealing with bureaucrats and set your expectations low, you will be fine. I took the Unilocal!tip to go late and got there at 3:55 pm last Thursday. Was in and out by 4:45. I suspect it might have gone even faster had I gotten there later, but I was nervous about them shutting the line down. PS: Bring your own pen– they gave me the form I had to fill out without one.

Fast and efficient. That’s all I needed. You have to have realistic expectations of an office that sees all types. They are constantly taking bullets and trying to make it work. I got there at 4:15 with minimal line. 1^st gentleman directed me to the right place in a pleasant enough manner. Was in line about 3 minutes and the lady at the desk was loud and in charge. She kept order and moved everyone through quickly. Loved it!
When my number came up, the lady there was warm enough. She was also quick.
Everyone did their job well and I was in and out within the hour. THANKS FELL STREET TEAM!

Worst Dmv ever seen, they say they open until 5pm, but they stop everything on 4, you wait one hour on the line and they said come back tomorrow, they bad attitude, sucks. Everything sucks! Don’t go there

This DMV is awesome… They process a LOT of people and fill a lot of needs. I had no appointment, needed a replacement Drivers’ License. I was in and out in 30 minutes! The staff is polite, efficient, sometimes even funny.
There was a guy in front of me who offered the woman at the ‘triage’ desk flowers which she could not accept, but she definitely deserved them, as did the rest of the staff.
This is one government agency that works, where the staff works hard, and where the process is efficiently organized and managed for the customer. BRAVO

DMV offices keep very busy everyday. Many customers spend too much time with a
line in there. I usually make an appointment by phone for registering my vehicle for saving time. It is convenient and efficient. I just spent 20 minutes to get my sticker when my number was called! If you wait in a line with many people, you will waste two hours at least; If you forget make an appointment, you have to wait about 165 feet line, you can be serviced. The scene is very spectacular. Some good ideas for you, reading newspaper or doing your homeworks after you got your number. The number is only called two times so don’t sleep, otherwise you will lose your space.
I don’t like DMV offices service. Some staffs are not friendly and helpful. Their attitudes
are horrible and rude, no any patience. My question haven’t been solved yet, they called next
customer. I think many customers have similar experience. If you are serviced by good staff, you will surprise you are so luck today.

Okay, listen.. .
First of all, it’s a DMV office. I know there’s only one in San Francisco and I know it’s not terribly efficient, but it’s not all tragedy.
You’ll get there. First of all, you’re in the panhandle, which is a beautiful place to be, and imagine the folks in Oklahoma or Florida, they’d walk a hundred miles for a park.
So you get there and there’s going to be a line. It’s about 30 people in line, at least to the front door. That takes somewhere around 45 minutes. There will be bougie people bypassing the line because they have appointments, but don’t worry about them, they’re a different breed.
After the outside line, once in the door, there is another snaking line which accommodates around 15 people. Then, you’ll get your directions, and wait for the appropriate teller to handle your situation. Some people have to prove their residency or transfer a title or some such thing. For everyday stuff, though, I’d say the whole thing takes about at or under two hours.
Here’s a suggestion: Don’t get upset. You know you’re at the DMV. Things don’t work the way you might expect them to work. It’s inefficient. It’s going to take a while and then you’re going to be told you don’t have the right forms and you’ll have to start all over again. It happens to all of us, and it’s really nobody’s fault. The DMV is only as difficult as you make it. It’s shitty, we get it. But try to be optimistic. Try to take things in stride.

Made an appointment to register my vehicle and my number was called immediately and I was in and out in ten minutes. Friendly staff and no lines. Quick, efficient, friendly.
Always. always make an appointment online or by phone.

Maybe this was a fluke, but I got here shortly before 8am (7:40) with no appointment, waiting in a line out the door to renew my DL, but got everything done really quick. It’s 8:30 and I’ve had my vision test, photo, and paperwork processed. I’m taken aback by how quick it was.
All of the employees were pleasant. The security guy was a little brusque, but day after day of herding people who can’t seem to listen to simple directions, I understand why. Gotta keep things moving.
Use common sense. Follow directions. COME PREPARED. Do research. Know why you’re coming here. Do your part to help keep things moving. And most importantly, treat the employees with respect and they’ll reciprocate the attitude.

Worst service and horrible attitudes. Avoid like a disease. Asked me for a paper before from insurance company. Brought it in, said it didn’t work either. At Daly City dmv now.
Paper works as it was. Don’t go here, the San Francisco dmv is by far the one with the worst staff ever.

Although it’s to no one’s surprise, I think DMV is cheating on their metrics. On their website it says 00:38 wait for non-​appointment, but in reality that’s 38 minutes AFTER you get your ticket number, and the ticket number station is staffed with just one person (probably intentionally) to be the bottleneck, to delay the start of the performance clock.
Basically as long as the entire office can keep up with the one lady handing out the numbers, their efficiency metric would stay constant.
The line for the number station is always out of the door. Now I’m ready to spend the rest of my day here. I hate DMVs.
— Update —
The actual time I spent at DMV that day was 2 hrs 16 mins.

Update: After my bad experience, I sent a variation of this review as a letter to as many DMV-​related agencies as I could find. Someone at the California State Transportation Agency actually did get back to me (with a name and phone number!) and she graciously took the time to discuss these problems and my suggestions. She said that the DMV is working on improving a few of these problems, but not to the extent of my suggestions — and these improvements will take a while (government bureaucracy time frame). She also said that she would send my suggestions to those who manage the DMV as a statewide organization.
One big problem that I pointed out was the difficulty of figuring out how to submit feedback to someone who will actually read it and take it seriously. The DMV web site, even with its recent redesign, completely obscures how to submit feedback. My recommendation to other frustrated DMV patrons is to send your experience and feedback directly to the California State Transportation Agency; this was the only government organization that got back to me.
The San Francisco DMV office still gets a 1-​star review from me, until I see significant improvements — but I very much appreciated hearing back from the California State Transportation Agency.

There is a old Chinese woman with a pair of glasses at Window 19. She has really bad attitude, no any patience. I only asked one question, and she was like: don’t ask me, I don’t know. Really really rude. Also, it’s really hard to understand her Cantonese English. When she can not explain a thing with English she starts to speak her Cantonese, and I have no idea what she was talking about. She should know that Not every Asian guy can speak Cantonese!!!
I hate DMV! I need 6 more month to get my drive license just because they made a mistake on my documents, and THEY DENY they has the mistake!!! I can’t believe It is a DMV of the US!!!

Going to this DMV wasn’t exactly the most fun experience, but what do you expect? It’s the DMV! Everyone hates the DMV.
As far as DMVs go, this one was pretty good. I got there and there was a line out the door and around the corner, but I still managed to get in and out in about an hour and a half.
The staff is pretty surly and difficult until you’ve gotten inside, then the people who actually assist you with your problem, in my case I needed to replace a lost driver’s license, were very courteous, efficient, and professional.
The worst staff member to deal with is the lady who runs intake. I had to fill out that form they make you fill out four separate times because she interpreted my crappy handwriting as a «mistake». That was sort of a bummer. I also watched her make a woman sit in a chair and wait to register for her 10:30 appointment because she arrived at 10:29. She was very rude to the early customer and even the other DMV employees were visibly annoyed. This was sort of comical from my perspective but not reflective of excellent customer service.
Facility was better kept up than Hollywood DMV but left a lot to be desired. Our government has a talent for making their facilities drab in such a specifically depressing way.
I don’t recommend using their appointment system unless you are the type of person who can plan errands a month or more in advance. Most issues you need to deal with at the DMV come up pretty quickly anyway. If I’d made an appointment I would have had to wait until mid January to get my license replaced. There are so many things you can’t do without an ID! Didn’t realize this until I lost it. I’ll take the line, thanks. I’d personally just recommend figuring out a way to carve 2 or 3 hours out of your day and brave the wait, it really isn’t that bad here.

Make an appointment. That’s all.
Or actually, I got there at 7.15am on a Monday after a long Holiday weekend and was out by 8.20am — without appointment. Clerk was friendly and helpful. Not bad for a DMV.

Appointment at 9am. Get in appointment line at 9am and wait for 30 minutes. Get numbered ticket and wait to be called. Wait 30 minutes. Go to counter and take vision test. Pass! Wait in photo line for 10 minutes. Take excellent photo. Get in written test line. Wait 5 minutes. Crush test in 20 minutes and leave.
Making an appointment is a good idea but it’s still painfully slow for such a simple process. You have been warned.

Note to self: always have an appointment when visiting the DMV! You’ll be able to go to the front of the line.
1. Arrived at 7:56am and there was a line wrapped around the building! People with appointments walked smooth to the front!
2. All in all it took about 45 minutes to get my non appointment ticket number. My 45 minutes consisted of me waiting in line, completing paperwork, receiving wrong info from DMV staff and having to complete more paperwork.
3. By the time I got my ticket there were only 20 people ahead of me. Not bad.
Notes:
— apparently completing forms online doesn’t help when trying to change your address on your registration and license.
–make it a point to communicate with a DMV employee to get clarity on what you need paperwork wise and form wise before you complete any paperwork.
–bring a book and have your phone charged, you’ll need it.

Worst place ever. Like worst place in SF, the planet, the universe. Why, why, why should it take almost SIX MONTHS to get a frekkin drivers license. I went to the DMV on March 11, 2015. My roommate got his license two weeks later. Me? Today… mark your calendar Monday, August 31, 2015… today, I FINALLY got my license in the mail.
I had to call and email several times and tell them that I didn’t receive my license in the mail. Every time I called they said ‘just a few more weeks’ or ‘maybe you should tell the post office delivery person to stop stealing’. Very nice, so helpful… real, quality suggestions.
The DMV Issuance department in the Customer Communications Section Communication Programs Division is just a office of really, really incompetent people. I told them I had to fly somewhere and didn’t have a license and they were so rude. You can call them yourself at (916) 657‑7790 or (916) 657‑8545 (or email these baffoons
) and see for yourself.
For the record, I called five times and they said every time that they re-​mailed out my license. Only now that I have moved to LA did I get my mother effing license in the mail (and this is after they lied to me and said they don’t forward licenses to any address except the mailing address on the license).
DMV — your dumb license issuance system is so secure that it doesn’t even work.
Piece of advice… if it’s been more than 3 weeks since you went to the DMV and you haven’t received your license in the mail you’ll probably have to move out of SF so you can get your license forwarded in the mail to you. Stupid, stupid, stupid people.

Hell officially froze over. How else do you explain an experience I had at the dreaded DMV that lasted all of ten minutes with the outcome I desired? I certainly can’t. Surely it was the work of Satan and I will likely pay for this moment of happiness with a fender bender in the future. Like you, I prefer to deal with the DMV online any possible way I can, but this time, I had to go because I was waiting for them to reissue a registration sticker that I had requested three months prior. Since it became clear to met that it was never coming after getting an automated response from them on the topic, I made an appointment online. I had to wait two more weeks to come in, but it turned out to be worth it.
When I entered, I got a rush of despair over the number of people on the faded plastic chairs waiting to be called. I went into the appointment line to have my application reviewed at which point I was given a number. To my surprise, my number showed up on the TV monitor no more than five minutes later. The number indicates which window you go to, so I scampered over to find her ready to process my application, validate that I already made payment and send me to another window to get my registration sticker produced on the spot. That was it. Ten minutes. I did make one mistake by using the restroom there. Scary hygiene issues in there. But overall, what a relief to have the process work for a change. Make sure to bring your parka when you cross the gates of hell.

The DMV is not a pleasant experience, we all know this! But for the appointment process, I must say it was a pleasant experience. it was amazing to see people lined up for appointments at five minute intervals, and it all worked with ease. After calling my appointment time, it was only a matter of minutes before I had a paper to fill out. after receiving a ticket, another 5 minutes and I was being helped at the counter.
The whole experience took about 20 minutes, and it was pain free. The security guard was a funny guy, took his job serious calling out the appointment times. If I ever need another DMV appointment, I’ll be sure to go to the Fell Street location.

Seriously, make an appointment and save yourself two hours. From what I hear the appointments are booked months in advance so you’re lucky if you get one.
The line is out of control long and it’s super boring. Bring a book, and iPod, the newspaper, a couple friends to chat with, and anything else that I keep you occupied for two hours plus. I’ve been to DMV’s before but this one takes forever. The whole city must come here!
Overall staff is nice enough for what they have to deal with (SF People) all day long.
There is a bike rack out front if you ride your bike, and there are a few restaurants nearby where you could probably go eat a full meal come back and wait some more. Haha, but don’t go too far for too long because if you lose your space no one’s gonna let you back in.
Have a nice time at the DMV and meditate your way through this one. Good Luck