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DMV

yes, AAA is the way to go. I was lucky enough to buy my bike from a guy that had AAA membership.
I went to the local DMV in San Jose and had to wait in line for about an hour just be told that I couldn't be given the forms I wanted at the moment for some stupid reason.
I then went to the AAA in mountain view. 15 minutes, and I walked out with signed title, bike reinstated, registered, and done.
 
Having an appointment doesn't save more than 5-10 minutes. You get assigned your queue number faster than waiting in the regular line to get a number. But you end up in the same queue as everyone else.
theAmazingKickstand said:
My theory on the awesomeness of Goleta DMV is that most of the people who "live" near it are actually residents of somewhere else. I think that only 20 legal residents of Goleta have a drivers license and have a reason to go to the DMV.
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I used to live in Santa Barbara and would drive the extra 10-minutes to go to the Goleta DMV instead of the Santa Barbara one. Lines were much shorter. My last experience there 2-months ago wasn't too good as I went there TWICE to try and register a CBR I just bought. The 1st time, they said I needed blah-blah form from previous owner. I got that via snail-mail, went back and got further in the system, then it spat out I needed TWO OTHER forms. I guess it's one of those mazes where they can't tell you all the steps along the way, just what the next one is.

Then I moved up here and went to San Jose DMV with yet more paperwork from the previous and previous-previous owner. The line was horrible, just to get a number would've taken 30-minutes and probably another 45-60 minute wait. There were people on the sidewalk and parking lot! So I went to Santa Teresa office, same story.

Then I hit pay-dirt at the Los Gatos office! The line to get a number was short, maybe 4-5 people and the guy was cranking out the stubs like crazy. They also have 22+ stations to move people through and they were calling numbers every 15-seconds! I was probably 30-40 down the queue and only had to wait about 10-minutes.

There was of course another snafu with the paperwork! The girl behind the counter bent over backwards to get my bike registered! I swear she was a gymnast that could put her head between her knees backwards. She asked me if I had any other paperwork and I said, "no". So she went through the maze, filled out forms, printed out paperwork, copied those to yet more forms. She must have filled out at least 9 forms from various printouts the computer spat out and hand-written them into the next stage. After 35-minutes of this madness, I moved over to the next line and got my plates!

I was amazed, the whole process at Los Gatos took less time than the other 3 visits and more got done! I filled out one of those feedback cards and gave the girl highest scores! I suspect it has a lot to do with the filthy-rich folks who live in Los Gatos and Saratoga. They can make quite a stink if they don't get their way and they have the political connections. The DMV staff probably have instructions to do everything possible to make them happy.
 
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San mateo DMV has always been good to me. Been there a bunch in the last few years and never waited more than a hour
 
DannoXYZ said:
Having an appointment doesn't save more than 5-10 minutes. You get assigned your queue number faster than waiting in the regular line to get a number. But you end up in the same queue as everyone else.
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I went into the Corte Madera DMV with an appointment the other day and they put me in different line. I was in and out in 15 minutes and the people without appointments where waiting 2+ hours. Even had a separate line for the check in.
 
theAmazingKickstand said:
There's a DMV in Santa Barbara? Where is it?

You moved from SB to SJ!?!?!?!?:|:|:(
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Yeah, it's on the corner of Haley & Castillo right across the street from the S.B. Athletic Club (right at the Castillo on-ramp to 101N). After USCB and 10-years in S.B., it was time to go. Getting kinda boring with all the old people around and everything closing at 9pm. Just in San Jose as a temp. transition, looking for jobs, housing, etc.
 
side note: i thought i saw something in the AAA magazine not too long ago about them starting to charge a small fee ($5 or so?) for use of the DMV services...:|
 
Use to go to AAA for DMV matters but now that I work across the street from a DMV office, as long as I get in the door before 5:00, they're going to wait on me. It's kinda cool since they want to get the hell out of there so just about every window opens up and the wait is always short. Not sure if that works for inspections though.
 
Make an apointment. i was skeptical but last three DMV visits wiht appts have been great in and out no muss no fuss.
 
codger said:
Make an apointment. i was skeptical but last three DMV visits wiht appts have been great in and out no muss no fuss.
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Spell check doesn't like your message. :nerd


Whenever I've had the option of making an appointment, the choice is between 20 minutes to an hour today or wait two weeks to get through in 20 minutes or less.

When I've just purchased a vehicle I don't want to wait two weeks to register it, I want it registered now. When I've ordered a new personalized license plate, I want to put it on my car or bike as soon as possible, not wait two more weeks for it.

Maybe you can get appointments sooner at other DMV locations, but every time I've tried to make on at the Pleasanton DMV, the soonest one available was in two weeks.
 
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