Staffing shortages at NCDMV offices causing long lines, wait times

CHARLOTTE, N.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — If you find yourself waiting in long lines in the brutal summer heat just to renew your driver’s license or register your car, you are not alone.

“The whole day.  It is like going to work,” Juvelli said while parked outside of a DMV location in Charlotte.

From early alarms to taking the day off of work, and bringing their own personal seat – North Carolinians are spending hours in line at DMV locations across the state.

“I obviously knew that I am going to the DMV, so it is going to be quite some time, so I better be prepared,” Alaina Burgess said while pointing to her chair.

While hours of waiting in line has become somewhat of a norm for drivers across the state of North Carolina, many are questioning if it really has to be.

“It has been very difficult. Very difficult,” Burgess said.

North Carolina DMV commissioner Wayne Goodwin says the solution is simple: they have to hire more people. In the last 20 years, the state’s population has grown by an estimated 2.4 million people, yet the DMV’s resources haven’t grown much.

“It’s obvious. It’s simple math. We have more people to provide timely service, efficient service, and to shorten lines and wait times, we need to provide the staffing that is required,” Goodwin said.

But actually doing that is not as easy as it sounds. Because the DMV is a state agency, it needs approval by lawmakers in order to add positions.

Last year, the agency asked permission to hire dozens of additional licensed examiners for locations across the state. None ended up getting approved.

“We will continue to make our case that we cannot do what folks want unless we have more people,” Goodwin said.

Since then, the DMV has had to temporarily close two locations due to staffing shortages. The others continue to see lines grow longer and longer.

While Burgess waits in line in Charlotte, she’s trying to stay positive.  She is in line to get her driver’s license after not getting behind the wheel of a car in nearly a decade.  She is disabled and needs a specialized vehicle.

“I got an opportunity from my employer who has offered to put a down payment on a car, pay for me to be drive-trained and to pay for that car to be uplifted with hand control,” she said.

For someone who has waited years, a couple of hours in a line is nothing.

“The freedom of driving absolutely.  I am very excited and very excited to be on the road safely,” Burgess said. On top of asking for more positions, Goodwin says the agency also has about 70 vacancies. He says the vacancy rate is 12 percent.

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