Opinions

How to avoid wasting time at the DMV: Don't shred your own car title

I had the clever idea of going to the Division of Motor Vehicles and doing a column about it, thinking I could be snarky about sitting in the waiting room while writing on my laptop, but my number got called before I even finished filling out the forms.

So I'm not really getting away with much personal business on work time but I did come up with a surprising story: The DMV is working better than you might expect. And I picked up some tips on how to make your next transaction relatively easy.

I hate lines and I have always hated the DMV. I once planned an entire vacation while sitting in line. Last summer, I waited 40 minutes, which division director Amy Erickson said can still happen at busy times.

My purpose was to get a replacement title for a car. I won't go into who lost the title. Let's just say I wasn't happy with the situation, especially since it wasn't my car anymore.

The waiting room was full. People get friendly in this kind of situation, as if we're all dealing with a natural disaster. Waits at the DMV are a part of life. Why not chat with your seat-mates? You'll probably meet people you never expected to meet.

Anchorage is extremely diverse, but within the city, communities stick mostly to themselves. The DMV is where we all sit together. Everyone has to go there.

Having your number called feels like winning a door prize. You're in a good mood heading to the window and saying farewell to the new friends left behind, still sitting in the lines of plastic chairs. Give an encouraging smile.

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But one day last summer, when I finally got to the counter, the clerk asked me for a "release of lien" on the car. I didn't know what that was. I remembered getting a letter from the bank congratulating me on paying off the loan, but I hadn't realized it was important.

I guess I saved the letter, however, the way I might save a certificate for perfect attendance at school, because it miraculously turned up in my bag, saving me a trip home and another wait of 40 minutes.

Note to the bank: Why not send the release of lien directly to the DMV?

With the new title in hand, I got home and put it carefully in a file of car-related papers. And there I saw the lost title! I freaked out. Not only had I been a tiny bit resentful with the person who I thought had lost the title, but I had just signed an affidavit saying the title was gone.

I dropped the old title in the shredder.

Then I put my glasses on. I haven't been wearing them for long and I forget sometimes that everything is kind of fuzzy without them.

With my glasses on, I realized that I had just shredded the title to my own car.

So I would have to go back to the DMV. And spending a lot more time. But since last summer, the DMV has made some improvements. The website is much better, with a lot of information and the ability to do many transactions online.

"We're inching toward a really spiffy website," Erickson said. "It's difficult, because there's a lot of convoluted stuff that happens at DMV."

Erickson has been the director for three years after 12 years working for Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Governors want the DMV to work well, like snow removal, on the theory that bad service will reflect on them. Gov. Bill Walker has shielded the DMV from significant budget cuts despite the state's fiscal crisis.

The DMV collects $75 million a year in fees and taxes and costs the state $16.9 million to run. On Tuesday, the State House Finance subcommittee that writes the DMV's budget called for a cut of $735,000, or about 5 percent.

Erickson said her goal is to keep wait times under 20 minutes.

Many transactions are complicated and take a long time. To speed up the line, the DMV's cue system asks users what they need to do and moves brief transactions like vehicle registration ahead to certain clerks to get them out more quickly.

Getting more done online helps cut lines. You get $10 off for renewing a vehicle registration online. You can also save time by timing your visit. Erickson said waits are longest during the lunch hour and shortest at the beginning of the day. Summer and Christmas break are the worst times of the year.

Before you go, log on to the DMV site and check the current wait times and the webcams of the waiting areas in various DMV offices around the state. It's also wise to carefully read through everything you need and pre-fill required forms at home.

You can also sign up on the website to get email or text reminders of when your registration or license is nearing expiration. The DMV is still required by law to send out registration reminders in the mail, but those might not reach you if you move.

A helpful person sits at the front of the office on Benson Boulevard to answer questions and tell you what forms to use before you take a number. When I visited Wednesday, I marveled at the knowledge this young woman must possess to answer all these technical questions, until she gave me the wrong advice. No problem; I just did one extra form.

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Employees in the back of the building who normally do other work had been drafted into helping customers when I came in. I was called back there with my title problem, where I stood among the cubicles in an area obviously not designed for it. The clerk was fast and polite and sent me to the front of the line to get my driver's license renewed (and I didn't tell anyone I was from Alaska Dispatch News).

My entire DMV experience took 20 minutes.

I am wearing my glasses now and I will not be shredding my new vehicle title, so I may not be back to the DMV for years.

Charles Wohlforth's column appears three times weekly.

The views expressed here are the writer's and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com or click here to submit via any Web browser.

Charles Wohlforth

Charles Wohlforth was an Anchorage Daily News reporter from 1988 to 1992 and wrote a regular opinion column from 2015 until 2019. He served two terms on the Anchorage Assembly. He is the author of a dozen books about Alaska, science, history and the environment. More at wohlforth.com.

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