The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles is experiencing very long lines, as you’ve probably read.
If you have to do anything at the DMV, here are some tips:
1. Expect a three-hour wait.
2. Check the DMV wait times on the DMV website
3. If you’re still unsure of what paperwork you need after checking the DMV website, check with your “friends” on social media. Chances are a friend, or a friend of a friend, just went through what you’re about to go through. Waiting to ask the DMV in person isn’t the best way to go because the workers are rushed and often speak in DMV language. They assume you speak bureaucrat.
4. Arrive earlier than I did. In the timeline below, you’ll see I got there at 11 a.m. About half the workers took lunch at 12, with others taking lunch about an hour later. This seemed to be a primary reason for the long wait, coupled with people hopelessly mired at some level of DMV bureaucracy, such as the poor woman who couldn’t produce her divorce decree — a conversation that actually caused the DMV security guard to weirdly shadow her as she pleaded her case.
5. If at all possible, do not bring your young kids. I know this is impossible for many people, but it’s worth leaving your young one with a friend or relative for a few hours. The DMV has become that miserable.
6. Make sure your cell phone is charged. I brought an iPad and listened to a Jay Mohr podcast while I waited.
My trek to the DMV to register a car is chronicled below:
[View the story “A Trip To Purgatory, aka Any DMV In Connecticut” on Storify]