DMV kiosks at local stores set to cut wait times, to expand

By Jennifer Emert

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    BUNCOMBE COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — You may soon be able to take care of your DMV needs at a local Buncombe County grocery store. Three initial kiosks in Raleigh, Charlotte and Fayetteville grocery stores have been very popular.

The kiosks allow customers to do the following tasks:

Renew driver licenses/state IDs and print Temporary Driver/Identification Certificate (You cannot renew at a kiosk if you renewed online your last time.) Order duplicate driver licenses, permits, and state IDs, change address, and print Temporary Driver/Identification Certificate (You must know your driver’s license/ID number to complete the transaction.) Register to vote (You must complete a driver’s license/ID transaction to perform this task.)

The DMV Express locations are part of an effort to shorten lines and wait times at offices across the state, and to provide services outside of typical office hours. The pilot locations listed below use self-service kiosks in Harris Teeter Grocery Stores at the following locations.

The Corners at Brier Creek 4221 Corners Parkway, Raleigh Riverbend Village 4701 Smith Farm Road, Charlotte Highland Centre 2800 Raeford Road, Fayetteville

The next seven self-service kiosks will be deployed and will launch next week, on or about June 15, 2024. By July 1, 2024, most kiosk locations will offer full services. Locations for the next seven kiosks are as follows:

3 more in Mecklenburg County 2 more in Wake County 1 more in Cumberland (Fort Liberty) 1 in Durham

The locations for the next nine are as follows and includes Buncombe County. Currently, there is no date for when they may be installed.

Buncombe Dare Durham Forsyth Guilford (2) New Hanover Pitt Watauga

The Department of Transportation Division of Motor Vehicles recently created a list of improvements it has made in the last two years in an effort to improve customer service. The entire list is below.

DMV Modernization and Improvements in Customer Services 2022-2024

2022 – Launched Q-Anywhere project at DLOs statewide; allows customers to check-in by scanning QR code with smartphone and then can wait anywhere else outside of the office or go run an errand before receiving a text message to return to the DLO for service, all while holding their place in line 2022 – Extended DLO hours at 25 locations so those offices open at 7AM 2022 – Launched new process for non-English speaking customers to request an interpreter to be present and assist with DLO transactions 2022 – Launched an online process for customers who are deaf or hard of hearing to request an American Sign Language interpreter at their DLO appointment 2022 – Operated Saturday morning express-service walk-in hours for customers at 16 locations statewide 2022 – For greater efficiency, DMV re-organized its senior executive leadership: Wayne Goodwin, Commissioner; Portia Manley, Chief Deputy Commissioner; Paula Windley, Deputy Commissioner (Vehicle and Business Services); Charlotte Boyd-Malette, Deputy Commissioner (Driver Services); Tim Hayworth, Deputy Commissioner (License & Theft Bureau, and other services) 2022 – DMV’s License & Theft Bureau launched easier, efficient online process for customer payment and processing of mechanic liens on unclaimed or abandoned vehicles 2022 – DMV online services now offer 22+ different services, MyNCDMV.gov 2023 – Expanded DLO early open office hours to 7AM at 45 locations statewide 2023 – Moved all preset appointments to AM hours, walk-in services mostly to 12 noon and later hours; a more efficient process and also designed to prevent customers from unnecessarily showing up in early AM hours and to minimize the negative impact of appointment no-shows 2023 – Resumed 16 Saturday locations for DLO walk-in services during Summer peak season 2023 — Adding more DMV online services. Recent additions include: o Renew State ID within one year of expiration o Upgrade Level 3 Full Provisional License to regular Class C License o Renew Permanent Disability Placard o Exchange Specialty License Plate for a Standard Plate 2023 – Launched online Walk-in Wait-Time Tool so customers could get estimated DLO wait times as close to real time as possible during weekday afternoons — SIMILAR TO RESTAURANTS, GREAT CLIPS HAIR SALONS, FOR EXAMPLE 2023 — DMV to Begin Emailing Customers About DMV Service Changes, notifications, new online tools, etc. – SIMILAR TO PRIVATE BUSINESSES 2023 – Partnered with NC Dept of Adult Corrections to automate updating IDs as certain offenders return to society post-incarceration 2023 – Confirmed DMV has filled over 250 Driver License Examiner vacancies statewide since January 2022, reducing the DMV vacancy rate from more than 33% to 11- 12%. As of the end of 2023, DMV had reached the lowest vacancy rate within NCDOT and among the lowest in state government. Please note that prior to January 2022, NCDMV had lost a large swath of its Driver License Examiners during and after the COVID pandemic and it remained that way until the intensified recruitment efforts of the agency and legislative approvals of higher compensation, hiring bonuses, and retention bonuses. Further, on information and belief, approximately one-half of the employees at DMV HQ either retired, transferred, or quit as a result of the State moving DMV HQ from Raleigh to Rocky Mount 2024 – Launched the first three (3) self-service NCDMV kiosks in Harris-Teeter grocery stores in Raleigh, Charlotte, Fayetteville. Driver Services were offered initially; Vehicle Services are projected to be offered starting the end of May 2024. Further, the next seven (7) DMV kiosks will be deployed in metro areas for June 2024 operation. Ultimately twenty (20) kiosks are planned for 2024 – LIKE BANKS, CREDIT UNIONS, STATE LOTTERY, ARCADES AND BOWLING ALLEYS, THEATERS, FOR EXAMPLE 2024 – Launched Email/Text Message Appointment Confirmation, Email/Text Message Appointment Reminders, an app that also helps greatly minimize appointment no-shows, eliminate bogus or multiple appointments, and opens up more morning appointment times for DMV customers statewide — SIMILAR TO DOCTOR OFFICES, RESTAURANTS, GREAT CLIPS HAIR SALONS, FOR EXAMPLE 2024 – Began deployment (starting May 28) of the most secure credential North Carolina has ever had and a credential that is among the most secure in the world; CBNSTI, DMV’s first new card vendor since 1996, has its manufacturing facility in Danville, Virginia, much closer than the California facility of the present company, Idemia. This transition is a result of the DMV Credential Issuance Replacement Project

Also in process: Automated Hearing Solution; converting hundreds of DMV forms to online, fillable pdf documents; transitioned away from fax machines to online FS-1 submissions from insurance agents; eCrash (submission of law enforcement crash reports online from municipalities, etc, instead of by paper); DMV Application Systems Modernization (wholistic upgrading and modernization of all DMV systems applications – SADLS, STARS, MILES, et al. — using the Arizona model)

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