NCDMV Driver License Office — Attraction in Cary

I'm not writing this review to say that the DMV is a place of soul-crushing boredom where ridiculous inefficiencies cause you to waste hours and hours of your day (sometimes multiple days) just waiting to be seen. It definitely is, but I think we all know and expect that of the DMV. It's a reason why everyone can relate to the joke in Zootopia where the DMV is staffed entirely by sloths.

No, I am writing this review to help you, the reader. Learn from my mistakes so you can suffer slightly less than I did as you attempt to successfully navigate this broken system.

If you ask them, you are told to make an appointment, but these seem to be nearly impossible to get, at least without scheduling it months in advance. Walk-ins are scheduled from noon to 5, but we saw people being turned away by around 1, told to try again another day. One DMV worker told me to come earlier than that so I'd be first in line, but it turns out it is not possible to line up before noon (one DMV worker scolded us for lining up outside and told us we had to leave). There is a QR code to get in line, but you cannot sign up before around noon.

Here is what I recommend:

First, verify that you are going to the correct DMV. NC has some offices for driver's licenses and ID cards and other offices for vehicle registrations and license plates. This location is for licenses and ID cards, NOT registrations.

Right at noon, start texting the number to get in line. This is what the QR code at the door tells you to do, but you do not actually need to be physically present to do it. Text "U66 Get in line" to 31289. Wait a few minutes until you get a response. If you are told that it is not active yet, then try again. Despite them saying it opens at noon, we got rejected until around 12:05. Do not keep spamming the number repeatedly without waiting for a response. We did this and were assigned many spots in line. I think many others were doing this, which was contributing to bogging down the system and taking up time that could be used to see other customers. Just text the number and wait for a response (either a rejection or a spot in line denoted with a letter and number) before trying again. Note that if you have multiple people, even spouses, you will each need your own spot in line.

Get to the DMV soon after you receive your code for your spot in line (if not slightly before). It will still likely be hours of waiting, but you might get lucky and be seen soon. Don't show up way before noon, as you'll have to wait outside until noon.

Pay attention when DMV employees come out and ask a question to the crowd. After a while of going through the codes (which move back and forth between various letters with no clear order), they at some point seemed to abandon this system and would just come out and ask a question like "is anyone a US citizen who is renewing their license?" They would then pick the first person to jump up and say yes to this, completely disregarding their spot in line.

Be nice to the DMV employees. While some of them are rude and unprofessional (such as the one who was on a long personal phone call while we waited in line to talk to her), others are clearly decent people trying their best to help others navigate a frustrating system that is not their fault. Regardless of whether you get a helpful or unhelpful staff member, they will have some ability to make your experience slightly smoother or much worse. Treat them with the respect and courtesy you'd want to be shown, and they might be able to improve...

We arrived at the Cary DMV at 6:25 am on a Tuesday in October and were the 9th and 10th in line. A few people in front of us had brought chairs, which was a good plan! FYI, this location DOES open at 7:00 am (when I tried using the DMV's automated system to call and verify the times it was open, the system said there were no locations within 50 miles of my Raleigh zip code and was unable to verify...so there's something wrong there). ANYway, Mr. Baker came outside around 6:45 am to give an introduction and to give some specifics about paperwork requirements and how the process worked. Right at 7:00, he admitted the first 10 people (out of the probably 30 people in line at that point) and lined us up to be called to the desk to talk through each of our needs and paperwork. The very first person he spoke to was sent away because she didn't have the right info...HIGHLY recommend quadruple checking that you're bringing the correct stuff! I saw probably 6 people get turned away in the hour I was in there. Mr. Baker unfortunately wasn't consistent with how he lined our group up, so he ended up letting at least 3 people who had been behind us in line be seen before us, which was frustrating. Once we got to the desk, he checked my paperwork and gave a number to be called, and I sat down. The numbers get called in a strange order, and a number of people who were behind us got called before us, but we surmised that different employees may be assigned to specific DMV requests– so since we were getting new Real ID driver licenses, there were maybe only a few agents who could assist us, while those with other requests (like renewals) might see different agents, and those simpler requests take less time, so people behind you in line may get seen faster. All that to say, we arrived at 6:25 am, entered the facility at 7:00 am, talked to Mr. Baker at 7:10 am, sat down at 7:12 am, my number was called at 7:35 am, and I was done at 7:48 am. My husband's number wasn't called until 7:46 am, so it was about 11 minutes between our 2 numbers being called, for reference! We were out of there by 8:00 am. They continued to admit 10 people at a time since the facility only seats 66 people. I'm guessing the people waiting outside when we left at 8:00 were probably going to be there until the early afternoon (since there were probably 30 people inside waiting). All of the agents we interacted with were very friendly and professional! I rated it 3 stars because NC should figure out how to staff more people at their DMVs so that you don't have to line up at an ungodly hour in order to not have your entire day eaten up by a simple REQUIRED procedure.

ADVICE: 1- Quadruple check that you bring the correct paperwork! 2- Get there as early as possible! Like at 6:00 am! 3- Bring a book (& chair, if that's your thing) 4- If you've got time, make an appointment (those people were seen ASAP, from what I could tell) 5- Be prepared for some frustrating things to inevitably happen 6-No food or drinks inside, so bring coffee/snacks to finish before...

My family moved to NC recently, and I needed to replace my expired driver license. I came to the Cary DMV at 6:30am. Around noon, it started to rain heavily, but the gate keeper did not allow people even to stay under the portico to stay dry. The gate keeper also let a person cut in line while others had been waiting for hours. After waiting for about 6 hours, I finally got to see a DMV staff for my case. This DMV worker had a disrespectful attitude from the very beginning, and when she reviewed my visa documents, she said in a very rude manner that my employment authorization document was missing. I was a full-time mom who held a dependent visa, which is not eligible for employment authorization, and I had always followed immigration laws and never tried to look for jobs. She asked her colleague for help, and as I attempted to explain my legal status to them, he interrupted me and said

“You are just trying to argue with me. Sit over there. You can argue with yourself if you want. Or I will kick you out of DMV.”

Over the past 15 years, we had lived in 3 different states. I’m used to DMV being slow, but this condescending attitude from the Cary DMV staff (or any human being) was a record breaker. They even refused to give me a chance to clarify. A few minutes later, the manager came and took over the case. He then asked for my husband’s documents. As I asked the manager if I could have my husband (who was nearby) bring his documents really quick while the DMV could process other customers’ cases in the meantime, the manager kept cutting me short, and his tone and expression became menacing and threatening:

“YOU ARE YELLING AT ME!!!” he yelled. Seeing him like this, a few DMV workers ran over here. Other customers also noticed something was going wrong after hearing him exploding. “IF YOU KEEP YELLING AT ME”, he continued with his abusive voice, “I WILL NEVER LET YOU BACK TO DMV!” He did not even let me explain, or even to speak. “Sit over there”, he commanded.

I could no longer hold myself. I cried. This was the first time I cried ever since I became a mom.

“I just want to get this done. I’ve been waiting here for six hours. I just want to do it the right way and do it legally”, I said, regardless of his threat. I didn’t understand why he thought customers deserve to be treated like this. I don’t want to comment on the system, but his attitude toward people is wrong. He should at least treat them as human beings.

As the situation escalated, the DMV staff realized where this was going toward and tried to make things up for me, which I appreciated. All I wanted was to get my driver license renewed. I hope the staff at Cary DMV will change their attitude toward customers and treat human beings with respect. I hope other taxpayers can get their business done quickly and won’t experience something...