NCDMV Driver License Office — Attraction in Raleigh

After reading tons of reviews of locations near RTP, talking to friends, and going to this DMV three times (in one week) and Garner once, here's what I think is helpful to know:

1-All locations in area are super busy no matter what time you go due to Real ID. The few random people who wrote reviews and got in and out so quickly are a rare thing. It's possible this can happen to you - but not probable.

2-Even if you get there a half hour before they open, there will already be a few dozen people in line.

3-If you read reviews of several offices, you'll find this one to be the only one that has so many comments about employees being super friendly. This is very accurate. With the exception of 1 man who was very rude, everyone else was extrememly nice with a smile on their face.

4-Give yourself at least 4 hours of time when you attempt to go and make sure it does not include lunchtime. They came right out and announced that at noon half the staff takes their lunch hour, then, the other, so you should expect that things will move at half the pace.

5-They close at 5 and have requirements of when your number must be called in order for you to still be served that day (4, 4:15 or 4:30 depending on what you are there for). If they tell you once you sit down with a room of people with numbers expect at least hour and forty five minute wait, this is accurate. Don't bother staying - I learned the hard way.

6-If they run out of seats, they will not give out anymore numbers to those in line until someone gets called back and a seat opens up. This is very disheartening if you are in line, it moves even slower then.

7-Do not hold a door open, or block a door or you will be spoken to. Do not opt to stand and wait once you have your number or you will be spoken to - they require you to sit.

8-Driving to this DMV is worth it - several reviews pointed out that this location has the most stations/staff working and things move faster than others with only a few. This is correct from my experience - the lines are long but it's high volume and things move fast. They have 14 stations at this one with all being worked when I was there. The outside wait area when the line is long, is also covered so if it's raining, no one gets wet.

9-We got there at 7:30 which is 30 minutes after they opened. At least 100 people in front of us. Did not get to the desk to get a number until 9:00. We were there for Learner's Permit. Did not have number called until 10:50 and every seat was full. We were out by 11 so total visit took 3.5 hours. This was a pleasant surprise, when I first arrived I figured I'd be there at least 6 hours based on how many people there.

10-People with A numbers will be constantly called immediately after they check in. They have Appointments - They still have to wait in long line to get a number but surely saves 2 hours if you do get an appointment. They came right out and announced this so that people understood why others were being called before them. There is some type of system to the other letters but could not figure the other out except we had a K and that must mean Learner's Permit.

11-Don't go hungry or thirsty - they don't allow any food or drink in there and they are constantly monitoring the crowd to check for empty seats. I had a few snacks in my bag but was afraid if I got caught eating them they'd kick us out.

12-Plenty of parking at this location. Reveiws of others complained about not enough parking.

13-If you are thinking of going near a holiday, when you google NCDMV holiday hours be careful and be sure what comes up is actually NC and not another state with a C in it. We made this mistake and showed up 7AM on Christmas Eve and it was closed.

14-If you google the DMV locations and the chart with the hours/busy times comes up, don't believe it, it's not accurate. Even the live count....if Not that busy is 100 people in line then scary to think what Very busy is.

15-Good luck and am I glad I'm back at home and this experience is over and I don't have to go back...

Surprisingly, the circumstances surrounding the REAL ID renewal process are not as daunting as I initially imagined. It appears that the entire procedure can be completed in a mere five minutes, encompassing a quick photo capture of the ID card, an eyesight examination, and a few straightforward questions. However, there has been a notable change in the validity period; it has been reduced from ten years to eight. This modification raises intriguing questions — could it possibly be linked to the age of the individual? For instance, my mother, who is now 80 years old, finds herself with a rather limited validity span of just five years.

Interestingly, many individuals have taken to Google to express their frustrations regarding this process, but I suspect that their complaints stem from a lack of effort in securing an appointment. It seems that they were unwilling to brave the early morning chill or endure hours waiting at the DMV, only to sometimes leave empty-handed. In fact, a programmer on Reddit shared his own struggles with this very issue and even developed a program to assist others in navigating the appointment maze. If you're interested, you can easily find his article and app on Reddit — it's quite enlightening!

One of the key insights he provided was the ability to effortlessly monitor NC DMV appointments by simply refreshing the webpage every minute until you manage to snag an opening that someone else has missed. I put this strategy into practice and, lo and behold, I successfully booked an appointment one morning at 8 o'clock. What’s even more convenient is that the NC DMV allows one mobile number to secure two appointments. Seizing this opportunity, I utilized my wife’s phone to book two additional slots, and I even leveraged my mother's mobile number for two more.

In hindsight, I believe the most practical solution would be to activate a TELLO mobile phone. The cost is surprisingly low — around $6 for an additional phone number that can serve as a backup. On one particularly fortuitous night, around 2 o'clock in the morning, I discovered that the NC DMV had released appointments for three months ahead, with openings available across nearly all time slots. Such moments of serendipity highlight how essential it is to stay vigilant and proactive in tackling bureaucratic processes.

Navigating the labyrinth of DMV appointments may not be as insurmountable as it seems at first glance; it merely requires a blend of persistence, strategic planning, and perhaps a sprinkle of luck!

Reddit keywords: Easily monitor for NC DMV...

This place used to so much better a few years ago. There was a queue token number system and not much waiting to do, just the "normal DMV wait time" that everyone is unfortunately accustomed to and expects on a visit to a DMV. Its so much worse now. Waited for 5+ hours outside this office to get a simple state ID. Then there is an additional wait inside to get the actual work done. In the meantime one needs to pray and hope that all the required papers are sufficient and not be told there is a missing document after all that wait! This office is severely undermanned apparently with only 3 people and one of them was a trainee! The ladies from this office were courteous enough to the people waiting outside and made a visit every one hour or so to assure the folks waiting not to give up on hope.

You cannot help but wonder if your tax money is being put to good use. No one ever in a local election campaign says that they will improve basic government services such as the DMV.

If you want to test and exercise your patience and maybe the effectiveness of your meditation classes, then this is the place to be.

People who had license renewals to be done were given preference over others because they were apparently training the trainee with only that activity. People who had other things processed, even if they had waited for longer, had to continue waiting. They should have at least switched up the preferred training activity between license renewals, state ID, learners permits etc., so that it was fair to everyone who had waited for so long.

This place needs an overall process overdo. Have a simple check-in counter, validate that all papers look good or not, provide a token ticket number if it looks good and an approximate time to come in again for the work to be done. Not saying that it is the ultimate solution but it is at least a stop gap solution.

Seems like common sense does not prevail in these offices nor the governing bodies that run these places. Incompetent people are allowed to make decisions and these people are elected by the voters. Most of the employees do their best, given the short staff provided to them and the mandates pushed onto them by their superiors and governing bodies. Had to drop off from the outside queue after a 5 hour wait since I had another appointment and had to get back to work. The line did not move an inch for 3 hours. Time and effort wasted. Avoid this place until they are at least fully staffed and back to functioning as a "normal DMV office", which is a pathetic improvement...