Having trouble finding an appointment at the DC Department of Motor Vehicles? You’re not alone. District residents have lit up Twitter and neighborhood message boards in recent weeks to complain about the difficulty of booking online for an in-person appointment.
“I haven’t been able to schedule an appointment at the DC DMV to register my car for 3 months,” said one Twitter user on Wednesday. “I’m having an epic issue right now,” someone commented on a PoPVille article last week.
According to a DMV spokesperson, slots are limited because of Covid-19 restrictions, including social distancing requirements and the reduction of in-person staff. Further exacerbating the problem, people are making in-person appointments for services that could be done online instead, the spokesperson says.
If you do still have to go in, the DMV releases appointments most Tuesdays at 3 p.m., although many users have reported that the slots sometimes don’t appear until a little later. Cancellations also occasionally appear, so it’s a good idea to keep checking the website. The DMV is currently booking appointments through March 31.
To provide some relief, the DMV extended the validity for any documents that expire on or after March 1 until 45 days after the public health emergency ends, which is currently slated for March 17.
The spokesperson says the DMV is continuing to add online services, and their mobile app now allows drivers to pay tickets and renew their license and vehicle registration.
