California Department of Motor Vehicles [CA DMV]
Reviews and Complaints

Today June 30, 2017 I went for the third time to try and pass my behind the wheel test. I admit I was very hesitant the first time I had passed the written test and let time pass by so I had to re-do the whole process. however on the first try the driving instructor I got was a lady in her middle age. while taking the test she yelled at me very bad and made me get even more nervous it was the most horrible experience ever. today though I went in and asked If I could refuse to take my test with the driving instructor if I did not want them. The gentle men at the front said it was ok and for me to wait in line to take my test. I did as he said. However when I was waiting I saw that lady approach me she asked for me to hand over my paper work and I neglected she said for me to give it to her I kept on refusing till I did. she said I could not discuss with her the matter nor argue with her and could not choose who to take the test with. I explained to her that I did not want to take it with her because of the incident that had happened the first time and she said I would have to reschedule again. on top of that she took my paper away and wrote MF which stand for mechanical failure, she put those initials lying my car had an issue. the whole time she spoke to me she gave me attitude acted really mean and was extremely rude. Afterwards I went back in to speak to the manager with my mom's friend who was accompanying me but, the manager had already heard about the issue since the lady had told all the staff I saw her telling them and giving me a dirty look. the manager was rude as well she said I could still take it but she did not want for me to make up an excuse it was there fault if I did not pass it. the location of this DMV is the Santa Teresa dmv. the lady I am speaking about seems to be white and Chicana mostly white with blonde hair in her middle age. I really hope someone looks into my complain.I do not understand why the system of the dmv is such trash

June 22, 2017
Banning, Ca DMV
1034 West Ramsey St. #B Banning CA 92220

As I was waiting to see a representative I noticed a gentleman and the lady he was with totally degrade the rep with racial slurs and threats when she was only trying to assist them. She really looked afraid as she walked away to get the manager. I noticed the gentleman whisked to the side and somehow his paper work was completed. On his way out he was laughing. When I was called up I asked one of the ladies why don't they have security. She also mentioned that customers slander them and make threats daily and they are not documented. From the outside looking in this appears to be an unsafe workplace. These ladies are sitting ducks. They shouldn't be afraid for their safety at work. They should have security.Also by wrongly completing that despicable customers paperwork what message are they sending to the customers watching? If you make a seen u will be pulled to the side and your issue will be solved be it right or wrong. I think your employees should have some security measures in place to diffuse situations before they get to the point where a confrontation is inevitable. I really feel for these ladies because if they feel threatened and confront a customer they stand a chance of being terminated. CA DMV, put yourself in their shoes, your employees deserve better

A few months ago I decided that I wanted to get the "Protect Lake Tahoe" license plates for my car. I went online and ordered them, paid the $50 and a message came up that they would be mailed to my home address. I did not get an email confirmation for it.

I do not currently live at home because I am a college student, so my dad sent me a picture of the plates when they came in. I was not sent the Tahoe plates but rather the black with yellow letter "legacy" plate. I called the customer service number to try and get it figured out, but I was told that because I ordered it online there was absolutely no way for them to track my order AND that because those were now the plates assigned to my vehicle I needed to put them on my car and that I could not drive around with my car's original plates. I asked if they could just cancel those ones and reinstate the previous plates and they said no.

The person on the phone also told me that the plates take several months to come in once they are ordered, and that it would have asked me to select a DMV for the plates to be mailed to where I would pick them up.

So, I drove over the border to the closest CA DMV near me (Truckee) and they also told me that there was no way for them to look up the order. They then gave me Tahoe plates that they had there at the DMV and I paid another $50. They also gave me a refund request form and told me to fill that out and mail it in along with the black and yellow plates I didn't want.

A few weeks later I received a letter in the mail stating that the DMV only provides refunds in the case that fees paid were collected in error, not legally due or in excess of the amount owed, and that my request did not qualify.

The DMV really needs to update their system, first of all. It is absolutely ridiculous that they are unable to track orders anywhere and also do not email confirmations when things are ordered online. I also would not have paid again for the plates if the Truckee DMV had not told me that I would be refunded for the first ones that I purchased.

Why does the dmv charge you a two dollar fee for a online printout when they don't print anything out for you? the DMV states the record provided online is not considered an official document is the reason they need to charge you this fee. If is not an "OFFICIAL DOCUMENT" then there should be no fee. Charging for printouts when you are required to use your own printer is wrong. It is bad enough DMV field offices charge you five dollars to print one piece of paper

there is dmv id [protected] address 6393 brodway ny 10471 mailing address 390 9 ave manttan ny 10001 . there is change address
forward to 129 fultion street manttan ny 10038. date 2/25/2015 be at 129 fultion street manttan ny 10038 there been incdent were american passport was send by mail for socail secuity card never return back keep passport that was reported to us abassy canell
passported. date 11/4/2013 stolen ss card by criminal enter post office asking for legal ducuments . my dmv there change address
inside post office there womens enter 390 9 ave manttan ny 10001.we dont want problem with juna this member part onther gang
they are state

I have repeatedly receive a violation for CVC 5200: DISPLAY OF PLATES. I have my front license plate fixed to the dashboard of my vehicle due to the fact that when I purchased the vehicle there was no front license plate mount. I did some investigation and discovered that CVC5200 states:

"(a) When two license plates are issued by the department for use upon a vehicle, they shall be attached to the vehicle for which they were issued, one in the front and the other in the rear."

This was still a bit vague so upon further research I found CVC 5201a: POSITIONING OF PLATES and found this "The rear license plate shall be mounted not less than 12 inches nor more than 60 inches from the ground..." I drive a coupe and it is an impossibility that my dashboard is at a height higher than 5'-0". No where in the California DMV Handbook does it state anything about having your front plate mounted to the "front bumper".

I am unsure that this will get read or anything but I felt that this is a step to create awareness to the drivers out there as well as the officers/officials writing these tickets. Knowledge is power.

On April 29, 2013, I noticed a strange charge in my checking account for $707.20 (incidentally, every penny I had to my name at that time). I thought I had been hacked, so I immediately called my bank to report the fradulent charges. I was told by the CSR that it was a Legal Order Processing, and that the LOP department had closed 5 minutes prior so I would not be able to get additional information about the charge until the next day. I called back a few minutes later and got another rep at the bank who somehow managed to find a phone number on the LOP. I called the number to find out it was for the Franchise Tax Board acting on behalf of the CA DMV. That office was also closed at that time. I called back the next morning to my bank to obtain more information from the LOP department, but they were unable to tell me anything more than the rep the day before had.

So I called the phone number for the Franchise Tax Board and I was told that a vehicle I purchased in 2006 and had registered in CA at that time had delinquent registration fees (it was registered in 2006, 2007, and 2008 in CA). Reminder: it is now April 2013. I asked how that could be possible as I no longer owned the vehicle. I had traded it in for my pickup truck in Kansas in July 2010 (where it was legally registered in July 2009--we're a military family and we moved around a lot during that time). The CSR for the Tax Board was very rude and stated that the delinquent fees began in July 2009, which is when we left CA for KS on orders to Ft. Leavenworth. I informed the rep that I had registered it in KS as soon as we got there because my CA registration was expiring at the end of July 2009 anyway. I surrendered my plates at the KS DMV and I assumed I was done at that time.

Apparently, the CA DMV requires some form to be sent to them informing them that the vehicle is no longer in the state and is registered elsewhere (I found out this information after calling the CA DMV directly). I informed the rep at the DMV that I never received any notice that I owed money. The representative told me that the address they had on file was an address I lived at in 2007. I told her that I hadn't lived there for many years and that I had all my mail forwarded to my parents' address in CA. The rep stated that mail from the DMV is unable to be forwarded by the post office (news to me), because it can contain sensitive documents such as registration and drivers licenses. They had been sending notices to an address I hadn't lived at in 6 years and apparently that is a better idea than attempting to forward mail to my correct address...I asked her how I was supposed to know I owed any money if I never received anything in the mail for almost 4 years. She had no answer to that question.

I called the FTB and was able to get $582.20 credited back into my account. I am still awaiting $125 in fees to be returned to me. I called the CA DMV again on 5/6/2013 once I found my old CA driver's license. It had my Kansas address on it (again, we're military so I was able to keep my CA license even though we lived out of state). I told the rep I had proof that I had updated my address with the CA DMV and I STILL did not receive any notification about fees due, but she told me the car registration department and the DL departments are totally separate so an update to one does not update the other.

I believe they had my bank account information on file because I had my 2012 tax refund direct deposited into my bank in February 2013. So they stuck their greedy fingers in there to take fees for a car I don't own anymore that I had legally registered elsewhere because I did not know I had to send in some form and did not receive any notification by mail for 4 years. I just want everyone to be aware that the CA DMV can refer your collection to the Franchise Tax Board which can pull money directly from your account.

Also, I went to my local DMV here in Nevada where I live now and explained the situation. The lady stated she had worked for the NV DMV for over 20 years and had never heard of any DMVs doing anything like that and that it didn't sound legal. The CA DMV has some serious breakdown in communication between it's departments and some messed up policies about informing people that they owe money. Beware.

Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt. That is the best way to sum up the California DMV and in particular the Costa Mesa DMV. I purchased a truck in February 2012. The truck last was registered in Nevada in 2010 but was impounded in California in July of 2010. In January 2011 the person I purchased the vehicle from bought the truck from the impound lot and had it brought to his business by flatbed truck. To be clear up to this point. The vehicle was legally registered in Nevada for 2010 and was never driven on a California road in 2011 at all. According to California law if a vehicles registration expires while it is impounded and/or is in the process of being sold by a licences company, which it was, then you are not required to pay any penalties. This makes sense since there is not responsible individual to pay for the registration.

I went to the DMV office on 02-24-2012 with all the information to transfer title. I explained the situation and was told to pay $484 in fees. The next day I left California for Minnesota believing all was well. Then a few weeks later in Minnesota I not only did not recieve my title, I instead was told "oops, we made a mistake and now we want another $425 or we will not send you your title". In other words "too bad, so sad...but you are dealing with the corrupt state of California and we are super incompetent and therefore struggling for any money we can find, by whatever means necessary".

I called Sacramento and they agreed that due to the impound situation I should not have to pay any additional money. They even provided the statute numbers which applied and suggested I go to the Costa Mesa DMV and it should all work out. NOT EVEN CLOSE. It was a terrible experience with a bunch of sloppy, rude, unclean and unprofessional people, who I seriously doubt would be able to get employment anywhere other than the state of California. Nobody would listen so I just went home and paid the additional $425.

That was almost 2 months ago and I still do not have my title. When I called yesterday to see where the title was I was informed that the only transaction was for $484 which was posted 05/24/12. That is three months after it was processed through my bank so I wonder where that money really was for 3 months. As for the additional $425 they have no record of that.

It was then I noticed another error by the wonderfully incompetent DMV. THEY HAD DOCUMENTED THE WRONG LICENSE PLATE NUMBER! Talk about dumber than a box of rocks, eh? Now I get to chase down that money as well as my title. I am sooo glad to have moved from the ###ic state of California. It was a great place to live, back in the day.

Signed,

This is RIDICULOUS

My mom went to DMV today to get a Ca driver's license. She had problems from the beginning. She was unable to pass the vision test the first time due to allergies. She was told to go to the optometrist to see if the doctor felt it was unsafe for her to drive. The doctor filled out the form and explained her situation and informed the DMV that her distance vision is not affected, just her vision acuity. When she returned to the DMV, they decided to disregard the doctor's notice and make her take a driving test. At the end of the driving test, the lady informed her that she just barely passed. She was marked down for her car not running smoothly enough over a bumpy road, saying she did not have control of her car. She was marked down for swerving to avoid a piece of lumber in the middle of the road. She was marked down for braking too often during the bumpy road. She was marked down for stopping in the middle of the intersection to avoid being hit by a speeding car. Then she informed her that her license will be good for only one year unless she gets eye surgery. Since when is a person required to have eye surgery in order to drive? All the things that she was marked down for had nothing to do with her vision. Doesn't she have the right to choose as to whether or not she gets eye surgery? Since she passed the drive test, she should be allotted the regular license with the regular renewal time limits. She is not that old and should not be treated so poorly. She said she felt like a criminal by the time she left!

In December 2010 I took and passed my written test for the California DL, by the end of January I passed the driving test and I was told that due to heavy processing it might take two months to get my DL. No problem, I can wait for two months.

Three months passed, no DL - didn't worry, my temporary DL worked till April. Than even that one expiered and I started calling the DMV and I was told that my legal status is not verfied yet - after FOUR months! I was given a phone number for the DMV Legal Presence Unit and never got through, so I postponed calling until I lost my Austrian DL. Since then (about four weeks ago now) I am calling the LPU all the time.

I was told by Juanita, I simply should fax her my documents. That's exactly what I did - spent 7 $ for five pages. I called and was told she never received it. So I went to the DMV again (since I had no appointment I waited half an hour in the line, then two hours until my number was called, was 30 seconds at the window when I was told I should talk to the manager where I had to wait again for 30 minutes until finally somebody talked to me ...) and they faxed my documents. I called again to make sure they got it - again, nobody received it! I called about 10 times and asked to speak to the same woman I was on the phone the first time. I was always told she's not available and she'll call me back - I never received a call back!

So today I called again - and was on the phone with Ann. She told me since my visa expieres in 60 days she can't do anything about it and she has to end the call. They can only issue me a DL if I get a new visa for at least another six months.

I paid money, took all the tests necessary and passed - and nobody took their time to work my case or inform me that they need any other documents than shown (I registered for the DL also with my SSN). I never received any call backs, my faxes never arrived and in the end there's not enough time left and I won't receive my DL AT ALL!

I feel really frustrated and I don't think it's fair that they let me go through all this, never informed me that they need some more information and then in the end it's too late and I can't get anything! I really need that DL (coming back two weeks after my J1 visa expieres with a B1 Visa for travelling with my OWN car, with an insurance policy running on this DL)!

I sent application to renew my CA DL along with required documentation to DMV Sacremanto on Aug 4th 2010. I called almost 20 times after that to do a follow up, and personally went to DMV's in my areas.But every time they told me to wait and give me excuses and issue the paper receipt. Now I m really, really tired and my 4th or 5th paper receipt is going to expire in few days as well. God knows who can help me getting my license back, too much frustration from CA DMV since last 10 months. This is a slowest process ever for any thing in my life, and needs to be changed with efficient process.

1)On April 11, 2011, I showed to a lady in Consierge desk that the 1st word of my 2 word last name, renewed by mail license, was separated. She gave me a number to wait & said it will be corrected for free with no charge.

2) After 1 hour wait, I approached the desk again & inquired this time to a Mr. Ferrel if i could just do the correction via mail because of the long line. He looked at my license & said I rather wait because the last name correction is quick/fast with no charge at all.

3)After another 1 hour of wait, I was called & the lady in window 22 said I need legal docs to show that the 1st word of my 2 word last name placed in my first name, should really be attached to the 2nd word. I suggested to her to check my file, DMV archive, my BD, or LP records in her computer for accuracy. She insisted I needed to show legal docs, & she's wondering why the desk people didn't tell me so(?). I showed her my check book, my work ID, credit cards that has print of my correct last name and she reacted that they are not legal docs.

4) She endorsed me then to Ed, as she said the "person in-charge" that day. Mr. Ed said I needed passport or Citizenship certificate to see if the 1st word of my last name really belong to my last name(?). I showed to him, too, my check book, my work ID and credit cards and suggested to him, too, to check the computer for my archive, BD, or LP for my last name accuracy. Without checking the computer, nor any display of professionalism & courtesy, Mr. Ed continously insisting the legal docs he mentioned are needed to change my family name. I reiterated I am not changing my last name but to have it corrected for the wrong entry by the DMV. We've been going back & forth for some minutes of me requesting to check my records in the computer and Mr. Ed insisting I need to show my passport or my citizenship certificate. I finally gave up & left.

5) The next day i have to take a half day off to go to the safe and get my passport and go back to Torrance DMV to correct DMV's mistake in my last name entry.

6)Are all the effort & valued time consumed and wasted, by me & DMV staff, to correct the DMV entry mistake, necessary to the said situation?

At 2:45pm I spoke to a woman who disconnected our call without giving me a phone number of who I needed to speak with or any other information. My VIN is 2G1WF52E459200125, hopefully you might be able to pull my record and see who did not have any customer service skills.

Here's the deal. I've been trying to transfer my registration to GA. They denied my transfer but also kept the money for the tag registration. My lien holder and I are working on getting them all the information they need. But I don't understand why we can't get the tag on the car so we aren't driving around with an expired tag. It's ridiculous!

I did not receive a registration renewal notice this year but I knew my registration expired on April 2nd, so I called DMV to ask what to do. The person on the phone told me I couldn't pay online so I had to go to an office or mail it to the address he gave me. Since I work full time, I didn't have time to go to an office therefore I decided to mail a check on March 28th. After that I had been checking my account regularly but the check has not been cleared. Being afraid of the late fees, I gave another call to DMV to ask what was wrong. They told me it was being processed so I should wait for a couple of days.

I waited for a couple of days and still nothing. Also I checked it through the online renewal system and I saw the late fee of $22 added on my total. I called again to ask, and then they told me I had to do a Smog test to my car.. However, on one of my previous calls I had asked if I needed a Smog test and they told me "no". I went and did my smog test on the same day and I passed.

A week later, today, the check is not still cleared. I called this morning and they say they didn't receive the check so I have to send another check with full amount. The representative said refunding the late fee amount is up to them. Seriously, this is making a fool of the citizens of California. What if a cop pulls me over and writes me a ticket for not having my registration? I will have to pay for that as well although I did not deserve any of this by sending my check on time.

I am a mailman and deliver mail to my own house. I never received a renewal for my registration until my tags were expired. The DMV claimed they sent the renewal three time. But when I asked them for the dates they could not provide me with any information on when it was sent to me. I only received one renewal after the expired date with a $75 penalty fee. I spoke to the manager Marlee Tucker, and she was of no help. She was the most unprofessional and rude person I have ever i met at any DMV.

I went to the DMV to pay the registration on my car that that had been in the shop for weeks. The mechanic told me it will not pass smog as required by the DMV.

After paying the registration fees I told the clerk I need a moving permit until the truck was repaired. I told the clerk my situation and I was denied the permit and was told that it has to fail smog first. So I then took the last of my money I had to repair my truck and took it to fail, and it did.

So now I am standing in line for over an hour outside in the cold and pouring rain.

About seventy other wet cold people for an appointment I made so I can go back to work. I made an appointment because my family starves if I don't work. I am a self employed single dad who is barely making it and the DMV does not have the resources to care about you or our wellbeing and will continue to do so as long as we let this happen.

I am posting this complaint with the hopes that someone who has been through the same experience or someone with legal knowledge may be able to give me some helpful advice.

In 2006 I found out that I had been a victim of identity theft and it appeared as though several people in several different states had been using my information for opening accounts, working, claiming unemployment benefits, etc. There was also someone in California, which is my state of birth and residence, that had been issued a California driver’s license with the same driver’s license number using my information. This had been done prior to me having first applied for and received my driver’s license.

Prior to learning of the identity theft I had been unable to pull out a DMV printout because my record was frozen. The DMV branch office employee would refer me to a DMV investigator. When I would attempt to reach the investigator I was always told that they would call me back to make an appointment but no one ever called me back. At this point I didn't pursue the issue further since my license was still valid and I still received the renewal by mail. Also, it may be of interest to note that the first license that I received had incorrect identifying information on it (eye color, height, weight). After learning of the identity theft I returned to the CA DMV to sort out the previous problems since I now knew the cause. I was told that the case had been dropped and that a new case would be opened with a new investigator.

I contacted the new investigator who came and met me for the first time at my place of employment during my lunch hour. He asked me general questions about my identity. He then showed me a picture of the other person using my information who had the same driver’s license number as I did. He asked if I knew him or where he lived, of which I did not. He then requested to meet again but for me to bring him copies and originals of my driver’s license, police report, birth certificate, social security card along with a certified letter from social security saying that the number is in fact mine, tax information, and anything else that would establish my identity.

For our second meeting the investigator met with me at my place of employment again. I brought him all the documents that he requested. He looked them thoroughly to make sure that they were authentic and he took the photo copies with him. At our third meeting, again at my work, he brought photos of several different men asking if I was any of them, to which I answered no. He showed me my picture which of course I answered yes to. Then he told me that he was unable to find the man with my license, the one he showed me during our first meeting, and because of this he was going to issue me a new license. He told me that he would mail me a letter authorizing the DVM field office to issue me a new license and instructed me to surrender all copies of my previous license and ID card and to bring my birth certificate and social security card. I did all of this and was issued a new license with a new number and was told that it would be a provisional license for one year.

Shortly after receiving my new license I had more problems from the identity theft. Someone had filed for unemployment in 2003 while I was working and EDD had garnished my 2006 taxes for the overpayment of benefits. I opened a case with EDD for the fraudulent claim and during their investigation they contacted the DMV because of the multiple people on file. My claim with EDD was resolved in my favor in just under a year but as soon as it was resolved the DMV investigator called me wanting to meet.

I met with the DMV investigator at my work again just short of having had my new license for one year. He brought another investigator with him. He had asked me to bring my original driver’s license, social security card and birth certificate. I brought him copies since he had already seen the originals in the past. He then told me that he had found the man from the first photo that he ever showed me, the man who had first received my license. He told me that he confirmed that the other man was the "real" person and that he had parents and school records to confirm his identity. He took my license and kept it. He told me that if I wanted it back then I would have to take this other man to court to fight over the identity but he would not give me the persons information in order to do such.

My DMV record is currently sealed again and has been since he took my license away. I was never informed, verbally nor in writing, whether or not my license had been revoked or suspended or anything else. I contacted an attorney who told me that the problem would resolve itself and just to wait for the DMV to mail my license back. It has been almost 4 years since my license was taken by the investigator and still nothing has changed and I just got a letter that my licence is about to expire and it says to contact the DMV Investigator so i can get a replacement

Is there anything that I can do in order to resolve this issue without having to go to court? I can't afford all of the legal fees and time off of work that would be required to pursue this in court.