By Andy Brack
It took four tries and three different state Department of Motor Vehicle offices before a new-to-me car got a South Carolina title and license plate.
On two in-person attempts, I gave up when I realized lines were two hours long and then three hours long. It didn’t help that people who have had seven years to get their REAL ID were freaking out and flooding the agency.
So after a couple of days, I went to another office where the line was shorter. I sucked it up and got help after an hour and a half – only to be told that the person who transferred the title to me actually titled it to himself. Hooray.
Armed with more paperwork a few days later – and after the REAL ID deadline passed – I headed to another DMV office. After an hour-and-a-half wait, the transaction took four minutes. Hooray.
Kevin Shwedo, who has directed the agency’s 1,500 employees since 2011, knows these visits can be frustrating. But when he inherited the agency, average wait times were 40 minutes, which were cut to six minutes around the state. These days, the average is 13 minutes, he said.
But as the agency’s funding has remained mostly stagnant in recent years, the state’s population has grown by a third from 4 million to 5.5 million people. And the types of transactions that the agency has to process haven’t gotten smaller.
“I’m responsible for 444 different transactions all predicated by law and all interpreted at the individual level,” Shwedo said. Earlier in an interview, he noted that “with a 25% increase [in the population], we haven’t had a significant increase in personnel, but we have changed policies and procedures.”
In recent years, the department gained significant efficiencies by shifting how it dealt with tags and titles for car dealers. It also reduced wait times, Shwedo said, through mandatory electronic registration protocols, more online services, third-party driver’s license testing and installation of self-serve kiosks. The agency also has boosted employee training, which has helped to improve retention rates.
And while Shwedo is always looking for ways to improve, what he really wants now to make sure the agency succeeds is a new software system that uses off-the-rack software, not a system powered by a computer language developed in 1959.
For that – and to avoid a software meltdown that’s sure to come and be more expensive if it isn’t fixed pronto – he said the agency needs $12 million more in recurring funds for computer and identity management security.
“My COBOL programmers are older than I am,” Shwedo said. “If you don’t use current technology, you can’t keep up with the demand. So you’ve got to be able to be more efficient on the computers and be able to secure them.”
If you need to head to the DMV to get some business taken care of, here are three tips to make your trip go more smoothly.
Find the best time
Before you head out, go online to the DMV website (scdmvonline.gov) and click the button at top right that is marked “locations & wait times.” Then click on an office location near you to find out – in real time – how long you might have to wait. Worst times tend to be around 8:30 a.m. and lunchtime.
Research
Learn on the website what you need to bring with you to have a successful transaction. Note: Shwedo says there are a lot of unofficial sites that take advantage of people. Only use the state’s site.
Pay taxes
If you need a title or tag, make sure you pay taxes on the vehicle before you show up at the DMV. There’s no telling how many people we saw walk out of an office for not having this done first.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send it to feedback@statehousereport.com.
