California DMV offices are closed due to coronavirus. Here’s what you can do online
The coronavirus appears to have hammered home a lesson to California’s struggling Department of Motor Vehicles:
The old way of doing business by crowding people elbow to elbow for hours in field offices is not only unsafe, it’s often often unnecessary in the online world.
One week after the DMV took the dramatic step of shutting down its 180 field offices statewide for a week, saying it needed to clean them, those offices remain closed to customers. DMV officials declined to say when they may reopen, only that “DMV will offer in-person services in each region” again at some point after it puts together new protocols for dealing with the public.
Instead, the department announced it will open on Thursday, April 2 what it calls a new online “Virtual Field Office,” a website at virtual.dmv.ca.gov where drivers can “process vehicle title transfers and complex vehicle registrations that would otherwise have to be accomplished in an office.”
The department promised more services will be offered through the virtual office in the coming weeks.
“Today’s actions ensure hundreds of thousands of Californians can keep their driver license current while following the state’s stay at home request,” DMV Director Steve Gordon said. “We encourage customers to take advantage of our online services whenever possible, including for eligible driver license or vehicle registration renewals.”
Real ID
The DMV had already moved other services online in the last two years as it struggled with long waits and large crowds at field offices. Much of that was caused by the department’s inability to keep up with demand related to a federal government requirement for many California drivers to obtain a new REAL ID driver license.
That new license was supposed to be necessary, beginning this October, to be used as identification at federal government airport checkpoints in order to board a domestic flight.
The federal government recently abandoned that October deadline, however, freeing several state DMVs from the burden of processing the new IDs during the coronavirus outbreak.
The DMV has been postponing other deadlines in recent weeks as the number of people willing to go into field offices dropped off dramatically, and DMV employees expressed concern as well about the virus.
DMV employees, working in their offices or remotely, are being trained on how to handle virtual office transactions, spokeswoman Anita Gore said in an email. “DMV’s modernization efforts and online service offerings allow our customers to take care of most DMV business without an office visit.”
The department has also begun emphasizing work that can be done by phone or mail. “These efforts allow DMV to continue to provide services while maintaining physical distancing,” Gore said.
License extension for seniors
The department announced on Wednesday that seniors with an expiring driver license will be given a 120-day extension in the mail during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order period.
Also, drivers “with safe driving records whose last DMV visit was 15 years ago will not be required to renew in person for the next 60 days and will be able to renew online or by mail,” the department announced in a press release.
Eligible drivers will receive a paper license extension in the mail beginning in the next two weeks, the department said.
The agency also has instituted a 60-day waiver for most drivers who had been scheduled to renew their driver license in person at a DMV field office starting from March 16.
The department said people can call its call center at (800) 777-0133, and lists services on its website, at DMV Online Services and DMV Anytime.
Driving tests have also been suspended.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 5:25 AM with the headline "California DMV offices are closed due to coronavirus. Here’s what you can do online."