Plagued by complaints, NC has hired some experts to help improve DMV experience (2025)

The state gets a lot of complaints about the Division of Motor Vehicles. Now the N.C. Department of Transportation has hired a consultant to try to help the DMV do better.

The Boston Consulting Group will review DMV services, including issuing and renewing driver’s licenses, and draw on agency data and surveys. It will examine each step in the process, looking at “specific moments or experiences in the customer journey,” according to a description of the firm’s contract with the state.

For many customers, that journey has been long and frustrating. Appointments at driver’s license offices have become hard to get, and those who show up without one often face hours in line before being served.

Those problems appear to have grown worse this spring as people try to get a REAL ID before new federal identification standards take effect May 7. A REAL ID driver’s license or state identification card is one that meets the standards for boarding domestic flights or entering certain federal facilities.

Under its contract with the state, Boston Consulting Group will spend about 10 weeks coming up with ways to improve customer service and “streamline processes across the DMV.” By mid-June, the firm says it will identify “quick wins,” as well as medium- to longer-term initiatives.

The state will pay the firm $1.25 million.

Long lines and wait times at the DMV have been a problem for years. Lawmakers have cited what they consider mismanagement and have talked of privatizing additional parts or all of the agency.

The DMV has also made changes over the years to try to reduce crowding at its driver’s license offices. It increased the number of services it offers online and worked to reduce the vacancy rate among license examiners.

A DMV spokesman said N.C. Secretary of Transportation Joey Hopkins chose Boston Consulting Group because of its “strong experience and qualifications.” In a brief statement, Marty Homan said the goal was to “improve customer experience and efficiency.”

“We look forward to sharing additional updates on the DMV’s work in the months ahead,” Homan said.

The DMV has sought advice from Boston Consulting Group before. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, it hired the company to study DMV offices with the longest wait times and suggest improvements. Among the strategies was a scorecard that each driver’s license examiner could use to track how long it took them to complete each task and kind of service.

Torre Jessup, the DMV commissioner at the time, told The Charlotte Observer in 2019 that the self-assessments helped the agency identify wasted time and become more efficient. Those scorecards are still used, Homan said.

“Managers regularly review the scorecards to identify performance trends, which in turn supports targeted coaching and corrective actions,” Homan wrote in an email.

But Jessup’s successor, Wayne Goodwin, says the main problem at driver’s license offices is a lack of workers. While North Carolina’s population has grown by about 2.6 million people since 2003, the DMV has been authorized to open only three new driver’s license offices and hire no additional driver’s license examiners.

This winter, the DMV asked for permission to hire 61 additional people to fill holes at its driver’s license offices, particularly in the Triangle and Charlotte areas, and create another 24 positions to open new offices in fast-growing Brunswick and Cabarrus counties and to expand the office in South Durham.

Those requests were included in Gov. Josh Stein’s proposed state budget but not in the version approved by the Senate last week.

In the Spotlight designates ongoing topics of high interest that are driven by The News & Observer’s focus on accountability reporting.