I was at the San Ysidro DMV this morning at 0750 and there was a line of about 40 people ahead of me. The door opened promptly at 8am. Everything was very efficient and I applied for a CA driver license as my out of state one expires soon. I had the eye test, thumb print, picture and written test done and everything was complete by 0920. I had no appointment and parking was ample. Bathrooms were clean!! Overall the best DMV experience ever! read more

Had a road test and we waited 2 hours on the long queue. You can tell that they're short staffed. Examiners looked tired and stressed out. My examiner Mary was an ass and a racist. read more

I was forced to argue my disability status with the front counter receptionist despite having my valid disability paperwork and identification. She believed it was not fair to others waiting in line for other reasons when I was simply going there to renew my driver's license without an appointment. After arguing for 2 mins she finally referred me to her supervisor who recognized the ADA immediately and decided to handle the case himself. Although agreeing with the case I was forced to deal with an extremely unnecessary attitude with sarcastic questions and condescending remarks. Extremely inappropriate behavior and treatment of someone with a serious disability. Worst treatment I've experience I've had at a DMV and that's saying something. read more

Definitely make an appointment. Even if you have an appointment you will wait in a line - it's just not as long as the non-appointment line. Took my son today to for his behind the wheel test. The security guard at the door told us that if we have an appointment just go around the side to window 7 (which really was window 8 today) but a sign clearly saying driver's test start here. We actually had to go outside and wait a while because we were too early. We showed up at 10:00 thinking we had to wait in the horrendous appointment line, but wanted to let people know that's not necessary. We came back in at 11:00 for our 11:15 appointment. We got processed and were actually in the car lane to take the test at 11:15. Test was done by 11:40 and out the door before 12:00. People need to chill and not arrive at their appointment time thinking they are going to walk in and out. It's a nice new building. And he passed - the instructors are nice and this was his second test after failing the first time. read more

They just need more people working at a time. Also need to smile more. There's a reason people dread going to the DMV, at this place embodies those reasons. read more

Had an appointment. Waited in line about 10 minutes. Intake gentleman not unfriendly (not particularly friendly, either). Got my number ticket, sat down for about 5 minutes. Hiked over to window 5. Lady was great. Smiling, friendly. Hiked over to window 27 - no one there. The lady at window 26 was covering. She was very grumpy, not communicative and generally gave the impression she did not want to be there. That is the reason for one star deduction. Otherwise, great experience. read more

I'd like to say that the process went pretty smoothly however, the line to take the behind the wheel test was insanely long. Not to mention the examiner for the test was the rudest person I've come across in my life. Beware of the short Hispanic lady with curly hair! She told me to not be nervous at the start of my exam, then proceeded to bombard me with insults unrelated to the drive test itself (she was complaining about my ac being broken and my car being hot when it was almost on full blast. But let's be real, when you're that overweight of course it'll always seem hotter than it is...). She purposely tries to psych you out and upset you so it affects your driving. This isn't limited to, but will most likely include: snarky remarks and unconstructive criticism, yelling "WOAH" even if you're traveling at a safe speed, grabbing onto the hand rail as if you're going at light speed, laughing at you, and making light of any questions or directions you ask her. She also told me it would be alright for me to keep my sunglasses on while driving however, afterwards she told me that I should have taken them off since she couldn't tell where I was looking. Like what?! Incredibly unprofessional and blatantly rude. According to others at the DMV, she's known as the "terror" and passing the test through her is a miracle. read more

my son had a 3:20 appointment for the written exam. we arrived right about 3:00 and we were out the door by 4:10. there was only one woman working the check-in desk and she handled her business. people who don't make an appointments before they go to the dmv - any dmv - really shouldn't complain. read more

This DMV is relatively new and the employees are pretty friendly. The waiting area is pretty big so it does not feel like people are breathing down your neck. I had a behind the wheel driving test so I didnt have to wait in that area though. I made an APPOINTMENT for a behind the wheel driving test for 12:45 pm at this DMV location. I arrived before time and was made to wait in a line that was reserved for driving tests. I waited here for around 10 mins (not that bad, considering this is a DMV!). Post this, I was asked to take my car and wait in the driving test queue. This is where it got bad. There were 5 cars in front of me and 1 behind me, this made me think - there's probably 2 or 3 examiners. I was horrified to find that there was only one. After waiting for 20 minutes, another examiner arrived. She took her own time and after 10 minutes of pointless checking of driving documents (of cars in the queue and not the one she was supposed to examine), she decided to start the driving test. As soon as she starts, the other inspector arrives. He instantly leaves and once again there was only one instructor. After an excruciating 75 minutes (yes - 75 mins!!!!!!) where the female instructor went through 3 cars, our former examiner arrives and starts inspecting cars (not the ones there for the driving test, but the ones there for inspection). This took 10 more minutes. There was one more car in front of mine and the male instructor began that drivers test. At this point, after a grand total of 115 minutes (almost 2 hours!), a third instructor arrived...oh btw...i didnt mention, that by now there were 9 cars behind me (yes 9!!!!!). Finally, 25 minutes later I completed my driving test. I was at the DMV for 2 hours and 20 minutes, after taking an appointment!!!!!!!! This was my third driving test (thankfully I passed), and the other 2 tests were at different locations. At no other location was I made to wait this long, in fact at both the other locations I was out within an hour. read more

Went without an appointment like many others. I would expect like an hour wait, but it took 3 long agitating hours. If it takes 3 hours, then there's an obvious problem that the supervisor should of taken care of since we're paying their salary. Their calling number sucked. I would like for the people who are making decisions to physically wait in line and wait for their number to experience this painful process. read more

I belive this is hell in earth, I don't understand how this place has any good reviews, the people there are so rude and lazy, it's almost like they get paid to piss people off. Im the type of person that never complains, if i get the wrong order at a restaurant ill eat it and still give the waiters a 20% tip, a year ago I was so upset at an employee with how she treated me and skipped me on purpose (I waited over an hour and people without appointment would walk in way after me and get helped before me) so I asked to speak to the manager, after I waited another 20 minutes for her, all she did was give me another number so that someone else would call me. The only reason i go here is because it's 2 minutes away from my house. Since dmvs are unavoidable, and they all suck just as bad, do yourself a favor and set up an appointment. And to any dmv employee that works here (specially the Filipino lady at the front desk, the latina manager, and the fat white lady on window 15), you are a disgrace to human society read more

So, I went to do the driving test today. I can't remember the name of the woman but she is black. She wasn't friendly. She was tired, and breathing hard a lot. When we started driving she started touching my car. Turning on the ac, open and closing her window. That was distracting to me. Then, she talked too much. I haven't even stopped in the stop sign when she said if you can see move up. Geesh, I wanted to tell her to shut up, and let me do my test without distracting me. Then, I was keeping my distance behind a car on the traffic light, and she told me to basically tailgate the car. She said not leave space infront. F...that. She told me 4 feet of space is enough..I told her it was too close to other car, and she rolled her eyes. Some people basically don't like their job. I thought instructors are not allowed to talk to the driver only when giving direction, but this lady was moving a lot of stuff inside my cara, and breathing hard. Opening and closing her window. She also turned on the winshield wiper while I was driving because there were a few drops of rain. She even said it, "It is not raining but it bugs me when I see those two drops" Ughhhhh, Why does the DMV hire people that don't like their jobs. read more