I must admit when I woke up that morning knowing my destination was the dreaded DMV my mood was definitely less than peachy. However I couldn't have been more wrong. Unfortunately I'm not as smart as the many individuals who planned their trips well ahead of time and made appointments but the staff here is surprisingly efficient at processing you and believe it or not helpful AND friendly. Quite a rarity in my experience. I arrived shortly after after the doors opened at 8 am and about 2 and a half hours later I was leaving with my temporary license. Usually the DMV is an all day affair. I'm so used to dealing with the disgruntled DMV employees and I'm sure they exist here however I must say I never saw or dealt with any rude employees. As far as the DMV goes it goes without saying that yes even with appointments you'll have to play the waiting game. However while waiting at this DMV your wait time just feels noticeably shorter. Combine that with the fact that the employees are competent, polite and actually there to answer your questions and process you efficiently just makes the whole experience feel that much less painful. If you must go to a DMV I highly recommend this one even if it is without an appointment. read more

I had an appointment - and honestly everybody worked together as a team - no problems at all everybody was really caring and helpful. I want to mention Carlos especially who helped me through the whole process and was totally patient with me. You by yourself are a reason to come back to the DMV. read more

This is the saddest DMV I have ever been to. The interior is so drab, I feel sorry for the people that work there. The bathrooms are disgusting, and the place is generally too small to accommodate the hoards of people that go there. THE DMV IN SAN YSIDRO, however, is beautiful! It's modern, huge, clean, and features soaring ceilings, lots of natural light, as well as a beautiful outdoor patio waiting area. Why cant we have something similar in Hillcrest? read more

Must've had the DMV gods on my side. Made my appt a week in advance online, was in and out in 20 MINUTES for my duplicate drivers license. The employees were friendly, the people in line were helping each other get forms and clipboards and people were offering seats to old ladies. Unheard of at a DMV. The only thing that I can say that would've made it more helpful was to have a sign somewhere saying where the appointment line was. It's all the way in the back right corner. Seems like it's just the luck of the draw at this place. Definitely make an appointment! read more

DMV will always be full no matter where you go . This one partially has lack of parking . You are better off parking on the street . Lines are long . Call and make an appointment , you will save lots of time and the hassle of standing outside in the sun read more

If I could give less then one star I would. This whole system is a joke. There is one clerk to help the people in the coming in and they are also calling tickets! Going into an office is always a gamble of whether or not the you are going to get accomplished what you set out to do. The clerks at the office act like the people they are supposed to be helping are wasting their time. Its their job to deal with the public and help us deal with this messed us system. Also no one knows what they are talking about or dealing with, its like every person they meet has some new challenge that they have never dealt with before. Is there no protocol for how things are supposed to run? Has every worker there not seen every piece of paper that the DMV can deal with? This office needs to be restructured and they need more trained employees. read more

They are supposed to have an audio test for people with reading issues. After 10 minutes of looking the found a cassette tape (really? what year are we in) it didn't work. It frustrated my son as well as was embarrassing because it started playing loud for everyone to here not in the head phones. Shame on you. read more

The first visit I had with the DMV I had made an appointment a few months ahead of time to do the written part of my driving exam because it was solidly booked. My first impression was great, the people serving at the counters were extremely helpful and customer oriented. With this in mind, when I came back for the behind the wheel part part a few months later, the people at the counters were still extremely helpful and customer oriented. Now for the fun part, the behind the wheel test, the lady that examined me, stormed up in an extremely brash and rude manner and was abrasive from the start. Being a nervous person, I was not comfortable with the manner that I was being treated. As the test proceeded, the tension in the car was overwhelming and worsened by the minute. Now I'm not saying I'm a great driver, nor deserved to pass because I did make several mistakes, but from the beginning I knew that no matter what would happen there would be no way to pass the test. Once we ended up back at the DMV office, I was expecting some sort of explanation as to why I had failed, but apparently I did not deserve that either as she tossed the examination paper at me after abrasively yelling at me that I had failed, and stormed out of the car slamming the door on her way out. I have had several encounters with driving examiners as this was not my first time taking a behind the wheel test (seeing as I just moved from Canada and had to repeat the process), however the manner with which I was treated was outright abusive and not deserved. I am not trying to justify my failing of the exam and saying I should have passed, I am however shocked and horrified that someone dealing in customer relations would be allowed to treat people in that manner. I hope that whoever is in charge at the office would be able to speak to their employees and state that these are not the ways that customers should be treated. I wil be taking my behind the wheel test again shortly, and I sincerely hope that this abusive treatment does not occur again, or I will find another DMV in the area to go and get re-tested as I do not wish to be verbally abused in any manner again. read more

General appearence like the interior of a Greyhound bus station.Some of the employees appear to be in a daze , indifferent and marginally rude. As out of staters relocating to CA wife and I went in to obtain local driver's licenses. Tests passed. Licenses came in mail and both had errors, mine name misspelled, the wife wrong date of birth. Had to resubmit DL 44 forms, redo photos and fingerprints. Wife's received corrected license, mine still hasn't come back and my interim paper license will expire soon. I guess I'll be back for a third time trying to deal with these idiots. read more

Worst place ever. I went to DMV to get License replace do to being lost. Should be posted somewhere that after 4 they will not see you even though they are open till 5. Anthony was very nasty to multiple customers. Turned away a old man that had took his wife up their and told him it was very hard to get her there do to medical reasons. He told the old man wasn't his problem he would have to still reschedule. Worst place ever. When he was helping me stated I had 60 days to renew my license the guy was an idiot I lost them so how do I have 60 days? So once again I will have to take more time out of my work schedule to go up their and sit and wait. read more

Worst dmv ever. apart from the usual rude, unprofessional employees the wait is longer than usual and they do the bare minimum to help. I came in to Get an ID replaced after losing it and after 3 months had to come back in because I still hadn't received it. After all that time I came to check what was going on, the person tells me that I have to retake my picture and that they haven't even started the process to resend it. if I needed a new picture why didn't they tell me the first time I came in? why can't you find this information out over the phone? worse experience ever. don't go here. read more

This place in garbage and the workers too bad service would not recommend business there....I went to the DMV a few times already and taken my driver license photos waited 3 weeks and some how they lost my photo... went back to complain/ retake my picture. Spoke to the supervisor to comp for my inconvenience. Gave me an attitude and told me to wait in line like the rest. I was like wtf? i said, "Your employee made the mistake not me..." I still had to wait in line. Stupid! read more

Today started pretty good with the guy at the front counter and the lady who assisted my dad. When it came to the written exam, FORGET ABOUT ASKING FOR IT! Apparently you are forced now to take the exam via computer but when your parent is 80 something and can't speak or write any English, there is not much of an option. Woman was rude to my dad and got upset because he insisted on a written exam. She simply shook her head and walked away, leaving us high and dry. The other one at the counter lied and said this was the only DMV that was offering the exam. When I complained to their supervisor he straight up said that it was a lie. They still offer written exams although they are moving to get rid of it eventually. He went and printed out the exam and gave it to one of the rude women who was pissed that we got the written exam. Idk why they work here. Another thing is are these employees even mentally stable to work here because some of them are either on their period or just straight up mean. Thanks to the supervisor and the first two who were kind. The others should take anger management classes! :/ read more

Besides the long line, I mean lets be realistic your going to have to wait appointment or not. But while I wait I would like to receive some nice service atleast. So im in line and this guy comes from behind and he's helping ppl out answering questions I ask if he could help me out and he said I'll be with you next and he just goes on to the next person behind him I don't mind because the person is elderly but when I got skipped again I just continued in line but I still needed help. So I'm almost in the entrance and I still haven't been helped so I have someone save my spot and I hop out of line and try to find the guy and I find him and he's helping someone else and I try and get his attention with a excuse me and he doesn't look up but this pregnant female security guard looks up and she says if you need help you need to get in line with a attitude and in answer back and told her I'm already in line I have a question and she said I would have to go to the back of line if I wanted help and then I said well my spot is saved can you help me and she rolled her eyes and asked what I needed and when she gave me her answer she rolled her eyes again and said I was fine and to just get back in line. I don't appreciate the rudeness I get it, its busy and hot but this is your job you don't ignore or give ppl attitudes. It makes this place worse than what it is read more

This DMV is horrible. They are rarely open on fridays, which is lame. There is a line expanding around the block all day. I went an hour before they opened and the line was around the block. I was there for 7.5 hours to get a state i.d. and a drivers licence. 2 months later I still had not recieved anything in the mail. So I called and waited on hold for almost a half hour. When I finally talked to someone he told me they lost my picture. I went in again and it took nearly 5 hours to get a new picture taken. The employees are very slow. They type with there index fingers. The DMV parking lot is about 3 times the size of the building and it is never full. They need to expand the building, hire more people, and put there staff through typing classes. In a buisness there everything goes through a computer, there is no excuse for having people employed who cant type. If you are going to this office, you need to bring a portable chair, a book or a psp, and have 8 hours of free time! Also be prepare to get pushed around, as it is very crowded. read more

I visited on January 2nd in an attempt to apply for an ID card. This location was extremely busy and had no available parking with a line of customers leading outside of the building. After an hour I was told to fill out some paper work and bring it back later. I went home and made an appointment for January 5th. Once there I only had to wait 5-10 minutes before I was called for my appointment however the gentleman who helped me was extremely lax and made several spelling mistakes while transferring my info from my application. (keep n mind I have excellent penmanship) Normally I could careless however this is my ID card, one would expect no mistakes on such items. Once I pointed out incorrect spelling of name and address I had to wait for him to cancel and start all over. When finished the gentleman notified me that my card would be in the mail between 7-10 business days. It is now February 14 and I am yet to receive my ID card. Lets just say I'm not impressed... read more

Use extreme caution at this El Cajon location and make sure you calculate accurately fees quoted. After doing a vehicle transfer, the buyer came in to this El Cajon location. The agent erroneously came up with fictitious fees!! This agent straight lied to this buyer and said there were unpaid registration fees left on the seller's car. NOT.! And, the computer clearly reflected this information. The buyer did not dispute these fees that day and instead paid the additional fees. After realizing that he had clearly overpaid, he went in another day to retrieve this overpaid amount and was told that after car was smogged & he was finished with transfer process, then he could receive monies back. This is totally unfair, as this is $62, showing as a credit on this account! With the high gas prices & just being in a recession, who can afford to overpay because of someone's mistake and then have this business further delay by giving you back your money on their terms and convenience? We all have to deal with the DMV from time to time, just make sure you are clear of the calculation of fees, prior to paying them. This agent at this location was probably new and is still clueless as to the mistake that was made. This buyer is now left to pay for this agent's mistake.... read more

If I could give a 1/2 star I would! We all know the dmv is not fun nor are any of them ever a good experience in customer service but particularly this location I wanted to speak about because I have been here three times , and all three times something has gone wrong and I have had to follow up to correct the issue . I don't have time to go in length on the problems but one was a license that was never received another was a ticket paid which was not accounted for and another was a new photo that I had to take which was actually taken wrong it was so close up that my chin was actually cut off from the photo . I remember being rushed and hurried through the photo that day but how can you get a picture that bad ? My head is like looking at a magnifying glass every time I have to use my drivers license ! There is also always a bum outside begging for something but that is more the location than their fault I guess ! read more