First of all the wait time is horrible, why even make an appointment! Also the employees at law room are rude and not helpful. They do not know how to talk to customers. A supervisor (chen) i think her name is, she is very rude would not let you speak and instead of taking ownership for her team's mistakes she blames it all on you! Horrible place to go too! read more

Try to transfer a foreign country license to a MD license and you will know what is like to be discriminated at the MVA. I have never in my life being treated this poorly by employees that are supposed to be serving MD residents and not making their lives miserable. I went on a Sat and I spent 3 hours on line + waiting for my ticket to be called...only two employees at the front desk! when they finally called my ticket, they told me that the MVA had recently changed regulations about foreign licenses and now they check if the license is deposited in a data base they have...if it is not, they consider your license is not valid. I had an international driver license, validated by Geneva convention 1949, which many countries including US signed to unify driving regulations...it didn't matter, my license was not in the data bank, hence it is fake. They asked me to request a driving record and a letter from my embassy to authenticate the record and with all that they might believe me I have held a driving license before. For the record, I still have to pass all the exams, they are not waiving me anything...this is just to probe I have held a driving license before and I don't need a learners permit...seriously? so, well, I requested my driving record ($), I had it translated to english by one of the 200 official approved translators validated by the country for legal documents ($$$), had it ship from my country as official document express ($), went to my embassy and asked for an authentication letter ($$)...and went again to the MVA. Another 3 hours in line (Saturday). When they finally called my ticket and they checked the documents that YES I have had and have a driving license, I don't need a learners permit...they told me that they won't accept it because it wasn't translated to English by one of their own translators!!!!!! that the new regulation for foreign licenses says so...I asked the woman to print for me that regulation, she said she did not have it. I asked her please to consider my documents, and she refused...and got up and left me there...she abandoned her desk and left me there. So yeah, I had to call many people in the list they have of "official translators"...payed $80 for one peace of paper (total cost for driving record = $300). The translator didn't even put a seal in the translation, just signed it and added MVA approved translator...not like my previous translator that used official matriculated seal... Now I have to try again...lets see what they say now...will I be able to prove to them that I have held a driving license before and I don;t need a learners permit....next chapter of MVA torture!! read more

Staff including supervisors at this DMV accurately represent the stereotype "true government worker". Very poor customer service. Their phrase of the day is "you should do it online or go to kiosk". What is the purpose of paying them with our tax dollars if they are just going to just sit there and send people to the kiosks? read more

A few years ago I had to go to the MVA in Gaithersburg. I was in the military and during my stint in Japan my California driver's license expired therefore I had to come to this MVA to get a new driver's license for the State of Maryland. There is usually a waiver for all military members who have been out of the country and have had their license expire at the time they were out of country serving the USA. A co-worker and I went to the MVA one early Saturday morning and fought the crowds until we were finally seen at the "sorting desk". At the time I had just moved to my new apartment and only been residing in the state of Maryland for about two weeks. I gave the lady all my information and paperwork which they required (another form of ID, papers documenting that I am a resident of Maryland, bank statements, renters insurance, et cetera). We also stated that I am in the military. The lady said that we needed more paperwork documenting my proof of residence in Maryland. We asked her about the military waiver and she raised her shoulders at us and told us they don't honor the military waiver anymore and shrugged us aside and called up for the next customer in line. I had to wain one more month until the necessary documents came in the mail which were the utility bills. As if my lease with my name and the address here in Maryland along with my renters insurance with the same information was not enough to pursued them to allow me to continue that day to obtain my driver's license. We left the MVA disappointed, upset, and angered by the MVA process. It got to the point that I was cursing the lady (whom was of Middle Eastern background) in my head. I was like, "Seriously, I've been driving longer than this &%$#en lady has even been living in the United States." I finally got my second chance a month later when I had all the "required" documents available. I was finally passed through the "sorting desk" and was given a number and I was able to finally go get my driver's license. It took me two and a half hours to even be seen by one of the MVA reps at their counter. Obtaining a driver's license in the State of Maryland is a major headache and inconvenience. An illegal alien can become an American Citizen faster than the process of trying to get an driver's license in Maryland. A complete waste of time! I am glad that I will only be residing here for a couple of years. I'll be glad to leave this state with all their retarded road rules, extremely slow highway speed limits, bull shit speed camera, and other scams this state has on their motorists. Maryland... bad state for driving and equally bad drivers too. Good riddance. read more

This place is terrible and the epitome of inefficiency. It is crowded and the people seem to intensely hate their jobs.

Ms. Augusta waited on me needs complete customer service training,she is in a wrong career. I usually don't complain about anyone especially people who directly deal with customers, but today Ms. Augusta made me do that, she has some racial problem the way she was talking to me. I was there for my disability permit, she was talking to me as if I was wasting her time. She did not assist me at all in fact she left in the middle of our conversation and told her coworker to take her place. She was rude, insensitive and was not able to even do her job. read more

Went there on Wednesday, 5/16 around 2 pm, to renew my DL. Overall, nothing to complain about, from the time I entered the front entrance, to the moment I left the building, it took less than 30 min. read more

This place has it all. I took my grandson here on Tuesday morning and the wait was about 10 minutes to register a new car (Dodge Stratus) and another 5 or 10 minutes for him to get a new license and take a picture. I observed mothers casually using the nice facilities designed to nurse their children in private. The lady at the desk was nice and even spoke German. She was able to answer a few of my grandson's questions regarding his high school German homework. Afterward we took a picture together and tweeted it @MVAALLDAY. A policeman with a gun gave us lollipops (orange and grape) as we left. Pretty much as good as you can get. Also a small kid shouted "the drinking fountains have chocolate milk" but when I went to check, it was only water! read more

Worst experience ever! After passing my CDL permit exam I went to agent to pay & finalize paperwork to have my permit mailed I noticed on the info on the screen read apt 30 instead 301 as it should of so I mentioned it to agent he said "good thing u noticed let's fix that" so he made me take ANOTHER PHOTO then he supposedly put the correct apt # and somehow they STILL Mailed it to apt 30 and I never received my permit as I'm still waiting. After calling & speaking with numerous ppl they're all very dismissive & tell u to go back to the MVA & take care of it as if ppl don't have jobs to attend mon-fri... The Gaithersburg MVA staff are barley knowledgeable of their own computer systems & have poor communication skills.. Do better! read more

I cannot believe how awful this place is. It takes a good month MINIMUM to get a licence appointment, and the new licence test is crazy! I couldn't take my test because one of my rear windows doesn't roll down, but how does that affect the car's performance???? Anyway, when I went again I couldn't pass because of the absurdly long list of reasons that constitute instant failure, which is caused by crossing a line, touching a cone, not craning your head far enough, and many other petty reasons. I am furious because I have had my permit for over a year and have done plenty beltway driving, and back-in and parallel parking in real life, yet I cannot pass this silly, inapplicable-to-real-life test AND I have to wait a month to retake it because it's ALWAYS booked! read more

it's sad that this MVA is so rude and inhospitable. My competent daughter was failed yesterday by a completely rude man because when parallel parking the rear sensors beeped. he said stop . you're done. She offered to turn them off. nope done. he said that irritates me. That ended our day after our 2 hour wait and that was WITH a scheduled appointment. Next to me was a girl who was turned away because the person who signed her papers wasn't with her, heart breakingly, her father who who had passed away. The agent said coldly come back with a death certificate. I shouldn't have been surprised. I was here years ago when i wanted to make a name change on my drivers license because i had gotten remarried ( my drivers license was in my maiden/given name) i had my marriage certificate, current valid license and social security and my US passport all in my NEW name. That wasn't enough for the person who at this MVA decided she needed my divorce papers from my first marriage. Because i was married out of state??? i had to pay legal fees to a lawyer in California to have all the documentation faxed while we waited. for a marriage that ended decades ago. it took hours of waiting and when she got the paperwork we watched her go to the back look at one page and then chat with a coworker for awhile. she came back and finally made the name change. continued to be rude and condescending. these people truly hate their job and in turn want to make your life miserable. i mean why else would this be such a hellacious place?! Done with this MVA for eternity. I will take the advice of other posters and go elsewhere. And to the recent poster who said he thinks they are racist. I think they are equal opportunity on hating everyone regardless of race, religion or creed. read more

Not even suits for a star rating.. Horrible and worst response from the lady at the front desk..

The new test for new licenses is a joke! My first two children passed the old test on the first attempt, no problem. But my most careful and very capable third child has been flunked twice. Here is what we learned: if you don't swivel your head like an owl at the four way stop you lose a point. If you don't look for cars on the closed course, as you would on a real road, you lose a point. There are fake lines on the parallel parking course -- treat them as real, or lose points. Signal, signal, signal especially if there is no one around on the closed course to see it. If your bumper touches a cone, you are finished and will not be allowed to drive your car another inch. Parents tell me that the instructors flunk the kids at least twice on principal, so that you must come again and again to pass. 80 hours of quality driving and she cannot get the car off of the closed course. It isn't a reasonable test anymore -- it is an endurance contest for families. But the taco trucks almost make up for it, almost. read more

This is the worse service I have ever had for what I thought would be a very simple update when my dad passed away. If I would give no stars, if it was an option. Even the simple requests take weeks and multiple trips to the MVA. This process started before thanksgiving. We got a notification that my mom needed to renew her registration but BEFORE she could renew the registration she needed to remove my dad's name from the title since he was deceased. This seemed simple enough in theory especially since my mom's name was on the title, registration and insurance. There was no real "sale" of a vehicle, just the removal of his name with ownership staying with the spouse who is already named on the title. Unfortunately my mom did not know where the original car title was so we had to try to get a duplicate title first. First, to be certain that I followed the appropriate MVA process and forms, I first reviewed the information on the web site. It indicated "click here" to get a duplicate title but the option did not work when a person is deceased so I called the customer service number and talked to a representative who told me what to put together (3-4 documents including the original death certificate). I happily mailed this off thinking I had plenty of time to get through the two step process to first get a reprint of the title and then remove his name so I can renew the registration. It was a little over two weeks later and I got a response in the mail that I had not included a copy of my mom's driver license...hummm first time I even heard I needed to send a photocopy of her driver's license since all of this information was on other forms already which she had signed. Well I am starting to run out of time since her registration was due to expire in 4 more weeks. I called the number on the returned letter and talked to another representative who indicated if I mailed it back they would try to return it as quickly as possible - probably another week. If this will take another week, I decide I need to make a trip to the MVA to try to get the reprint of the title. Actually, the wait was not too bad at the Gaitherburg MVA this time (around an hour) and was able to submit the request for a duplicate title which would be mailed in another 7-10 days. Okay, I am really starting to run out of time since her registration expires on December 31st and do not even have a duplicate copy of the title. The duplicate title comes in the mail around Christmas so I decide to go this week since should be able to submit the paperwork for the title and pay the registration in one trip to the MVA. I assume it might be busy since the end of the month but I do not mind as long as I get this taken care of. In the meantime, I again call the customer service number to be sure I have all of the required documentation and forms before I go to the MVA. So I arrive at the MVA at 3:30 and line up at the title information booth. The people at the information booth review my forms and tell me I need another form - Power of Attorney. I explained that I was told I did not need this form. They also basically accused me of signing my mom's name on the documents (she is 86 years old and did not want to go to the MVA). Frustrated, I demand to talk to a supervisor and got an "S" number. I am not sure but these numbers do not come up very often if you are waiting. I waited an hour to talk to a Supervisor who looked at my documentation and said it was fine and nothing else was needed. Instead of helping me with my title update and registration, she put me back in the "queue/line" and I was one of the last people to be serviced at the MVA although people arrived until 4:30. Around 5:30 they finally called my number, I was just happy to be at the "last" step in the process. I handed the information over to the new representative and she briefly looks at the document and runs over to the same supervisor I had talked to earlier. When my mom filled out the mileage, she had gently overwritten one number (she is 86 and does not write clearly). They were not crossed out. They are now accusing me of not putting the correct mileage and suggest that I call my 86 year old mom. I have her go out in the dark to the garage to try to ensure the mileage is correct...needless to say she is not very successful in the dark. I am not sure why they even questioned the mileage on an old 2004 car with 100K miles that was not being sold - just trying to remove my dead dad's name. Needless to say by 6:30 (three hours later) I am leaving the MVA with yet another form to fill out. MVA is closed on Wed/Th so need to take off work again on friday. Need to drive to mom's house since she turned on the inside car lights and can not turn them off. Also, now she can not drive her car until the MVA opens on Friday. Just started a new job so taking off so much time is difficult. read more

I just wasted over two hours of my life in this pit. I went there to change my lic from PA to MD. I had my passport, my ss card, the printout of my lease titled the lease, a copy of my MD resident insurance lic, pay stub from work and bank statement. Waited an hour and a half on the line to get my number where they checked my documents. They were cleared and I got my number, G55. I then waited another 45 minutes. Went to the booth to finish up where I was told that the paper that says the lease was not a lease. But it shows my move in day, the address, my name etc. Because the landlord did not sign it it was not valid. It was a printout from the complex. Then my passport was invalid because it showed my prior last name and I need my marriage certificate to prove the name change. I pointed out that social security changed my name on my card because I presented it there so, therefore, it is clearly a legal name change. No, logic does not exist here. I do have to say that the woman helping me was sympathetic but her supervisor would not budge. I was then told to go to her to get a fast pass so I wouldn't have to wait on the line again only to be told by her that no, she only gives those out in the event of their systems going down. She obviously enjoyed being difficult and should never be in a position of dealing with the public. My plan is to go 15 minutes before they close as that is when they seem to care about moving the line. I am so happy I called about the documents I had as well as having my documents cleared on line. I have to say that the NY DMV is better than this disgusting place. The workers are miserable and they do everything in their power to make sure you are also. read more