Department of Motor Vehicles

I’d heard great things about this place from a few different people and decided to give it a try to renew my Driver’s License. I was dreading it and braced myself for a typical 3-​hour long DMV process.
I arrived Thursday morning at 7:35 (without an appointment) and there was about 35 people ahead of me in line. At 8:00 when the doors opened, there were about 35 people waiting behind me. Once inside it was clean and organized and we were given clear instructions on which line to go in. The lady at the first desk was pleasant, efficient, kind and fired off rapid instructions one person after another. She was polite and obviously takes great pride in her work and tried to make the DMV experience as pleasant as she could make it for everyone.
While waiting for my number, I went to use the restrooms which were cleaned and well stocked. The waiting room was clean, comfortable and pleasant. A few windows later and I walked out refreshed at 9:22.
Not your typical DMV nightmare experience filled with unhappy employees. Worth the drive and miles to the Southernmost City in Orange County.

Julie was the GREATEST! She was super positive towards my daughter (taking her 1^st drive test) and even went over some of the questions to get her self-​esteem ready. We all know the negative things said about the «DMV», but that was not our experience! Thank you Julie!

OK, I like this DMV far better than the one in Laguna Hills, so one extra star… but…
Got there and waited about 30 minutes to get a ticket so that I could get called. After I got my ticket, I think I waited about 2 long hours. I then stepped up and got handled in 30 seconds.
There are 15 service windows in this DMV. Only 2 and ½ attendants were at any of the windows with over 100 people waiting. Why 2 ½? Because every 45 minutes or so, one of the three attendants would just get up and head to the break room. In one case, two of them left at the same time, leaving just one guy to handle the crowd. Lots of other DMV employees were just chit-​chatting, shuffling papers, etc. Seems no thought whatsoever of just sitting down in one of the booths to help handle the crowd. After something like 30 minutes, the attendant taking a break would shuffle back to their desk and open up for service again. Best case had 3 attendants actually working simultaneously.
This is government work to the highest degree. You’ve got your benefits and job security so why kill yourself? Heck, just take another coffee break. The heck with the 100 slobs waiting all day for service. This is the DMV after all right? Would you actually expect these people to work hard?

Very proficient DMV.
Bobbi is an absolute amazing tech
She is beyond excellent and kind.
She has the rare combination of sweet personality and smarter than you knowledge that are hard to find anywhere much less the DMV
Excellent visits with two exceptions
1) heavyset Latino outside doing drive tests made me feel that he might like to flirt with the gals getting their drive tests and licenses it seems. He is quite full of himself and puts an attitude out like he hates his job. Could just be my complete misjudgment since I don’t know him and barely met him.
2) another tech, mr g queen needs a vacation or maybe a colonic. He’s one of the least personable people I’ve met all year. Luckily the year’s almost over.
It’s not smart to go to the DMV for your warm and fuzzy recharge so I guess friendly is optional.

I had a wonderful experience with Diane she was very professional and provided quick service. Then I went outside and my car had been vandalized. An object like a knife had been put through the hood of my car. If you have cameras then please email me at
. The date was Dec 2 2015

Make an appointment have everything you need, and a good attitude and be courteous and it will make it an easy experience, was in and out in twenty minutes.

This DMV location was like a dream come true! I showed up, without an appointment around 10:30am. No one in the non-​appointment line, about 2people in the appointment line. I was sitting with a number within 5 minutes. This location is super clean and relaxing. I usually go to the Laguna Hills one, and always wait for about 3 hours, am frustrated the whole time and leave with a headache and hating life. I’m so glad I drove the extra 20 mins to San Clemente. I had an enjoyable time, the employees were cordial, and I was out of there in 1 hour. Highly recommended. I’ll come to this one from now on.

Faster than most other DMV’s in the area…
My recommendation is to get here at least one hour before they open which is 8 o’clock certain days and 9 AM other days.
Trust me I t’s worth it to get here that extra hour early and save yourself a couple extra hours of time!
Better yet, if there is ANY way you can go to AAA instead I would highly recommend that.
Otherwise, if you’re within a 45 mile radius this is probably your best bet for a DMV; they’re re pretty fast compared all other DMV’s locally.
Tip: if the parking lot is full, hang it up and choose a different day or make an appointment.
Appointments will save you a bunch of time but you’re looking at a delay in getting your stuff done of about three weeks (in my experience) usually so if you have the flexibility an appointment is certainly the way to go… you can schedule it on the website or by telephone and it will save you a lot of time waiting to get to the help window.
It’s like fast pass at a theme park, without the highway robbery fees.
Even better — take the train or Über.

I gave this review 3 stars there are some very professional and patient people who work here, and others well let’s just say this is the complete wrong job for them!

I’m really disappointed with today’s interaction with the San Clemente DMV.
I showed up with no appointment to get a temporary handicap placard due to a broken foot over the weekend that I’m going into surgery for tomorrow. Tough to plan for that one, right? I wait through the long «no appointment» line watching tons of «appointment» visitors gleefully wizzing through the appointment line while I’m on crutches and a cast in pain. I finally get to the «Start Here» desk and tell him I’m here to get a temporary handicap placard and he gives me my number and to take a seat.
Almost 2 hours and 30 minutes later I’m called up.
Very nice lady that proceeds to charge me $ 6.00. No problem.
So I get to the «Inventory» line to get my placard and I’m one person away from the front after waiting for a bit standing in that line and the lady asks me to come to the front because I’m handicapped. She proceeds to tell me that if I had told them I was handicapped that I would not have had to wait in any lines and would have been called to the first available teller.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
I DID TELL THEM FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!
THE CRUTCHES, CAST AND GRUNTS OF PAIN WERE’T A BIG ENOUGH CLUE?

Bad service, is not the first time I go there!
Need better workers :/​
People there are unprofessional starting with the driver instructors…
I know a lot of people will agree !! :)

I actually have an appointment to renew my DL at the Costa Mesa DMV, but since I will be leaving town soon for an extended period I decided to check out a few DMVs in the area. Oh, I had ordered the DL44 form through the DMVs automated phone service just to get everything prepared (as advised by many Unilocalers on here), but it never came. I then decided just to keep checking the wait times on the DMV website throughout the day to see which ones had the shortest. Oh boy, I thought! Santa Ana had less than a 10 minute wait time at 11.30am… for no appointment… I’d better rush over there, I thought! Gosh, the parking lot was packed with cars driving round and round waiting for a spot to open up… and as soon as one did, it would be snatched up in a blink of an eye. I decided to forget this place and headed to the Laguna Hills branch. Wow, what a nice neighborhood with gorgeous views… totally different from the rather ghetto Santa Ana branch. There was plenty of parking, but the line was out the door. Then came along a security guy handing out forms… Oh cool, just what I needed! So I asked for a DL44 form, and left.
Earlier today, I decided to take a nice drive down to the San Clemente DMV since I’d read such positive reviews about it. Once I got there at around 3.10pm, small parking lot was crowded, but there were still a few nice parking spots open… so I just parked and headed into the office. There was no one in the appointment line and the no-​appointment was about ¾ of the way to the door… not too bad. With one guy checking people in, the no appointment line was zipping smoothly by, interrupted only by 6 – 7 people with appointments who suddenly came in and held us up for a few minutes. The check in clerk seemed to be nice and fair and took turns calling the appointment people, then the no appointment people, then the people who were in line and had to go fill out forms by the side. I got to the check in desk within 15 minutes even though the website was still reading a 1hr 20mins wait time. The waiting area was about half full, so not bad at all.
So here’s the kicker. When I was checked at the first desk, I was told they would require a print out of a record from the customs and border patrol website (long story), and I could come back once I had this. I wasn’t upset at all… even thought it meant having to drive all the way back to Irvine and to come back the next day as it was better to be safe than sorry. I really appreciated that the check in rep was so knowledgeable and gave me this information to make sure that everything went smoothly.
Once I had this, I expect it was just a matter of sitting around and waiting to have the DL renewal application processed, take the eye test, etc. Judging by how fast I reached the check in desk even though the wait times was shown to be much longer, I’m sure waiting for the rest of the process to go just as fast and smoothly.
This DMV looked nice and clean… and organized like what others Unilocalers had observed. AT least I’ve been here once today already and now don’t feel so terrified about coming back again tomorrow.
Oh! I noticed the person in front of me up at the check in desk was turned away after having waited in line for 45 minutes. The rep pointed to a notice behind her which stated a new DMV rule effective December 2014, that all applicants for first time California DLs (whether new or transferring from out of state) are BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. i.e. no walk ins. You may want to call in to confirm this however.

Get it together guys! I had previously written an extensive review when I realized that I had named someone and that with the info I had given he may possibly be reprimanded or fired.
Thing is, I was told after my first visit that I wouldn’t need an appt for my next visit to resolve the matter. Was not told correctly and wasted another 2.5 hrs of my day.
The disheartening thing is that this used to be a really really good office and now it’s just like every other one.

Like everyone, I dread visiting the DMV. This one seems a bit more organized, which made my experience better. Everyone was nice and even though we had to wait for our numbers to be called, it wasn’t too terrible of a wait.
Did have to pay $ 47 instead of $ 27 because the front person (not the person who gave me paperwork to fill out; that one went on break) gave me the incorrect information, but what can you do?
The only thing I’d recommend is having 2 people at the front instead of 1. When appointments arrive, bust them out and then go back to the walk-​ins. I’m sure it would help make the single front person not feel as overwhelmed.