NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. (WKBW) — Some residents of Niagara County have been trying to book an appointment with the DMV for months, but many of them say they cannot get through.
“We can’t get through on the phone, the computer says appointments aren’t guaranteed,” one Amherst resident said.
Auto bureaus in Niagara County have been operating by appointment during the pandemic, but Suzanne Moshides, of East Amherst said good look trying to find one.
“When he went online, there were no appointments available for the next year,” she said.
But starting November 3, all New York State licenses, inspections, and registrations must be up to date.
“Now you’ve got a back load," Moshides said. "You’ve got people that have not been able to, for the last few months, get anything done. So I don’t know how they can manage it.”
But Niagara County Clerk Joseph Jastrzemski has a plan.
“Roughly we’re handling about 133 appointments a day and what we’re trying to do is double that,” he said.
Right now, DMV appointments are 30-minutes long. But starting Monday, the length of each appointment will be cut in half… 15 minutes.
“So that will take us close to 4000 more appointments a month,” Jastrzemski said.
If you’ve been struggling to find an appointment with the DMV, Jastrzemski says there are alternative options.
“You know you can drop off your plates and we’ll mail you back your certificate. If you wanna renew your registration, you can drop that off. And by allowing to have these drop boxes, that frees up appointments for people that have to come in and like I said, get their drivers licenses renewal.”
