NC DMV hopes summer hiring spree shortens lines and wait times
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- DMV hired 64 examiners within 30 days to address long wait times statewide.
- Some new hires will temporarily staff existing offices until new locations open in 2025.
- Legislature lifted 20-year staffing cap, funding 85 total examiner positions over two years.
A month after the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles got permission to expand its workforce, the agency has hired 64 new examiners for its understaffed driver’s license offices.
The pace of hiring reflects the urgency of North Carolina officials to address one of the most glaring failings of state government: the long lines and wait times at DMV offices.
Data compiled by the DMV this summer found customers waited to be served an average of 2 hours and 45 minutes once they checked in. The wait times at busy offices in the Triangle, Charlotte and other urban areas often exceeded that.
Gov. Josh Stein signed a bill Aug. 6 that authorized the DMV to hire 40 new license examiners for existing offices this year and 24 more for new offices in Brunswick, Cabarrus, Sampson and Wake counties. Stein then got on the phone to DMV commissioner Paul Tine telling him that he needed to hire those people within 30 days.
“Which is unheard of inside of state government and government in general,” Tine said last week.
The mandate allowed the DMV to reach out to the Department of Commerce and Office of State Human Resources to help organize job fairs across the state and screen and interview candidates quickly, Tine said.
“We have moved mountains,” he said. “Because when the legislature gives us resources, we’re going to put them to work.”
Stein acknowledged the hiring in a social media post Sunday.
“We have a lot of work to do to fix the DMV,” he wrote on X. “I am proud of the team for taking just one month to fill every single one of this year’s examiner positions funded by the mini-budget I signed. And I appreciate the legislature’s appropriation. Now it’s time to get those new employees to work.”
The 24 examiners hired for new offices will be used at existing locations until the new ones open, said DMV spokesman Marty Homan.
The DMV doesn’t know yet when the new offices will open. The Wake County office will be in Fuquay-Varina, and the Brunswick office will be in the Leland area, across the river from Wilmington. The DMV hasn’t found locations for the Cabarrus and Sampson offices yet, Homan said.
General Assembly determines size of DMV workforce
State law had set a cap of 568 full-time employees at the DMV’s 115 driver’s license offices statewide. That number had not changed in over 20 years, even as the state’s population had grown by about 2.5 million people.
Last winter, the agency said it needed another 61 workers to fully staff each of the computer terminals in its existing offices. It also asked for permission and money to hire another 24 examiners to open new offices in fast-growing areas. Stein included those numbers in his budget proposal to lawmakers.
Senate Republicans were not persuaded and approved a budget in April with no new positions for the agency.
A month later, though, the House did include Stein’s request in its version of the budget. And after State Auditor Dave Boliek, a Republican, determined in June that indeed the DMV was understaffed, both chambers of the General Assembly agreed on a budget bill that included new positions for the agency.
Boliek weighed in Monday to say he was happy lawmakers were starting to act on the recommendations of a fuller audit his office completed this summer.
“Our team will keep working on behalf of North Carolina to fix the DMV,” he wrote on X. “Thank you also to the NC Legislature for leading on the funding front.”
The mini budget bill includes money to hire 97 driver’s license examiners the DMV — 64 this year and an additional 33 next year. That includes the 61 people the agency says it needs to fully staff its current offices, plus 36 for new offices.
When the bill was signed, the DMV was already working to fill 18 vacancies in its driver’s license offices, a relatively small number for an agency with high turnover and a vacancy rate that topped 25% during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tine said the additional examiners will give it one per computer terminal, which still isn’t enough.
“That doesn’t allow for sick leave or vacation and all those other things,” he said. “So we’re still not where we need to be, but it’s certainly better than where we were.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2025 at 11:44 AM with the headline "NC DMV hopes summer hiring spree shortens lines and wait times."
