Good customer service at NC DMV? Here’s how the agency says it will get there.
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- DMV unveils 2026–2030 strategic plan to improve customer service.
- Targets: 50% online transactions, 15‑minute average wait, 85% satisfaction.
- Plan includes tech consolidation, digital IDs, public dashboard and improved retention.
Since he took office in May, Division of Motor Vehicles commissioner Paul Tine has said he wants his agency to be known for its good customer service, rather than as a source of dread and frustration.
On Tuesday, he released a plan for how to get there.
The 35-page strategic plan outlines dozens of steps the DMV expects to take by the end of 2030 to better serve customers and reduce the long lines and wait times that have become common at its driver’s license offices.
They range from straightforward moves such as opening new offices and expanding office hours to the more technical and long-term, such as offering digital licenses and ID cards and establishing an “NCDMV Innovation Lab” to develop and test “new customer service improvements.”
Tine says the plan will not only guide what DMV does over the next five years, but also show the public and others outside the agency what to expect.
“We want them to understand where we’re headed and that there’s a lot of great stuff coming that will benefit our customers,” he said. “And we want to hold ourselves accountable by being very transparent.”
Plan outlines seven primary objectives
The DMV will focus on seven priorities:
- Build a streamlined digital experience. Key goal: Increase the portion of DMV transactions performed online to 50%, up from 31% today.
- Improve physical offices, staffing and service mix. Key goal: Reduce average wait times at driver’s license offices to 15 minutes, down from 110 minutes now.
- Simplify the policies and rules that guide our work. Key goal: All state laws and codes that apply to the DMV will be reviewed and recommendations made for improvements.
- Streamline processes and automate transactions. Key goal: 75% of callers to the DMV’s call center will have their issue resolved on the first call.
- Modernize and secure technology systems. Key goal: Replace five cumbersome, 30-year-old computer systems with one that brings all of a person’s driver’s license, vehicle and insurance records in one place.
- Empower our entire team to be more customer-focused. Key goal: Achieve a customer satisfaction score of 85%.
- Create a great place to work: Key goal: Achieve an employee satisfaction score of 75% and reduce turnover by achieving a 95% voluntary retention rate.
That last goal will directly benefit customers, Tine says, by ensuring the person behind the counter or on the phone feels supported and not overworked.
“The only way to be a great customer service organization is to have employees who are happy to be there and want to be there,” he said.
In addition to customer and employee surveys, the DMV will soon introduce a public dashboard with data showing the agency’s performance in key areas such as wait times and how long each transaction takes at the counter.
The new strategic plan follows an earlier five-year plan the DMV adopted in 2019. That plan also aimed to help the agency improve customer service and better support employees, though it fell short on several measures, including wait times.
Tine says he’s confident the agency will meet the goals set out in the new plan, in part because the DMV’s poor track record in recent years has galvanized support for meaningful changes. Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek and lawmakers from both parties are focused on improving a state agency that most residents must deal with at some point.
“We have some good resources. We’ve got a mandate. We’ve got goodwill of the public because they want us to succeed, so now is the absolute right time to get moving,” he said. “All everybody wants is for us to be successful, which is a great position to be in.”
To read the DMV’s 2026-2030 strategic plan, go to bit.ly/48hKGaj.
This story was originally published November 25, 2025 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Good customer service at NC DMV? Here’s how the agency says it will get there.."
