Last December I posted about the Democrats zeal in having the state take over health care in California. In an effort to be clever and make the point of how terrible it would be having bureaucrats make decisions about our health care, I titled the post "The Health Care Challenge — or — If You Love The DMV, You’ll Love Government Run Health Care". I concluded it writing "If we let the government take it over, we’ll get the same loving care as we get at the DMV" 

I thought I’d made a pretty good point, and I discovered I also hit a nerve at the DMV. Lo and behold, George Valverde – the Director of the DMV – commented immediately: 

The debate over a statewide health care system aside, Sen. Jim Battin’s comparison to the DMV is misplaced (The health care challenge – or if you love the DMV, you’ll love government run health care, 12/12/06 blog in FlashReport). Over the past three years, the DMV has achieved remarkable results in creating a customer-friendly atmosphere. We have retooled several internal processes, provided a number of new service options that allow Californians to conduct their business without having to visit a DMV office, and have utilized the DMV Web site to provide ready access so customers can do business with the department on their time, not ours. 

The comment concluded…… 

We certainly invite Sen. Battin to experience the new and improved DMV, either at home at his convenience, or at one of our field offices. (Bold is my emphasis) 

Sincerely, 

GEORGE VALVERDE 
Director 
California Department of Motor Vehicles 

An invitation! A challenge to come see for myself all the great things happening at the DMV. 

Something I could hardly pass up. 

Well, today – instead of getting the dog and pony show with all the DMV mucky-mucks showing a "Senator" what great things were going on – I did it like everyone else. I went as a tax-paying citizen with a need for a service. 

Today, my daughter Bailey took her driving test! 

Here’s my report: 

We did everything we were supposed to do. She took her driving class, passed her written test, practiced with her parents, paid all her fees and we scheduled (and confirmed) an appointment for her driving test. 

We thought – hey, this has to work just like a doctor’s office and unless you are there early, then it’s going to back up and we’ll wait forever. So, we planned ahead and scheduled the driving test for 9am – the very first appointment, right when they opened. 

We got there at 8:50 am (so we were early) – we even had all our paperwork (so we were prepared). 

And we waited…..and waited………and waited……..and waited…..and waited…..until our confirmed, first appointment of the day at 9am, turned into a 10:14am actual test. 

An hour and fourteen minutes of waiting for a seven minute driving test. 

Now, to be fair here, there were two other people that went ahead of us. Another 9am appointment and a 9:15am appointment (don’t get me started why an appointment for 15 minutes after ours should go ahead of us!). But there were also TWO DMV testers – and, like I said the test took about seven minutes, so why on earth did we wait over an hour? 

So, Director Valverde, let me extend an invitation to you. I certainly invite you to stop by my office and detail all the customer service improvements at the DMV at your convenience. I can then explain it all to my daughter (who was late to her math class) and to all my constituents who I hear from regularly. 

To conclude, I proudly stand by my previous health care post – DMV jibe and all. 

BTW – Bailey passed her test with flying colors! Congrats to her :)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.