But Officer ...

May 11, 2008 9:02 PM

The Unofficial Guide to the DMV ― This web site was created to provide easy-to-access information and resources for all your Department of Motor Vehicles needs for all 50 states. Details about driver’s licenses, driving records and ID cards, as well as vehicle registrations, title transfers, bills of sale and smog checks are available here.

DMV.ORG also offers information you wouldn't think of getting from the Department of Motor Vehicles. You’ll find guides to buying a new car, ways to order a vehicle history report, and links to auto insurance. Got a traffic ticket? DMV.ORG teaches you about online traffic schools, as well as driver's ed courses for new drivers. You can also use DMV.ORG for information about lemon laws and important updates on safety recalls.

It isn't all legalese, forms and publications though. Don't miss the fun stuff section that includes several links to interesting license plates and cop jokes for example. This is one content rich, useful site. Sorry, U.S. only.

posted by netbros (12 comments total)

"All our information has been researched and written by our team of fellow New Mexicons"

Yeah. Is that a typo?

Anyway, this isn't very authentic. Where do I take a number, wait for at least an hour and then get treated with indifference and hostility? Where do I go to feel the enormous weight of the state crushing down on my insignificant and weak flesh?
posted by krinklyfig at 9:21 PM on May 11

I just wish they would all agree on a name. Department of Motor Vehicles? Motor Vehicle Division? Registration and Licensing Office? Bureau of Driver Services? Then you have Illinois, where it's ... get this ... the Secretary of State.

And while we're at it, can we all agree on a standard term for alcohol-influenced driving? Is it Driving While Intoxicated, or Operating While Intoxicated? Is it While Intoxicated, or Under the Influence? And is it Intoxicated or Impaired? Not even worth addressing the Commonwealth "drink driving", which seems to have the grammar of someone under the influence.
posted by dhartung at 9:27 PM on May 11

Yay federalism!
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 9:38 PM on May 11

It's not the DMV, it's the Registry.
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 9:38 PM on May 11

Metafilter; Where do I take a number, wait for at least an hour, and then get treated with indifference and hostility?
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 9:54 PM on May 11

You're already here.
posted by crapmatic at 10:01 PM on May 11

"Drink Driving"? How British of them. I would have expected better of the Commonwealth. It does sound terribly silly, but then, so do lots of British terms and slang (and I'm sure plenty Americanism sound silly to them, too).

Useful site, assuming the information is reasonably accurate. Must research which state would allow me to renew an expired license (NY) from abroad, that I can then convert to a Swiss license. (that would be the state of dream on, I'm sure).
posted by Goofyy at 2:33 AM on May 12

Not bad. I found an answer there in 10 seconds that I was unable to find at all on the official DMV homepage, nor could get answered on the phone and ended up having to drive in and ask in person.
posted by stbalbach at 6:11 AM on May 12

Never had any problems with the Texas DPS.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:29 AM on May 12

With all due respect to the site's creators, I did recently come across it when searching for change of registration, license and insurance information and wrote it off as a Google ad trap.

Under the main drill-down navigation for a particular state, two of the ten links go to the same place under the names "Auto Insurance Quotes" and "Car Insurance Quotes." This doesn't make my life easier -- it theoretically makes the site more searchable by Google and increases the paths available for them to get insurance referral revenue.

Ultimately, I used my new state's DMV site -- it had no ads, I had no reason to question its credibility and though it was complex, each link pointed to one place and that one place had the appropriate information.
posted by VulcanMike at 8:22 AM on May 12

I only looked at vehicle registrations in Colorado.
Not accurate and not useful at all.
This "County Motor Vehicle Titles and Registrations Offices around the State" from the Colorado DMV site says it all.
You register your car a county office and not a state office.
posted by davebarnes at 8:40 AM on May 12

Content rich and useful? Pepsi blue?

In my experience, the subject web site does nothing but clutter up google results when I'm searching for REAL information from the New Jersey DMV.

In fact, it's so bad that I now specifically exclude this site when I'm searching DMV stuff.
posted by de void at 9:00 AM on May 12