A problem with the computer system at the DMV caused extreme delays at multiple San Diego County offices Monday, days after the Governor called for an audit of the department.
The DMV has already added more employees and extended operating hours this year, but those improvements weren’t much help when, according to the branch manager at the Chula Vista office, the system used to process driver's licenses went down for at least 20 minutes.
Carolin Williams went into the Chula Vista office at around 8 a.m. to get a new ID. Noon came around and she was still waiting.
A manager at the Clairemont office confirmed their system was down for about five minutes but it didn't affect wait times.
"I had everything prepared,” Alex Tan said. “I guess it took me like an hour and a half which I guess is sort of expected.”
A spokesperson for the DMV in Sacramento said several branches had system issues Monday but could not say which ones. Offices in Rancho San Diego, Chula Vista and Clairemont were affected.
The spokesperson also said that the department couldn’t be sure the issue was fixed, meaning the system could go down again.
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If it does, drivers have one option.
"Be prepared to be here for a few hours,” Cristina Nicona advised.
Some branches in San Diego are now open on Saturdays and some now open at 7 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. But even with the extra help, staff will have to keep working with the aging technology, which may be to blame for problems like the one the department experienced Monday.
We'll have to wait for the full state audit to find out, which officials in Sacramento say will be ready by March of 2019.
State officials hope the results will give them an idea as to what is wrong and what still needs to be fixed.
