DMV reopens 25 offices Friday for limited, urgent service

The California Department of Motor Vehicles plans to reopen 25 field offices beginning Friday, officials announced.

According to a Thursday announcement, Bay Area offices will open for limited services in San Francisco, Concord, Oakland, the San Jose Driver License Processing Center and Santa Rosa. All DMV offices have been closed since March 27 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The hours of operation will be Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the exception of Wednesday when offices open at 9 a.m.

DMV employees will practice physical distancing while serving customers with appointments and Californians who need to complete transactions that can only be done at an office.

Services to be provided include:

• Paying registration for a vehicle that has been impounded due to registration issues
• Reinstating a suspended or revoked driver’s license
• Applying for a reduced or no fee identification card
• Processing commercial driver license transactions
• Applying for a disabled person placard
• Adding an ambulance certificate or firefighter endorsement to a driver license
• Verifying a transit training document to drive a transit bus
• Processing DMV Express customers for REAL ID transactions, if time and space allows

Customers entering any of the opened DMV offices are required to wear a face covering and stand 6 feet apart while waiting in line, officials said.

Additionally, customers can receive a text message that will allow them to wait outside until it is their turn.

DMV offices will provide handwashing stations for customers and a number of supplies for employees like disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, masks and gloves.

The DMV has set up a virtual office customers can use for online transactions that were previously required to be completed in person.

Officials urge customers to only visit field offices for urgent needs until further notice.

Jerold Chinn

Jerold serves as a reporter and San Francisco Bureau Chief for SFBay covering transportation and occasionally City Hall and the Mayor's Office in San Francisco. His work on transportation has been recognized by the San Francisco Press Club. Born and raised in San Francisco, he graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism. Jerold previously wrote for the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit, noncommercial news organization. When not reporting, you can find Jerold taking Muni to check out new places to eat in the city.