When you call the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the first thing you are told is that you could schedule an appointment to talk about your motoring needs. Before you even receive access to the voice directory, you have to listen to 30 seconds of promotion about appointments. This makes it clear that they would prefer you schedule an appointment and then talk to someone, but if you can make it through the spiel, you will be able to hear options. The good news is that at the end of this, you do have the option to talk to an operator who is a real person and seems to be based in the United States.
The directory options are pretty clear-cut. The recording goes through each option in detail and lists many different situations that could prompt someone to call. For instance, for general information about the New Hampshire DMV callers can press 1, while for information about a ticket, suspended license, driving record, and other things that are related to licensing a caller can press option 2. The downside is that if your reason for calling does not match any of the above, you will have to wait a while to talk to an operator. It took 2 minutes and 38 seconds for the recording to end and the official wait time to talk to a real person to begin.
While the recording seemed extensive, it wasn’t unreasonable given the many different tasks and problems the New Hampshire DMV deals with. I was willing to wait through the options because they did not seem superfluous or unreasonable. It would have been nice if there had been the option to speak to an operator, as I had to listen to another promotion for making an appointment before it finally told me that I was on hold to speak to an operator. However, I didn’t mind waiting a few minutes.
The overall wait wasn’t bad because once I got to the point where I was on hold for an operator I only had to wait a few minutes to talk to someone. When they answered they spoke clear English and were able to offer me a quick answer. I explained my situation with my car title, and they promptly looked up my record and offered me advice about how to file a lost car title claim. They spent just as much time with me as I did waiting to talk to them, so in the end, I didn’t feel I wasted any time calling instead of making an appointment. Despite everyone’s jokes about the DMV, I felt their customer service was adequate and knowledgeable.