Long wait times persist at Denver Motor Vehicle offices

Fadel Altayeb arrived at Denver’s Southeast Motor Vehicle branch at 9 a.m. hoping to replace license plates that had been stolen from his car. More than three hours later, he reached the counter only to learn he could not complete the transaction.

“Someone stole my license plates,” Altayeb said. “So I did the report in order to replace the license plates. I went after all these hours, talked to the lady down there. She says that the car is under my wife’s name.”

Altayeb said he was listed as a second owner, but his wife needed to be present to request the replacement plates. He left, picked her up and started the process again.

“I have to leave work — come out here — stay for six hours,” Altayeb said. “And then, basically, I’m not even done with whatever I come for.”

His experience reflects a problem Denver Motor Vehicle offices are still working through weeks after the city ended rotating branch closures that were introduced during a period of staffing shortages.

Beginning Aug. 3, Denver reopened all of its neighborhood Motor Vehicle offices each week as newly hired employees completed training and moved into branches. The city also converted its Tremont location into a center specifically for commercial vehicle dealers and fleets in an effort to reduce pressure on other offices.

Long lines, however, have not disappeared. 

At the Southeast branch, customers can arrive in the morning and wait hours before reaching the counter. One employee said lines regularly form before the office opens.

“We open at 7:00 a.m., and there’s a line wrapping around outside pretty much every day,” said an employee at the DMV’s Southeast Branch who agreed to speak with Bucket List under the condition of anonymity. 

Vehicle registrations, address changes and other transactions may take only minutes once a customer reaches an employee, but workers must process a much larger volume of people throughout the day.

“You can expect five workers each day,” the employee said. “We stop accepting walk-ins at 1:30 p.m., but we may move the cutoff time up due to a high volume.”

Many vehicle registration services can be completed online or at self-service kiosks, but some customers still need in-person assistance or arrive without knowing exactly what documentation their transaction requires.

The wait itself can come in stages. Customers first line up to check in before receiving a number and an automated text notifying them when their turn is approaching. At the Southeast branch, customers could be seen waiting in the parking lot and along the sidewalk with registration documents and folders in hand.

Altayeb said only three service windows appeared to be active when he was called inside.

“The windows are about three people serving,” Altayeb said. “There should be at least six people in order to move [the line].”

Staffing shortages have affected Denver’s Motor Vehicle offices for more than a year. During the worst of the shortage, city officials said the division was operating at roughly half of its intended staffing level, with average waits exceeding 90 minutes.

The city responded with rolling closures, shutting individual branches for one week every four weeks so employees could be shifted among locations. Denver ended that system in August as new hires entered the branches.

However, the end of the rotating closures doesn’t mean Denver’s Motor Vehicle staffing problems are solved. Branches may now be open consistently, but residents are still encountering long lines while the city rebuilds staffing after last year’s hiring freeze.

That recovery is also happening as Denver enters another tight budget year. Mayor Mike Johnston has said the city is no longer in the same level of fiscal crisis it faced in 2025, but he has also described many of last year’s reductions as “permanent structural changes” rather than temporary cuts that will simply be restored as revenues improve. The proposed 2027 budget keeps overall General Fund staffing near its lowest level in more than a decade.

For Denver Motor Vehicle customers, that means the return to a normal operating schedule has not necessarily meant a return to normal service. If staffing remains constrained while costs rise and customer demand stays high, waits like Altayeb’s could remain a feature of the system even without another round of branch closures.

Mike Nasution, who recently moved to Denver, said his experience registering a vehicle in Los Angeles County had been noticeably faster despite using a similar automated text system.

“LA is faster,” Nasution said. “Everybody waits almost two hours [in Denver].”

Nasution arrived at the Southeast location around 10:45 a.m. and waited outside for more than 90 minutes before registering his vehicle.

“They have like extra employees [in LA],” Nasution said. “I just see like four or five people here. The system is almost the same, like in LA, but the waiting time is much longer, you know?”

Denver officials have said bringing new employees into Motor Vehicle offices should create more consistency after months of rotating closures. The continued crowds suggest rebuilding capacity will take longer than simply reopening every branch each week.

“They have to book more employees to help with better service,” Nasution said.