Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles

Got a title transfer and registration here. As others have said, be sure to go online and research for the proper documents to bring. But even so it’s not always clear. However I’ve seen where if once you got to the front desk (handled by two of the slowest humans on earth) there are any issues with your documents or lack of, they will give you a letter or something so that when you come back the next time (another day or whenever), you do not have to stand in line but just go to the front. If you come on a Saturday (closes at 6:30pm), the line is very long! If the line goes all the way out to the mall section, you can expect to be at this DMV for at least three (3) hours before you are done with your business! The hardest part is standing in line for almost 2 hours and sometimes it gets stuffy. It’s another 30 minutes sitting inside and waiting for your number. Also there are idiots in front of you (doing title and registration too) who may hold up because they had to call someone for information and yet they were allowed to go to the sitting area.
Once your number is called, a little bit of niceness helps. Believe me– they didn’t even ask for proof of insurance or emission paper (contrary to their website). Maybe the lady was tired too!
It is better to come right before they open and stand in line than in the middle of the day, especially on weekends. We had to make a trip twice here (the first for license).
I hate to say this but stay away from the middle aged Asian lady! Luckily I didn’t get here on either of my visits. However I overheard her being very rude and impatient to a foreign guy who couldn’t understand English very well. The poor guy didn’t have any translators and it turned out that their reading machine was blurry but he didn’t how how to tell her. She was treating him like he was dumb and deaf. It took several minutes to realize the situation. You even heard her say, «I don’t have all day!» It was so painful to watch– I wished I had got up but I couldn’t translate for him either. This lady should be reprimanded. I don’t remember seeing her on my second visit.
Decided to give two stars instead of one because they have Saturday hours. However everyone and their mothers come here on the weekend!

There is nothing called «good DMV», but this one is the worst among all bad ones, waited for almost four hours with all documents needed but still got rejected for DL exchange for a stupid system error.

Worst experience ever! Came for changing the driver’s license. Waited 2 hours in the line and was told the computer is not responding and needs to come back again… The old Asian lazy who works with me (can’t remember her name) is super rude and incapable. The failure of the case may simply be caused by the incapable workforce.

Here I stand in the DMV line killing time and boredom as I try to register a minivan. Yes, I am a man who finally gave up on his dreams being young and took the minivan train. Once upon a time I had a dream of owning a Ferrari and driving down a country lane with beautiful wife, the last one came true but I own a minivan. Once upon a time when I saw a line like this was in Baghdad after the war, people filling up their gas tank after months of no fuel. I stand at the line while gazing at the Starbucks asking myself will a Café Latte make it any bitter. But wait, I can’t leave the DMV line if I leave it now I will have to write another review. The security guard at the DMV walking back and forth trying to avoid eye contact with the angry villager who would love to take it down like Randy Marsh did in a episode of South Park.
There is a beautiful lady in the line, but I am a married man who drives a minivan.
P.S, get your Starbucks before standing here, consume coffee not your life.

This DMV earns an epic fail but succeeds in frustration. Inefficiency and advanced slow motion. If I didn’t know any better, I could easily think I was in the senior citizen lane of the grocery store.
Day 2 at the DMV
would you believe I got the same number ticket a the day before.
Not to self, if you need to go to the DMV, avoid Monday because everyone needs to go to the DMV on Monday.
Today is Tuesday, much less people. Upgrade star to 3.

Opening hours: mon — sat, 10 am-​6pm (if i remember it correctly)
Didn’t see any signs for sunday working hour although their website said 11am-​6pm.
They are literally next to JC Penney (lower level), close to the kids playground.
Important: Do come early as you WILL queue. The mall is open at 9am.
I came at 10am on time and got my ticket around 1 hour later. Got my number called after sitting for 40mins (+/​-​), process took 15 mins.
You should really do your research (go to their website) before you go to the DMV as to what documents you should bring for any of your needs.

I just transferred a car title and registered it. I arrived around 6:00 on a Monday night, got my ticket in about 10 minutes and waiting about 30 min after that. I was expecting a much longer wait after the hours and hours I spent at the Arlington DMV office but the tickets are called fairly quickly. There is limited seating but that was expected. At the desk the manager spoke to me, asked me how the experience was, etc. which really helps. I don’t understand all the angry reviews, I guess it just depends on when you visit.

Avoid at all costs and don’t believe the wait times online. It said there was a 20 minute wait and I got here in 5 min but have been waiting for an hour and 50 min already. Person that was in front of me in line left, oddly the person behind me was served before either of us.
This place serves ppl out of order and makes you wait forever even if the Internet says otherwise.

So I just moved to Virginia from Maryland… and I was dreading going to the DMV to change licenses and get cars registered — expecting to wait for hours and find surly staff…
Well I have never been so pleasantly surprised… We arrived at 9:45am and there was a long line waiting to get into the DMV…
Once they opened though — the line moved pretty fast…
The Info desk clerks were friendly and knowledgeable — they made sure we had all the right documents and gave us our numbers…
We sat down and began filling out the forms… and we got called before we finished the forms.
The staff taking care of our actual transactions were very efficient and helpful…
All in all — we changed over two drivers licenses and titled/​registered a car in less than an hour.
We would have finished sooner but they had trouble with the credit card reader at the window… so took longer to pay for things.
We went on a Tuesday towards the end of the month and the end of the year.

I came to this location today Monday December 21, 2015 to renew my registration. The lines are pretty long however, it moved extremely fast. When I reached the teller she was able to renew my registration quickly without me having to take a number and do the old mundane song and dance of waiting, like I have done many times in DC. The only issue I have is with the privacy, my teller was extremely loud (when she didn’t need to be) when telling me I had to pay extra because my registration had expired. I did cut her off rather quickly because she was way to loud and vomiting my business all over the place (the cat is out the bag). But despite this minor issue, I was pleased with the customer service, lines/​wait time and location of this DMV. I got all my Christmas shopping done and renewed my registration.

I would like to know how people that can not read the street signs to direct traffic, come to the DMV and get a driver’s license? It would seem that they are a danger to themselves and others on our roads, yet there is an abundance of those who do not know our road laws and continue to operate a vehicle on a daily basis with a driver’s license. I am sure an interpreter can help them take the test but my question is, is the interpreter riding with them in their vehicle as they drive and cut people off and nearly kill people in this traffic?

I have been sitting in this hard cold seat for 20 minutes now. The line never moves. I have to sit with the unwashed humanity. What does the letters even mean. Trash on the floors.

Very very bad customer service. Rude people. I don’t understand why they have to be so dam rude. If you don’t like your job and can’t take it don’t work. Bad bad service.

I pretty much think that the DMV is purgatory. Seriously. I can NOT imagine working in such a loathsome place.
The wait time on the website refers to the time it takes from when you get your ticket to the time you get to the window — and it lies. It also does not let you know how long you will have to wait in order to OBTAIN a ticket.
Then, the person issuing you a ticket will almost intentionally withhold valuable information like the fact that they can verify your identity if you were born in the US, even if you don’t have your passport or birth certificate — for a nominal fee. Rather than tell you that from the beginning, they will recommend that you go home to fetch passport or birth certificate so that you can return and start the whole miserable process all over again.
After that, you will wait three times longer than you could have imagined to be treated with contempt by someone’s whose accent is so thick that you have to ask them to repeat everything they say. That makes them think that you are a dumb dumb and so the slooooow the whole process down and speak to you like a child. GAAAHHHHH!
All this leads up to the WORST THING EVER — a sourpuss face for you driver’s license that won’t expire until 2022!!!

I went there to apply for a driver license on Monday morning. The information desk helped me to check if I had all necessary document and gave me the number. I wasn’t wait for too long until they called my number — about 5 – 10 minutes, partly because window 10 is only dealing with applying for licence. The lady was a nice Asian, not rude nor impatient. I passed written test and was gonna take the road test on the same day, however, this DMV in fair oaks mall does NOT offer road test. Then she made an appointment for me the next day at DMV in Manassas where is 30 mins drive away because other DMV near there had already been fully booked. Overall, it is not a bad experience. Hope I could pass the road test tomorrow!

Do not go there on Saturday. It’s about 3 hours waiting. This branch should hire more people to get work done fast.

Typically the DMV is a long and painful wait. However, it really depends upon timing. I went on a Friday, check in 5:55, out 6:35. Not bad at all. Good customer service.

In my opinion DMV is the place where one cannot expect any pleasant experience. But this place is even horrible. The «in charge» for this office, Rani was so rude and have no manners in explaining the process.
I will never go here again

The Fair Oaks Mall DMV location is a place I tell my clients to go (if they need to reinstate a driver’s license, or take other actions requiring DMV services), assuming they live in Fairfax County.
I like this particular location because it is not as crowded as some of the other DMV service locations I have personally been to myself. I think it may be due to the fact that it is located in a mall. Furthermore, it is not an extremely prominent location. That said, I have waited for about 20 – 30 minutes on a couple occasions, but I would estimate my average wait to be about 10 minutes or less. As a long-​time Fairfax County resident, this is the only DMV I go to, and I’ve probably been about 15 times. I only can compare this DMV location to the old Springfield Mall (does not exist anymore) location, and this one far surpasses it in terms of average wait.
I do not think food or drink is allowed, so keep that in mind. The staff members I’ve interacted with are generally knowledgeable and friendly. They don’t hate their jobs (as far as I can tell), so the location as a whole must be doing something right.
I’m only reserving a single star (four star review), because this location will require you to park (potentially far away) in a mall parking lot, and then walk more than one might typically have to walk to get to the actual DMV location. But hey, exercise isn’t that bad, right? Just plan an extra 10 minutes and you will be fine. And avoid the end of the month.

If I could have hugged the man at the DMV today, I totally would have. I got to fair oaks mall and was really confused. A DMV in a mall? I asked a security guard and he walked me all the way to where it was in the mall. I got there around 9:15 (it opens at 10) and began waiting in line. There were four people already waiting.
We were admitted in fairly promptly (9:55) and the system was very organized and efficient. I had a gentleman help me through the entire process of changing my license, transferring my title, and registering my vehicle. I think he could tell I was heroes and didn’t know about the experience.
I HIGHLY recommend this DMV location.