For months, my advice to anyone renewing their California driver’s license has been direct and unwavering:
Do no Go to a DMV field office and take the written test, which is filled with confusing and irrelevant questions. Do Instead, you can go online and take NO FAIL e-learning courses from the comfort of your own home.
So when I received my license renewal notice in the mail a few weeks ago, I knew what to do.
Or so I thought.
I want to be able to get around the block as easily as the dozens of readers who send me their eLearning endorsements.
California is about to be hit by an aging population wave, and Steve Lopez is riding the wave. His column focuses on the benefits and burdens of aging and how some people challenge the stigma associated with older age.
It’s “fantastic,” says Robert, a Studio City psychologist who finds e-learning “less stressful” than traditional testing because you’re at home and there are no “nit-picky” or “vague” questions. He completed the course, which is more of a road rules review for drivers than a test, and completed the required trip to the field office for photos and eye exams.
But others have written to me in frustration, saying they don’t know how to access eLearning, or that it has issues and freezes, or that they go to a DMV office to complete the process and are told there is no record of their use of eLearning.
Now it’s time for me to roll the dice.
I turned on my computer, visited DMV.CA.GOV, and easily navigated to the “Standard Driver’s License ID” and “Real ID Driver’s License/ID” tabs. I already had a Real ID, so I went ahead with the standard renewal and was prompted to set up a DMV account (which is good, because who doesn’t want to remember another username and password?). This took a few minutes and then I encountered the first of several glitches.
A yellow warning sign told me: “You are now not eligible to renew online.”
But right below that warning is this:
“To save time, start the renewal process online and complete it at a DMV office.”
So what will be the result? Am I eligible? Not qualified? Have I entered the DMV twilight zone?
I clicked on the “save time” line and ended up at the virtual exam center, so apparently I wasn’t eligible after all. There, I had the option of taking e-learning or an “online knowledge test,” which is a digital version of the regular written exam, which I knew to avoid.
In California, if you are 70 or older, you need to take a driver’s license renewal test every five years.
(Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times)
I selected eLearning and went to the payment page, where I was directed to pay the $45 renewal fee. But once I put it on my credit card, I was abandoned like a person thrown from a car to the curb. Cannot click forward or click back.
A well-crafted plan will make the next steps crystal clear. Instead, I was excluded from the application system. I checked text messages and emails but couldn’t find any confirmation of the $45 payment. I’m back in my DMV account but don’t know how to pick up where I left off.
Did I make a mistake? Did the system crash?
I decided to repeat the entire process and paid another $45, assuming my first payment was never processed. Once I did, I was shut out again, just like before.
I reviewed emails from readers who had similar issues. I browsed the DMV website looking for any clues as to what the problem might be. Then I saw that the DMV had just sent me two emails saying that the agency had received two of my REAL ID applications with two identical sets of instructions for visiting a DMV office and showing proof of citizenship and residency.
There was no mention of e-learning.
Notably, DMV Director Steve Gordon is a tech executive who left Silicon Valley five years ago with a mission to reform and modernize an agency known for being outdated and user-unfriendly. He wanted to make it easier for customers to do business from home instead of having to wait in line at an out-of-town office.
He once told me that the E in e-learning stands for “enjoyment.”
I started to wonder when I would start enjoying it. I was down to $90 and nothing to show for it. So I called DMV spokesperson Anita Gore to tell her about the malfunctions, and while we were chatting, I received an email that brought it to my attention.
“Please stop telling us how the DMV online service is working,” said La Crescenta resident Mary Mirch, whose timing was impeccable.
Milch, a retired university administrator, said she was applying for license renewal and tried to take e-learning courses but received confirmation of her REAL ID application.
But, like me, she didn’t apply for REAL ID.
DMV Director Steve Gordon is a technology executive who left Silicon Valley five years ago with a mission to reform and modernize the agency.
(Wally Scully/Los Angeles Times)
I thanked her for proving that I was not a fool.
Like me, Mirch repeated the entire process, got the same results the second time, and spent 45 minutes in DMV online hold mode, waiting for help.
“It’s such a mess,” she said.
A little over an hour after my troubles began, the first sign of hope came via email. The DMV sent me a link to an e-learning course. Milch said she, too, ended up getting a link about two hours after she applied.
Several questions come to mind:
Why aren’t we told to look for e-learning links emailed within hours after payment?
Why do we have to wait for an email link instead of going directly from payment to online learning?
Why do we receive instructions to complete a REAL ID application?
Milch and I both agreed that the system was unnecessarily clunky and confusing, or at least it was on the day we tried to use it. The DMV recommended online learning starting two years ago, so why not forego other options? It will also help clear up all the confusing clutter on the web page and has a tab that simply says, “If you are over 70 and want to renew your driver’s license using an e-learning course, please click here.
Estela Lopez, executive director of the Downtown Los Angeles Industrial District, told me that she is very tech-savvy but had much the same experience as Milch and I.
“It makes you feel stupid, and that’s how I don’t want older people to feel,” Lopez said. Because of the confusion about her true identity, she was under the impression that she should have brought her passport and utility bill to the DMV office for the photo and eye exam. So she did as she was told, only to be told she didn’t need them.
“I just want them to understand, no, we didn’t click on the wrong tab, we didn’t press the wrong button,” Lopez said. “They’re not putting enough marketing and love into it. If they were, things wouldn’t be so confusing.
Mary Milch, Estela Lopez and I have one more thing in common.
When we finally got our hands on the eLearning course, we both thought it was pretty good.
This is a huge improvement over traditional multiple choice quizzes. You can start and stop the videos at your own pace, and there are seven animated mini-lessons that provide a refresher on road rules and safe navigation. One section is a bit like a video game, where you have to click on a parked vehicle and drag it safely to the correct lane on a busy road.
At the end of each section, you get a short quiz with three possible answers, and if you guess wrong, you can guess again. No technical issues. There are no stupid questions. No need to study the manual before starting.
It was done in about 45 minutes and I was quickly at the Glendale DMV office for a new photo and eye exam. Office managers Wanda Jackson and Patty Carranza cheerfully opened their windows and told customers it was a pleasure to serve them. Making a reservation in advance helped me avoid the long lines and I was in and out within 30 minutes.
So I think the DMV culture has improved under Gordon and if you need to renew your driver’s license after age 70, e-learning is really your best option. The problem is getting there.
I forwarded emails from several angry readers to the DMV, along with Mirch’s suggested simple fixes. Gore told me the DMV appreciates your feedback and is working on improvements, including fixing REAL ID glitches and “making our website language clearer.”
Okay, I’ll keep an eye out. But in a state that’s home to Silicon Valley, and in a public agency run by a former tech executive, it shouldn’t take this long to get things done.
steve.lopez@latimes.com
