Erie County DMV Running Into Issues: People Abusing The Appointment System

The Erie County Department of Motor Vehicles has been opened back up since June after closing for a period of time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There has been an appointment system in place, with no walk-ins allowed, but that's proven to have its problems.

According to WGRZ, Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns says some people have figured out a way to abuse the reservation system, while making some money off of it.

"I've had my legal clerk look into that," Kearns said. "We've gotten word that there are some people, I know they've done that in New York City in the past, where they try to sell appointments because at that time in New York to get in to the auto bureau might be a month. Or in California, it's three months."

Essentially, what some people are doing with the DMV, is making multiple reservations (five or six at a time, according to Kearns) and then selling them.

The DMV will now be on the lookout for multiple appointment requests from the same source and eliminate those appointments.

Reservations will now require drivers to put in their license number. When a person goes to their appointment they will have to show their license and license number, to prove it was he or her who had that appointment.

No shows have also been a problem.

Kearns says they've had 10,000 no-shows, after reserving a time slot...which takes away slots other people could have used.

Read more here.