Dekalb County Tax and Tag Department

I often hear ppl complain about having to get tags at their local tag office, but this place is actually nice. Good customer service, and the wait time is short. I wouldn’t though come right before closing. Yes, they do close early. It’s clean, secured, and the employees are knowledgeable. I’m impressed.

Received excellent customer service from Miss Gooden at the Dekalb County Tag and Registration office today!!! yes that’s what I’m talking about!!!
#suckerforgreatcustomerservice

I was in and out in less than 15 minutes, and this was at 8:00 in the morning!!! Thanks to the pleasant and helpful ladies that work there:)

I had the most pleasant experience at a government office ever!
I was simply renewing my license plate, but I did not have to wait more than two minutes before my number was called (it was busy but well– staffed with plenty of service windows open for quick service) and once I got to my assigned window it took only two more minutes for the clerk to print my new registration and send me on my way with my new sticker.
Bravo, tag office!

Tax and tag offices are supposed to be miserable places. And Dekalb County has a lot of government agencies to not be proud of. But this is not one of them.
I have lived in Dekalb 15 years and visited this office at least six times for title, tag, and property tax issues. The office staff are informative, well trained, and tell me what I need to know. And if you show up early (I try to get there at 8am on my way to work), the wait is not too bad.
My review is about the service at the office. As a 2 star review noted — the web site sucks. There is a lot of missing basic information. I either have to call and ask, or visit another web site (hint: Gwinnett County has a very informative tax/​tag site, and the processes are often similar from county to county)

As if there was ever an overtly pleasant experience to be had at a Tag Office on planet earth… Mine was just abysmal. Blah blah blah long line, blah blah blah incompetent people, blah blah blah facility that feels like the 7^th circle of hell. It’s all the same and probably won’t change.
However, the biggest gripe, and fair warning, that I have to bring up is the process/​documentation that they list on the Dekalb County website for new GA residents. I walk in, all necessary forms filled to a T, and the woman has the audacity to say that all of the forms on the website are wrong and that I needed the original Bill of Sale or physical Title for my vehicle. Ok, whatever. If there’s nothing you can do, then there’s nothing you can do. Here’s an idea though — PUT THAT INFORMATION ON THE DAMN WEBSITE.
Luckily, I came back and didn’t have as long of a wait and it was a pretty painless procedure after that. Plus, I had the chance to work with a nice lady the second time around. Redeeming factor? Ehhhhhhh sort of.
Moral of the story for new GA residents. Just bring your Bill of Sale from your vehicle, if you have it. They won’t even look at anything other than that and your driver’s license. Totally bogus, but that’s how that crappy cookie crumbles.
Nightmare over. Good riddance.

I had just moved to Fulton to Dekalb and I thought I would have to go into an office to have the most reliable tag transfer process. I just called the main line to confirm what ID and documents I need to bring. Geraldine, the lady I spoke to was so helpful. She confirmed my information on the phone to transfer my tag over, informed me what the cost will be a the time of renewal, and then helped connect me to someone who helped me with getting my parcel ID/​PIN # to apply for homestead exemption in Dekalb.
It was a very professional, polite, and efficient experience.
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised and recommend calling them over the phone.

File this under the drudgery of life.
Turns out you can’t register online anymore, so the place was packed. The welcome check in was friendly enough, but after waiting 30 mins, it turns out my insurance co. did not register my info in the system, so I had to re-​enter the line after calling my insurance and then wait *another* 45 mins.
The DMV is the great equalizer. That, and traffic. I want to write a comedy skit about it. Once at an OTP office, I sat between a toothless man and a woman dripping in jewels. She was having an absolute snippity fit about having to wait. I snickered as I came prepared with reading materials and patience. The great equalizer. You heard it from me first.
TIPS: Coming at lunch is a terrible idea. I’m going to Brookhaven next time.
Cheers~

The most friendly and efficient governmental agency I have ever dealt with. You are in and out quickly. 5 stars!

Boo, suck, boo. I still haven’t figured out why most people give me a present on my birthday but Dekalb County gives me a bill. Most times I’m in this location the wait isn’t too bad but the customer service from the reps is awful. They bark and talk nasty to the customers & sometimes it’s funny but when it’s happening to you not so much. Next time i’ll do my renewal on-​line.

if going to this place go to the DIY area and save yourself time and headache

True enough, no one wants to wait for service, especially when you’re likely going to cough up some money doing so, but nothing beats seeing a worked up customer (hopefully not you) going off on staff who just remain calm. Worth some laughs.
There was a time when you could self serve pay and print out your own tag renewal, but the past two years I haven’t had that option. Not certain why. Even still, my wait was less than 20 minutes and there’s an emissions test on the parking lot grounds to knock out two birds as it were.
FYI, when using plastic, it’s a $ 5 charge for credit, and a $ 1.50 charge for debit.

Okay, so I came prepared to change my plates from NY to GA, or so I thought. Well the first lady was super nice and there was no line. She told me I needed some more info so I wouldn’t have to pay two years taxes on my car. She told me a bank statement and some other info would be great. Later that day I went back with all that info and got another nice girl, she said bank statements were no good but utilities bills or a current pay stub would be suffice to prove my residency and since I bought a home in October all would be well. Try number three and the lady was rude, and told me I didn’t read, didn’t say thank you to anything and tried to keep all of my paperwork, and threw a license plate at me. She told me a current pay stub was useless, so I handed her my registration from NY, which wasn’t enough before and apparently she felt that was enough info.
Soooo needless to say they need to get together and decide what paperwork you need and stay consistent, and they also need to inform you that you will get your title back in the mail. I had to find that out from a lady who helped me the other day.
Southern hospitality I think not, be grateful you have employment.

Since I don’t feel like creating a new entry here, looks like I’m reviewing Dekalb County as a whole — but really, I’m just reviewing the tag office.
I dragged my lazy ass out of bed on a Saturday morning at 8 in order to get there to «beat the crowd», which turned out to be completely unnecessary. I got there, and there was almost no «line» (meaning, there literally was no line, but they give you numbers, and then you sit there and wait for it to come up over one of the stations). I think I sat down for 2 minutes before being called up.
The first lady I talked to wasn’t the friendliest ever, but she was diligent and tried to help me out. She informed me that I needed one more piece of paperwork (stupid out-​of-​state transfers and their complexity) — so I went outside to tear up my glovebox to see if it was in there. It was! So then when I went back in, I had a different lady, who was much friendlier. I think I was in the office for almost an hour, but as long as I’m waiting at a window where someone’s actively helping ME, I don’t mind waiting much — and like I said, I didn’t have to wait long at all to be helped. They have 15 or so windows there, which pleased me greatly.
I also like the fact that the tag office is right off of 285, so if you get lost, you’re an idiot. No offense to the idiots out there.