Eastside Auto Licensing

Suzette and Paula are wonderful and have made my visits over the last years easy and fulfilling. I have visited a number of times over the past 9 years and each time it has been easy and worthwhile. They know their business and can get things done in a timely manner making sure to give clear directions so as to not impede on my time. I am grateful for the fun energy and humor as well as their professionalism. If you have questions about how to get your car registered then go visit Eastside Auto Licensing. I did and will continue to give them business as they have made things easy peasy! Thank you!

I paid online for new tabs and opted to have them mailed to me, who wants to go into one of these places and wait in huge lines with unhappy people, isn’t that why the internet was invented? After a month still no tabs. When I called they said they were mailed and if I wanted to get new ones I’d have to come into their location. How is it my responsibility to make up for the failure of their business to deliver? I paid, they took my money, they didn’t deliver, and now I’m inconvenienced? The manager actually told me that if I didn’t want to come it was up to me to call US Postal Service because it must be their fault.
BTW, read below, others have had the same problem with these guys!

Fast service, only busy sometimes. Not open on weekends. But worth going to if you live in the area for tab renewal.

I called Eastside Auto Licensing prior to showing up (the Washington Department of Licensing web site suggests calling before going in). My purpose was to come in for state license plates (my car and I came from California). Phone customer service was great, and they told me exactly what I needed to do. My situation was rather specific, but all was handled in about 10 business days. They called me back after about a week and a half to let me know that I could come in to get my vehicle plates (we were waiting on my bank/​DMV to fax them a document copy).
Today, Thursday morning, I showed up to the office about 15 minutes prior to the 8:30am opening time. When they opened it was just me and one or two other folks rolling in, so there was no wait (though for plates, be sure to grab a number before waiting in line or sitting — I still was asked to grab a number :).
Paula pulled my my information that was acquired prior to my coming in. It was all pretty straightforward and I walked out with my plates. It all took about 10 minutes tops and the staff was really friendly.
For those of you moving into the state and getting new license plates, be sure to call Eastside Auto Licensing FIRST before going into their office. As the state Dept. of Licensing website says, every person’s situation is different. And the folks here thanked me for calling in before just showing up.

I just came from picking up my vehicle registration tabs and was in and out in 5 minutes. Yes, it looks like they could have a less confusing system for people who don’t know how to read signs, but a very nice woman came to inquire what our needs were and directed us accordingly. I did the process online, so I can’t speak to those who have tried to handle paperwork in person which is what it looks like these negative reviews are referring to.
I’ve been to plenty of licensing offices across the country and this was by far one of the best experiences.

Super quick and easy. I was there to renew my tabs and was in and out in less than 5 minutes. Can’t beat that!

It took almost 3 months to get my registration completed. They kept blaming my leasing company, so i finally faxed all the forms they needed myself. Was told by Eastside that they would contact me as soon as they got my documents and could license my car. I had a tracking number and knew exactly when it was delivered, and it took Eastside 9 business days to contact me after they got my title. Terrible. My girlfriend is on month 6 of trying to get her car registered. This place is a joke, go somewhere else.
I will give them credit that it never took long to get «helped» when i visited the location… but the issue is they never solved any problems and were not honest about the process.

Really great phone customer service.
For a number of issues, the DOL website says «contact an office» and provides basically no other information. I called these folks up and got a really thorough answer detailing what I needed to do. They really went above and beyond what they needed to do to make sure I’d be ok.
A+++++ WOULD CALL AGAIN. Oh wait, wrong site. 5 stars.
Oh, also, when we showed up the line took all of 3 minutes to get through. We asked if that was normal and they told us that it’s been slow all year.
P. S. If you’re doing title or registration stuff, get a number from the dispenser when you walk in. Don’t be fooled by the queue of people standing in line. If you get to the front of that line, they’ll tell you that for title and registration, you need to take a number.

I found myself here on the last day of the month and was prepared to wait, however I was in and out in less than 10 minutes and had a great experience! It was easy to find, there was plenty of parking, and everyone was super nice and helpful.

In and out super quick on a Wednesday afternoon. Plus, the girl that helped me was friendly and gave me a money-​saving tip!

Excellent customer service from Kathi this morning. Awesome and easy. Less than 3 minutes wait. In and out in five minutes. I’ve always had good customer service here over the years.

So fast and easy! I must’ve been having a lucky day because I expected a long wait and cranky people behind the desk but that wasn’t the case. I only needed new tabs so I had my license, money and papers ready because I know how long these things take. I literally waited less than a minute in line and the lady who was helping me was so kind! I thought I had a ticket I didn’t know of so she made sure to help me out. Thank goodness the whole process only took a few minutes. Yay!

Totally painless! I used to live in CA and let me tell you– nothing is worse than their DMV. This was a piece of cake. I recommend going after 10am — which is when I went and there were only 4 – 5 ppl in front of me. I was helped in less than 10 mins and the lady was super friendly, helpful, and patient w any questions I had. Good customer service goes a long way. I also recommend this location over the bel-​red location– the girl there was another story.

It is not often that one has a pleasant experience at one of these places, but I did. I went in because my tabs had been stolen off my license plate and I needed a replacement. I wasn’t aware this was even possible. The lady who helped me explained that this actually a common occurrence and that the replacement was only 9 bucks and that she would ensure it wouldn’t happen again. She walked out to my vehicle, cleaned the plate with alcohol, affixed the new tab and scored several times with a razor knife so it couldn’t be removed in one piece. Excellent service. Friendly and quick too.

Best licensing place I’ve ever been to. I renewed my tabs online and went for pick up. I walked in, promptly and warmly greeted. The woman was very nice, and answered all my silly questions with a smile. She didn’t even skip a beat when i gave her the wrong name for the lookup. This was a fantastic expierence!

Out of all the licensing places I’ve been, the staff is definitely the most personable. I’ve licensed several vehicles here and everyone I’ve worked with has been very friendly, which is much more than can be said than for other places.
As other reviewers have pointed out though, the wait time is ridiculously long. It’s a small facility with limited staff so if you hit it at the wrong time, be prepared for a long wait. [HINT: come when they open in the morning if you can]
The other thing I do not like is that if you use a credit/​debit card, they tack on a few dollars. Unnecessary fleecing.

Don’t let them throw anything away!
the gal helping us told us we wouldn’t need the previous owners registration and a couple other documents and tossed them. then we were told that the car we had purchased would need an emissions test before the title could be transferred. We told them that the Toyota prius and honda insight do not need emissions tests in Washington. Their response was that we were incorrect and could not transfer the title until we returned with an emissions test. We went to the emissions testing site and they informed us of what we already knew, that the honda insight and toyota prius are not tested in washington state. We returned to eastside auto licensing and they were closed. Wasted half of our Saturday.
which brings us to…
We finally went to a different licensing office. They informed us that we did need the documents that eastside auto licensing had shredded and tossed. We had to fill out a whole bunch more forms and added a good thirty minutes to our visit.

Sooo… When you first walk in, you see what appears to be a single «express lane counter» (for the easy stuff: renewals and permits), all other needs must take a number… You would think that only that front window would take the express lane folks, and the rest of the windows would service the numbers. Yeah, no. All windows pull from the express line, and never seem to take any of the numbered folks (that is, when the employees are actually working at their windows and not just standing around not really doing anything). I have been here for 45 minutes already, and they haven’t taken a single number, even though the place is packed with folks who have numbers. The staff do seem to be friendly, however.
Nevertheless, never again.

This place is a JOKE! This is the 2^nd year in a row that I have renewed my tabs online and requested they be mailed to my house. This is ALSO the 2^nd year in a row that they never came. No voicemail/​ability to speak to a person at the number listed. When I went into this location, they had no apologies or ideas when/​if they were mailed and had to wait for them anyway. Rude service and will never be back.

While others can complain about the supposed «waiting lines» here, I’ve never been in a position to deal with this scenario because let’s be clear: WHO GOES TO THE DOL DURING HYPE HOURS OR DAYS OF THE MONTH???
Not this guy.
But since on occasion you do have to go to the Department of Licensing, because let’s face it, you CANNOT do everything online, drive to Kirkland and get your business done here.
The people behind the counter are moving people through the lines just like any other DOL, but at least here it is quiet and they get the job done in a courteous manner.