North Carolina – Division of Motor Vehicles – NCDOT DMV

I went to the NC DMV office in Hickory off Lenoir-​Rhyne Blvd. There were around forty people waiting in line. When I heard one of the two examiners say that the wait would be two hours+, I decided to reassess the situation. Time for plan «B».
I went and got my car washed (finally) at the nearby L-​R Car Wash where they do hand washes for $ 25 or less. I struck up a conversation with a young lady, who told me that she always went to the DMV office in Newton, because the wait was no more than twenty to thirty minutes. Yahtzee!
l drove down to our county seat of Newton and there was hardly anyone there. There were only two examiners in Newton, but they were MOVING people and getting the job DONE! Both lady examiners were surprisingly friendly and personable, and they both chatted in a friendly manner with everyone. This was extremely refreshing! My examiner was an older lady, but she told me that she still has her class C motorcycle validation, which I doggedly maintain as well. She told me that she used to ride a Honda Esplanade and that she and her husband had ridden to the West coast twice and once all the way to Alaska. OMG!
There was only one thing that «stumped» me on my license renewal test. See if you can guess this. I was presented with the traffic sign shapes. I knew what a red octagon was — stop sign right? I knew what a blank yield sign was. I knew what a blank no passing sign was. And then the fiendishly clever NC DMV threw up an orange CIRCLE with no writing. I’ve been driving for over forty years, and I didn’t know what the heck that was! My perfect score was in jeopardy!
Then the super nice examiner said, «what if that yellow circle contained an ‘X’ ?» Oh joy, joy! Have you guessed it? Answer: Railroad Crossing! Ka-ching…perfect score.
I kept my class C motorcycle validation because if I live long enough, I AM going to buy and Indian motorcycle one of these days.
My new license, good for eight years, will come in the mail within the next two weeks. I still have about a month on my current license though, so no worries.
I intend to come here in the future, because of the smaller crowd. The state employees in Hickory are nice too, but they told me that there are usually twenty-​five people standing outside their door at 8:00 AM. She said to get there at 7:30 AM if I wanted to beat the rush. I found another way… go to Newton or Hudson or Mocksville. Today’s visit warranted five stars, because it could not have gone any better!