The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles is making changes to appointment scheduling, office hours, and technology in order to increase walk-in availability at its 115 driver license offices across the state.

Beginning May 1, appointments, which can be booked at skiptheline.ncdot.gov, will only be available in the mornings through the 11 a.m. hour. After noon, all customer services statewide will be provided on a walk-in basis. Even with this change, walk-in customers may still have the opportunity for morning-hour service if there is time between scheduled appointments or if a customer does not appear for a scheduled appointment.

Also beginning May 1, five additional offices will open an hour earlier to provide services starting at 7 a.m. Among those five is the office in Mooresville, which will join 35 locations already providing an extra hour of service to customers. In addition to nearly 100 new examiners added across the state last year, 41 more have been hired or are in the HR process just since December.

As appointment scheduling shifts toward more walk-ins, a new feature will soon be available on the NCDMV office locations page to show the public the current estimated wait time at driver license offices.

As in years past, NCDMV is preparing to offer Saturday hours this summer during its peak season. These 16 offices will open from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays from June 3 to Aug. 26. Among the offices adding Saturday hours are the offices in Hudson and Morganton. DMV is exploring the potential for adding more Saturday locations as staffing levels permit.

NCDMV is also working to provide more services online. Currently State ID cards and Level 3 Full Provisional Licenses cannot be renewed online once they have expired. Changes are underway that would allow customers with these credentials to renew online up to one year after expiration. Driver licenses can be renewed up to two years after expiration.

Additionally, a pilot program is being instituted that will initially deploy up to 20 self-service kiosks at strategic locations across the state. These devices will offer driver and vehicle service transactions to include driver license and vehicle registration renewals.