Tired of Waiting in Line at the Maine BMV? Now You Can Skip It

Getting your license renewed or your paying your registration is a royal pain in you-know-what when you have to go any of Maine's Bureau of Motor Vehicles, or as we say here in Maine, The BMV. I'm not sure why Maine prefers BMV to DMV or OUI to DUI, but that's a discussion for another day.

The kind people that work at the BMV are great, but what isn't great is waiting in a long line watching that screen on the wall waiting for your number to pop up. Waiting and waiting to do something that only takes five minutes and only have a 30-minute lunch break from work. Such is life, but we don't have to like it.

Secretary of State Sheena Bellows feels your pain, and she's helped launch a new online service that will let you skip that line and get on with your day.

A new reservation service began today that allows you to book an appointment at the BMV, so you can arrive at your scheduled time and minimize your wait.

Let's take a look at how it works.

Step 1

The page to register for an appointment at the Maine BMV is currently buried deep in the Bureau of Motor Vehicles website, so to make it easier for you, here's a button to take you directly there.

You'll see this welcome screen which gets you up to speed on how the registration process works.

Step 2

On the next page, choose which BMV office you want to make your appointment for.

Step 3

After picking your office, you'll choose if you want to get or renew a driver's license or an ID card, register your vehicle, or deal with a suspension. If it's none of those, choose "other."

Step 4

Next, you're given dates and times that reservations are open for. As of this writing, there were only two spots available starting on Friday. Oops nevermind. They're already gone. Hit the right arrow and it will bring you through several weeks to choose from.

Step 5

Then you're asked to enter your information. The typical stuff like your name, phone number, email, license number etc. Once you enter that info, you should get a confirmation that your appointment is booked.

Now your wait time will be far less than it would have been if you showed up in person and got ticket number 98 when they're only on number 22.