Introduction
The Washington D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles (DC DMV) has four general services locations and several specialty locations to obtain particular services. The range of available services include obtaining and renewing driver’s licenses and IDs, road-testing, titling and registering vehicles, inspections and many more. The following information should help residents to obtain services from the correct DC DMV locations.
Licensing Centers
The DC DMV provides four general services centers where residents can obtain or renew their driver’s licenses. Those centers and their respective addresses are:
- Benning Ridge Service Center, which is located at 4525 Benning Road SE.
- Georgetown Service Center, which is located at 3270 M Street NW, Canal Level, Suite C200.
- Rhode Island Service Center, which is located at 2350 Washington Place NE, Suite 112N.
- Southwest Service Center, which is located at 95 M Street SW.
The licensing centers can help with driver’s license renewals, address changes, graduated licensing programs for teens and a wide range of other licensing services. If you want to obtain a REAL ID, you can do that at a licensing center.
Vehicle Centers
You can obtain DC DMV title and registration services for vehicles at the four general services centers that also provide licensing services. The centers offer vehicle registrations and renewals, 5-day temporary registrations that help owners to move stored vehicles, registration cards and replacements and other commonly needed vehicle services.
Road Testing Locations
DC DMV personnel provide road-testing for driver’s licenses and commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) only at the Deanwood Road Test/CDL Services center. The Deanwood center is located at 1421 Kenilworth Ave. NE. The DC DMV also provides CDL candidates with a CDL road-test lot, which is located at 3000 Pennsy Drive in Landover, Maryland.
You must schedule a road test in advance or obtain road-testing services through an authorized third-party provider. Walk-ins cannot obtain road-testing services for any reason but could schedule a road test in the near future.
Inspection Locations
When vehicle inspections are in order, the DC DMV provides motorists with an Inspection Station that only accepts walk-ins. You cannot schedule an appointment for vehicle inspection services. The Inspection Station is located at 1001 Half Street SW.
If you just need to get a quick smog test and certificate of passage to renew your registration, a self-service Vehicle Emissions Inspection Kiosk is located at 300 Van Buren Street NW, and its entrance is on 3rd Street NW.
Service Centers
The DC DMV offers residents a total of six types of service centers that do different things. The six types of DC DMV service centers are:
- General services
- Road-testing centers
- CDL centers
- Inspection station
- Emissions testing
- Adjudication services
You need to go to the appropriate one in order to leave with your problems solved, such as adjudication services to clear up any legal matters that might have gotten driving privileges suspended or revoked.