Texas DPS – Schedule Your DPS Appointment

DPS offices can often be extremely busy, with painful wait-times. Unfortunately, most DPS offices in Texas do not offer the option to book appointments for their services. The only exceptions are those that will allow you to schedule a driving test at a specific day and time. You can check if your local office offers driver test appointments by using the DPS online appointment scheduler. For all other DPS services, you will have to show up and wait in line like everyone else. That may sound like a drag, but there are steps you can take to make sure you spend your time wisely.

When is the Best Time to Visit a DPS Office?

If you can’t make one of the Texas drivers license appointments, your best option is to schedule your visit to the DPS office during a time when there are likely to be fewer people already waiting in line. During peak hours, the waiting time at a given office can easily reach a couple hours. No one wants to give up their entire day just to handle a simple registration process.

You will usually experience heavy wait-times during:

• Lunch hour, around noon. Everyone tries to slip out during their break to get paperwork done.
• The first and last days that the office is open (usually Monday and Friday).
• The beginning and ending of the month
• Days immediately before and after holidays and extended periods of unavailability.

Plan to visit the DPS office before a rush period happens:

• Before lunchtime or, better yet, as soon as the office opens.
• During the middle of the week (Tuesday-Thursday)
• During the middle of the month.

Don’t wait until right before a weekend or holiday to try to get everything you need filed with the DPS; odds are that everyone else has the same plan! With a little bit of planning, you can save yourself an enormous amount of time.

Texas DPS Services Online

Since many of the most common DPS services are now available online, you likely won’t have to go to the office at all. While some services require you to already have records on file with the DPS, there’s nonetheless a large amount of services they offer online. Some of the most popular online DPS services include:

• Ordering a copy of your driving record
• Enrolling in driver’s education
• Pay a traffic ticket
• Ordering vital recording like a birth certificate
• Voter registration
• Complete a permit or license practice test
• Organ donor registration
• Renewing your license or registration
• Register a name or address change with the DPS
• Replacing a lost or stolen license
• Ordering a criminal background check or credit report

Taking advantage of these convenient online services will greatly improve your experience with the DPS, and could save you an enormous amount of time which would otherwise be spent driving and waiting in line. Whenever it is possible, try to get your DPS tasks done online.