Department of Motor Vehicles Strategic Plan: 2021-2026

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Our Mission

We proudly serve the public by licensing drivers, registering vehicles, securing identities, and regulating the motor vehicle industry in pursuit of public safety.

Our Vision

Deliver an outstanding experience to all our customers, powered by our people and technology.

Our Core Values

S – SERVICE – Striving for Customer-Centric Service

T – TRUST – Earning Trust

R – RESPECT – Upholding Respect

I – INNOVATION – Pushing for Innovation

D – DEVELOPMENT – Prioritizing our People Development

E – EXCELLENCE – Delivering Excellence

DMV Objectives

The DMV is home to more than 9,000 dedicated public servants and we focus on investing in our workforce. This means attracting and retaining talent, enhancing our team members’ capacity across the organization, and providing modern training and technology.

We are creating a more inclusive organization that our people are proud to call their place of work.

As technology evolves, our customer’s expectations and preferences change. Today’s customers expect instantaneous service and information.

We continue to enhance our digital service channels, which will improve our customer self-service options. This will reduce wait times, allowing our team members to be more customer-focused when completing more complex tasks.

Technology is always changing and can quickly become obsolete. New technologies support real-time information access and sharing across multitple platforms, but can also increase the threats to our customers’ information.

As we transition to more modern and intuitive platforms to meet our customers’ needs, we must also protect their information.

DMV continues to develop its strategic approach to data, and data in governance, improving our privacy and security practices as we adopt new technologies.

As we adopt new technology and processes, we want to ensure these innovations are efficient and equiping our employees to exceed our performance goals.

We will continue to improve the tools and systems used to measure and manage performance. This data will provide insights into our organizational performance.

We provide services to the most populous and diverse state in the country and are the face of the government for Californians. We offer a variety of critical services across 170 offices across the state and are striving to understand our customers’ needs. This allows us to build trust in our integral government services, making our customers’ experience as simple as possible.

DMV Statistics

  • Locations: 227 facilities
  • Employees: 9,691
  • Registered Vehicles: 35,656,590
  • DL/ID Cards: 30,951,398
  • Total Transactions: 74,372,303
  • Auto Clubs: 173
  • Business Partner Sites: 6,646

As of January 1, 2023. Numbers include all transactions from all service channels.

  • Local Government (cities/counties): 34.5%
  • California Highway Patrol (CHP): 19.0%
  • DMV: 11.3%
  • State Highways (CalTrans): 25.1%
  • California Air Resources Board (CARB): 2.3%
  • General Fund: 0.5%
  • Environmental Agencies: 0.5%
  • Department of Justice (DOJ): 0.2%
  • Other State Agencies: 4.2%

*Based on 2020/2021 fees. Fees are subject to law changes. California Vehicle Code, California Harbors and Navigation Code, California Civil Code, California Government *Source: 2021-2022 Governor’s Budget. Fees are subject to law changes. California Vehicle Code, California Harbors and Navigation Code, California Civil Code, California Government Code, California Health and Safety Code, California Code of Civil Procedures, and California Revenue and Taxation Code sections noted for reference.

DMV Functions

  • Driver’s License and Identification (DL/ID) Card Program
    Test and issue DLs to qualified drivers, provide ID services to the public, and verify the identity of DL/ID card holders.
  • Vehicle Titling and Registration Program
    Issues titles and register automobiles, trailers, and vessels, and commercial vehicles used for both interstate and intrastate commerce.
  • Driver Safety Program
    Promotes traffic safety by monitoring and evaluating the driving performance of licensed drivers.
  • Licensing of the Motor Vehicle Industry
    License and regulate the occupations and businesses related to the manufacture, transport, sale, and disposal of vehicles.
  • Autonomous Vehicle Regulation
    Responsible for developing regulations and policies regarding the testing, operation, and deployment of autonomous vehicles in California.
  • Administrative Services
    Responsible for budgetary and fiscal management, contract and procurement processes, human resources management, facilities and properties management.
  • Revenue Collection Distribution
    Collects and tracks over $12 billion in revenue annually which is distributed to other state agencies, local government, and California’s General Fund.
  • Information Technology (IT) Services
    Provides programming, installation, and maintenance for DMV’s IT systems, ensuring information system privacy and security.
  • Enforcement Services
    Conducts auditing, monitoring, inspecting, and investigative services on all entities related to our core programs.
  • Enterprise Governance
    Provides oversight of the enterprise through strategic planning, project governance, risk management, and process improvement.
  • Policy
    Responsible for setting policy and procedures for licensing, registration, and information release. Responsible for translating those policies and procedures into key industry oversight and driving critical policy-related programs like Motor Voter and Autonomous Vehicles.
  • Operations
    Responsible for operational and production work at DMV headquarters. Responsible for handling driver license and identification card requests, processing vehicle and vessel registrations and titling requests, supporting field offices and contact centers, providing document services, supporting industry programs, and fulfilling information requests..

Contact Us

California Department of Motor Vehicles
Enterprise Risk and Performance Office
2415 First Avenue, MS F500
Sacramento, CA 95818
EnterprisePlanning@dmv.ca.gov

Gavin Newsom, Governor
State of California

Toks Omishakin, Secretary
California State Transportation Agency

Steve Gordon, Director
Department of Motor Vehicles