About Us

DMV History

The first automobile arrived in Oregon in 1899. In 1905, Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services (DMV) began a process for registering vehicles. Oregon started requiring driver’s licenses in 1920, and Oregon DMV began drive tests for licensing in 1931. Learn more about ODOT and DMV history.

Who We Are

As a division of the Oregon Department of Transportation, Oregon DMV is responsible for driver licensing, vehicle registration and titling, and many related administrative transactions. We play a role in transportation safety and collect substantial revenue for Oregon’s transportation system at the state, county and city level.

DMV has essentially the same number of employees as we did 25 years ago, as set by the Legislature. Yet, we’re serving an additional 800,000 - the population growth over that time. Our customers are our primary focus, and we are continually modernizing to offer more service options to help them save time.

This includes offering:

More than 30 common transactions at DMV2U.Oregon.gov.
Online knowledge testing in eight languages.
Self-service Express Kiosks inside 10 Fred Meyer stores along the I-5 corridor and in Bend where customers can renew or replace their vehicle registration and stickers.
Online collision reporting, which includes pre-drawn diagrams and other user-friendly features.
Appointments for in-person visits, which can be scheduled on DMV2U. New slots are made available 30 days out on a rolling hour-by-hour basis, so check back frequently. Offices differ in the number and types of appointments available.
A lobby management machine where customers can check in and receive a ticket with an accurate wait time and, in many locations, receive appointment updates by text.
Updated same-day closure information for DMV offices.

What We Do

Serve over 9,000 customers every day in field offices statewide.
Welcome more than 1 million customers every month on DMV2U.
Answer about 850,000 customer inquiries every year at three call centers.
Maintain 3.75 million driver’s licenses and ID cards, both standard issue and REAL ID compliant.
Process around 925,000 license, permit, and ID issuances, renewals and replacements every year.
Manage 4.5 million total active vehicle registrations.
Annually issue:

2.1 million vehicle registrations.
Over 1 million titles.
More than 517,000 license plates for vehicles from over 50 plate designs.

Regulate:

2,732 vehicle dealers, dismantlers, transporters, trip permit agents and vehicle appraisers.
77 CDL testers, Class C testers, and Commercial Driver Training Schools for Class C and non-drivers’ education through third-party programs.

Sanction offenders and conduct formal administrative hearings.