The California Department of Motor Vehicles is our state’s great equalizer — equally terrible, for all of us. Even with an appointment, people often wait hours at the DMV for tasks as simple as renewing a license.
State auditors have declared that the agency has “significant deficiencies,” with some Californians reporting waits as long as six hours. As more residents apply for Real IDs, the already understaffed agency has been even further stretched. But while the agency’s inefficiency has inspired frustration and anger, it has also created an opportunity for others.
Bay Area startup YoGov has carved out a niche by promising customers that it will find them a faster appointment at the DMV and streamline their experience — even wait in line for them — for a fee, of course. Last year, the company created a brief firestorm of controversy when the DMV launched an investigation into the company, but no lawbreaking was found.
“We are like a personal assistant, just for the DMV and other government services.”
Now the California State Assembly is trying to pass a bill that would outlaw the sale of DMV appointments, but so far Ryder Pearce, the company’s founder, thinks his company will be just fine. He argues that YoGov isn’t selling appointments; rather, it’s just selling the time it takes to make them, to wait in line, to do all the “grunt work” of dealing with California’s notoriously slow bureaucracy. “We are like a personal assistant, just for the DMV and other government services,” Pearce said.
The DMV hasn’t been able to pin down YoGov yet, but it’s still trying to find a way to stop the startup from profiting from the long wait times and months-off appointments. “The DMV’s Investigations Division has looked into YoGov,” DMV spokesperson Jaime Garza told me, “and found it is charging customers a fee to find an appointment, a service that is free and available to all consumers via phone and internet 365 days a year.”
“The DMV continues to look into matters involving third parties such as YoGov,” Garza continued, “and so far no legal violations have been found, but the investigation continues.”
YoGov, which Pearce described as “the Uber of government services,” now operates in 30 states. The company’s website claims that it can find appointments for customers three to four weeks faster than they would be able to on their own, but there’s no magic or even a fancy algorithm involved. “People think that since we’re in the Bay Area, it must be bots or something,” Pearce said, “but actually it is very low tech.”
Although reviews of YoGov do vary, for the most part customers have positive things to say about the company. Yelp reviews describe YoGov as “helpful,” “professional” and even “worth every penny.” One reviewer wrote, “Don’t underestimate the joy you will feel as you head straight to the appointment line that has three people in it while bypassing the non-appointment line that has 35+ people standing there looking irritated and depressed. I was in and out of there in 45 minutes, including processing my paperwork, taking a Real ID test, and getting my photo taken (three different lines).” For frustrated residents who don’t want to lose a full workday to standing in line or can’t wait for months for an appointment, YoGov is an easy solution — as long as customers are willing to cough up the fees.
“From a theoretical perspective,” Pearce said, “you want to create an equal system. But what happens at the DMV is that you get a system that is equally bad for everyone. We’re saying that we’re going to make improvements across the board… we believe you can improve the efficiency of government systems for all consumers.”
Like Uber, Lyft, Instacart, and many other apps, YoGov relies on contractors. The workers, whom the company calls concierges, scan the DMV website for cancellations, refreshing constantly to look for the soonest-available slot that meets a customer’s requirements, including preferred dates. Once the concierge finds an opening, they make the appointment in the customer’s name, using information — like an email address and a phone number — provided by the customer. “We can have one of our concierges, like a personal assistant, look [for appointments] on your behalf… we don’t touch anything beforehand. We say, ‘You can spend three or four hours of your day, or we can spend three or four hours of ours.’”
However, government officials are not convinced by what some see as an equity issue. To combat third-party companies like YoGov, Orange County assemblyman Tyler Diep has sponsored a bill that is currently moving through the Assembly; if passed, it would make the sale of DMV appointments illegal. “Government is supposed to treat everyone equally, regardless of how much they can afford to pay,” Diep told NBC.
For the California lawmakers concerned about Pearce’s exploitation of the DMV’s failures, the permanent fix would be to improve the efficiency of the agency itself.
The bill targets YoGov, but Pearce is unconcerned. “It’s fine if it passes, because it won’t affect us. We are helping people on an individual basis with their DMV needs,” he said. Pearce contacted Diep’s office to try to explain his business model and wrote letters, but so far he has not heard from the assemblyman or other members of the legislature. Diep also did not return The Bold Italic’s request for comment.
YoGov’s business model of profiting from government inefficiency has raised concerns about ethics and equal access to services, but Pierce denied that this was the intention and distances himself from these criticisms by claiming that YoGov’s goal is to improve the DMV experience, not just profit from government failure. “We aren’t trying to create a two-tier system. We want to create more access for everyone,” he said. He noted that he went to school for policy and urban planning and even worked in government for the City of New York and the Region of Vancouver in planning and transportation.
Yogov sends their customers information about what specific paperwork to bring to their appointment for whatever they’re trying to achieve — a Real ID, a new license, etc. Pearce argues that because YoGov customers are given the information they need ahead of time, they need only one appointment at the DMV rather than returning again and again for paperwork they forgot or didn’t know they needed; in his view, the company reduces the overall strain on the appointment system. YoGov also offers some free appointment services and free “line concierge” services for the pregnant or disabled. “Basically, our mission is to be the consumer layer, to get people the information they need ahead of time so they don’t have to make multiple visits to the DMV,” he said.
For the California lawmakers concerned about Pearce’s exploitation of the DMV’s failures, the permanent fix would be to improve the efficiency of the agency itself, but until its protracted problems are solved, companies like YoGov will likely continue filling the gap — and make a living in the process.
