DPS-DVS has a new fee for no-shows
Oct. 28, 2021
You agreed you'd meet for lunch at noon. You check your phone again to make sure you're in the right place, then look around for your friend. They're nowhere to be found. You start to worry, so you send them a text. No response. At 12:30, you give up and go home, annoyed that you could have spent that half hour doing other things. You later learn your friend simply forgot your lunch date and didn't bother to tell you.
Frustrating, right? But we've all been there – even the Department of Public Safety Driver and Vehicle Services Division (DPS-DVS). When the appointment someone doesn't show up for is one that other people want, such as a driver's license road test appointment, the no-show's actions affect them too.
The problem of no-shows for Class D and commercial driver's license skills tests is more common than you'd think. Over the last three months (July-Sept. 2021), an average of 15.5 percent of people who had skills test appointments simply didn't show up for them. If they had gone online to cancel or reschedule, thousands of other people could have taken those spots.
A new law that will go into effect Nov. 1 will require any individual to pay a $20 fee if they fail to show up for a scheduled driver's license road test appointment or fail to cancel or reschedule the test at least 24 hours before the start of the appointment.
The no-show fee applies to any missed skills test appointment scheduled on or after Nov. 1. The system will alert you to the possibility of a no-show fee when you make the appointment. It will also send you a reminder three business days before your exam appointment, which will also remind you that if you fail to keep or reschedule the appointment, you'll be charged $20.
DPS-DVS understands that things happen that are simply out of your control. Unforeseen circumstances can cause you to miss an appointment. If that happens, DPS-DVS may consider waiving the fee on a case-by-case basis after evaluating the situation.
Just as drive.mn.gov is the place to go to schedule your skills test appointment, it's also the place to cancel or reschedule it.
Remember that by keeping your driver's license skills test appointment (or cancelling or rescheduling it in a timely fashion), you're not just being respectful of DPS-DVS' time. You're also freeing up that appointment so that some else can take their skills test – and starting Nov. 1, you're saving yourself $20.
