Testing, 1, 2, 3: Scheduling your DVS road test
June 12, 2017
Is your teen ready to take their road test for their driver’s license? Here are a few tips that will help you schedule it so you can get on with your summer.
Ah, summer in Minnesota: a time of year to go for a swim, work in the garden…and schedule your teenager’s road test at a Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS) office because they finally have time to take it. Scheduling a road test is easy, but there are a few tips to keep in mind that can make the process even smoother.
If you don’t know where to start, go to the “Find Office Locations” page of the DVS website. There you can type your zip code into the box and select the services you need – in this case, you want “Road Test – Class D” – and you’ll get a list of exam stations, their hours, and their contact information.
Once you know what exam station you want, you can schedule your road test online. You can also schedule your road test over the phone, but if you do that, take careful note of which exam station you’re calling – make sure it’s the one you want.
Keep in mind that some exam stations extend their hours for the summer, but not all of them do. So check the hours carefully if you have time constraints.
Exam stations also vary in the days and timeframes they offer the road test; in some locations, it’s only one day a week. As you can imagine, those book up quickly, so try to schedule at least three or four weeks ahead of time if you want to take your road test before school starts (summer is the busiest time of year for DVS exam stations). You can schedule them up to six months in advance, and you can take your road test at any exam station in Minnesota.
When you go to take the road test, make sure you bring everything you need. Here’s a checklist from the MN Driver’s Manual; note that there are some additional requirements for those under age 18.
Lastly – and this is a lot more important than you might think – if for some reason you can’t make it to the road test you’ve scheduled, don’t be a no-show. Call your exam station at least 48 hours in advance to cancel. Why? In 2016 there were 25,938 no-shows for the class D road test alone! That means there were nearly 26,000 other people who could have taken those appointments instead of having to wait.
So use these tips to check that road test off your list once and for all. That will make it easier to go about enjoying your summer!
