FOLLOWUP: Yes, West Seattle’s new vehicle-licensing office is still on the road to opening

We’ve answered some hotline calls recently from people wondering if the new West Seattle vehicle/vessel-licensing office is still on the way. In our previous coverage, the plan was to have it open in the former liquor-store location on the north side of Westwood Village by March 1st. So we checked back with new sub-agent Randy Lais. He tells WSB, “We are truly disappointed we did not meet the March 1st opening date. Covid has played an enormous role in slowing this process. We are in the final stages of signing the lease for this suite … On my side, we are immediately ready to set this office up to open. Although I do not have a specific date, we are going to work vigorously to have our Grand Opening within 30 to 60 days. The specific date will depend on the expedited coordination between King County, the DoL and our team. We all are working extremely hard to make this happen for everyone.” We first reported last November that Lais had been chosen as the new sub-agent for this area; he already has a licensing agency in Port Orchard. The former West Seattle sub-agent closed at the end of 2019. Meantime, you can handle many transactions online, but if you want to visit a licensing office, the nearest ones are in Georgetown and Burien; the full King County list is here.

17 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: Yes, West Seattle's new vehicle-licensing office is still on the road to opening"

  • Flo B March 24, 2021 (1:09 pm)

    Crossing my fingers as my tabs expire the end of April.

    • The King March 24, 2021 (2:19 pm)

      If you go there today, pull a number and wait you should get your tabs by late may or early June. The speed of govt. “Now serving…..number one”.  Just kidding, glad there’s going to be an office back in WS. 

  • Auntie March 24, 2021 (1:18 pm)

    You can renew online at dol.wa.gov and they will mail you your new registration and tabs – no on-site visit required.

    • WSB March 24, 2021 (1:31 pm)

      Yes, I mentioned that above. There are some people who would still prefer to do business in person, and those are the people we’re hearing from.

  • Kim March 24, 2021 (1:38 pm)

    Is the original Westwood Village site not open? (8830 25th Ave SW).  I just scheduled an in-person appointment there today for a few weeks from now to get my enhanced license.  Should it not have let me book one? 

    • WSB March 24, 2021 (1:50 pm)

      That’s a driver-licensing office, NOT a vehicle/vessel-licensing office.

      • Sue T. March 24, 2021 (6:05 pm)

        Kim asks a fair question. Have Washington’s DMV offices finally reopened for the millions of  state residents who have only until October 2021 to get their driver’s (not vehicle) license or resident ID card “enhanced” with a new photo and a half dozen in-person proofs of identity?

        • bolo March 25, 2021 (9:48 pm)

          DMV is so California. Here in Washington it’s called DOL.

        • PB March 26, 2021 (12:20 am)

          The DOL offices are open and have been.  I went in November and January.  You just have to make an appointment.  Or at least did back then.

          • Sue T. March 26, 2021 (8:27 am)

            Thanks, PB.

  • Elizabeth A Ackerley March 24, 2021 (2:08 pm)

    Is there any word on what charges were filed against the previous contractor and their employees at the California Avenue location of the licensing office? They were accused of stealing citizens’ credit card numbers, using their phones right in front of people to take images of their checks/cc’s. Were charges ever brought up? Why don’t we ever hear about these things? What safeguards has the state put in place to prevent this from happening again?  SDOT needs to answer these questions, before we can have trust in their judgement.

    • WSB March 24, 2021 (3:54 pm)

      (a) This is not related to SDOT. Not to the city at all. The county administers sub-agency for businesses that are the middleperson for state licenses.
      (b) The investigation into the former sub-agent was not a criminal investigation, at least at the time of our last inquiry last summer. It was an “administrative review.” (There was one criminal case involving an apparent former employee but so far as I can tell, she was never charged. None of the business’s owners’ names come up in a criminal-records search, either.)
      (c) As for “why don’t you ever hear …” we do a HUGE amount of followups, stuff we check on every day and every week, and sometimes you “just don’t hear’ because nothing actually happened. That said, it’s been a while since we checked on this one, so we’ll ask the DoL if that review ever went anywhere.

      And again, since people are sometimes confused, the new operator is entirely unrelated to any and all of this. – TR

  • Flo B March 24, 2021 (2:14 pm)

    Auntie. Yes, i still prefer the “old” way of doing business. Heck, i still open up and read books and magazines. 

  • shotinthefoot March 24, 2021 (2:37 pm)

    Do you know what ever ended up happening with the California Ave location, as far as criminal charges? 

  • SeaSpade March 24, 2021 (5:18 pm)

    Fully welcome the return of a WS branch.  But for those thinking that an in-person visit is a “get off my lawn” moment, there are a lot of things you still can’t do on-line – or – in this age of covid and low staffing levels, require you to get some information from a branch over the phone which proves to be impossible as they have the right to say “too busy”.Didn’t want to, but had to go to the Georgetown branch, and it really was pretty painless and they had it organized very safely.  Was in and out quicker than ever was on the California branch.

  • KT March 25, 2021 (7:48 am)

    …”We are in the final stages of signing the lease for this suit”… Haven’t even signed a lease yet?  They are no where close to being operational.

  • jissy April 2, 2021 (1:34 pm)

    Right, KT??  I mean it was back in November they said they were going into the WWV space….. that sure seems like a long time to try to work out a lease.

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