It’s hard to get a DMV appointment in Miami-Dade. Now it’s illegal to scalp one, too

Legislation the County Commission passed Tuesday makes it a misdemeanor to sell access to an appointment for a driver’s-license office or a time slot at any other government agency. Violators could receive a $500 fine.

Sponsored by Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, the legislation stemmed from allegations by the county’s newly elected tax collector, Dariel Fernandez, who said last month he had uncovered a “network of appointment scalpers” at local DMV offices. He blamed driving schools that used the state’s online booking system to lock up dozens of appointments for customers paying the schools to get their licenses.

“No one should have to pay a third party just to access basic government services,” Cabrera said in a statement after the unanimous approval vote.

While DMV locations in Miami-Dade are mostly run by the state, the county Tax Collector’s Office is in the process of taking them over under a change mandated by state law. Most Florida counties already run their license offices, but a change in the state Constitution that mandated Miami-Dade elect an independent tax collector in November also requires the office to take over the state’s DMV operations.

Fernandez said Tuesday that as his staff has taken over DMV offices, they’re inheriting appointments made by suspected scalpers. A big clue: Many slots go unused when the appointment time arrives, presumably when a driving school ends up not needing an appointment made weeks earlier.

“We had 400 appointments, but only 200 showed up,” Fernandez said of a DMV office now under his control.

While the scalped appointments are blamed for sopping up limited staff time at DMV offices, the practice isn’t illegal. The Cabrera legislation changes that, though Fernandez also said he expects a new protocol to end the practice of bulk appointment making.

Fernandez said that as his staff takes over an office, they’re also implementing new technology that prevents making multiple appointments with the same phone number. The result has been a drop off in appointments being booked, he said.

This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 3:44 PM.