MIAMI – Long lines and wait times have become a usual occurrence at South Florida driver’s license offices.
In a bombshell revelation by newly-elected Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez, one reason people can’t get appointments are that companies are scooping up time slots and then selling them, sometimes for up to $250 dollars a reservation.
It was a shock to some people waiting for outside the DMV office off Northwest 37th Avenue by the Magic City Casino.
“Oh, that’s crazy,” said an exasperated Laquinda Brown. “Crazy but genius.”
Fernandez said his office discovered the scalping as the Tax Collector’s office transitions to take over DMV offices, in line with other counties in Florida.
Software reportedly showed that single phone numbers were linked to multiple appointments.
“When you run the report, you see that one phone number makes like 100 appointments,” Fernandez said. “So we started looking into that. And the system red-flagged that.”
As of now, holding multiple appointments is not illegal, but Fernandez wants it to be.
He proposed an ordinance that passed on first reading before the Miami-Dade County Commission on Tuesday that would fine or even jail someone who does it.
The second reading will be on April 1.