DMV Saturday Hours in California: Which Offices Are Open? (2026)
No California DMV field office is open on Saturday — not one that we could find, anywhere in the state. We checked more than 60 offices office-by-office on dmv.ca.gov on November 6, 2026, and every page says the same thing: “Sat–Sun Closed.” This guide gives you the proof, the Saturday options that really do work — kiosks, AAA and other business partners, and online services — and the reason half the internet still tells you otherwise.
TL;DR
- No California DMV field office is open on Saturday. We checked 60+ offices office-by-office on dmv.ca.gov on November 6, 2026 — big cities, suburbs, small rural offices, and the commercial test centers — and every one prints “Sat–Sun Closed.” The day-by-day calendars list Saturday Nov. 7 and Saturday Nov. 14, 2026 as closed.
- Sunday is closed everywhere too. The DMV’s own holidays page states flatly that “DMV offices are closed on weekends.”
- What still works on Saturday: DMV Now kiosks in grocery stores (registration renewal, sticker and card replacement, records, and more — most run Mon–Sun, some until 1 or 2 a.m.); DMV business partners such as AAA branches (typically Sat 9 a.m.–1 p.m., members only); and online services through MyDMV, which run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- You cannot book a Saturday appointment — the appointment calendar only contains days the offices are open. But you can book a weekday appointment on a Saturday night, because online booking runs around the clock.
- Do not plan a trip for Wednesday, November 11, 2026. Veterans Day closes every field office that day. And check your own office’s page before you travel — some dmv.ca.gov listing cards misleadingly show “Wed closed” for offices whose own calendars show Wednesday 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (see section 3).
- If a guide lists Saturday-open DMV offices, do not trust it unless it links to a dmv.ca.gov office page showing Saturday hours. The “60 offices open Saturday” claim comes from a real DMV program that has ended, and the “second and fourth Saturdays” schedule was invented by an AI-written guide (see section 7).
1. The Short Answer, With Proof
Is the DMV open on Saturday in California? No. As of November 6, 2026, no California DMV field office lists Saturday hours on dmv.ca.gov. That is not a guess and it is not a summary of what other guides say — it is what the DMV’s own office pages print, office after office, in the same words every time: “Sat–Sun Closed.”
Here is the proof in its shortest form — ten of the state’s biggest offices, each read live on dmv.ca.gov on November 6, 2026. The full check, with more than 60 offices, is in section 2.
| Office | Address (dmv.ca.gov) | Weekday hours as printed | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles (Hope St) | 3615 S Hope St, Los Angeles, CA 90007 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
| San Francisco | 1377 Fell St, San Francisco, CA 94117 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
| San Diego (Normal St) | 3960 Normal St, San Diego, CA 92103 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
| Sacramento (Broadway) | 4700 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95820 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
| Fresno | 655 W Olive Ave, Fresno, CA 93728 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
| San Jose | 111 W Alma Ave, San Jose, CA 95110 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
| Oakland Coliseum | 501 85th Ave, Oakland, CA 94621 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
| Santa Ana | 1330 E First St, Santa Ana, CA 92701 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
| Costa Mesa | 650 W 19th St, Costa Mesa, CA 92627 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
| Pomona | 1600 S Garey Ave, Pomona, CA 91766 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Closed |
Two things make this more than a list of ten offices. First, every office page on dmv.ca.gov also carries a day-by-day calendar, and those calendars name the coming Saturdays explicitly: Saturday Nov. 7, 2026 — closed; Saturday Nov. 14, 2026 — closed. That is true for Fresno, Sacramento, San Jose, Oakland Coliseum, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Pomona, Montebello, Lincoln Park, Bakersfield Southwest, Santa Barbara, and San Diego Clairemont, among others. Second, the DMV’s own holidays page — dmv.ca.gov/portal/holidays/ — states as a general rule that “DMV offices are closed on weekends.” The office pages and the DMV’s own general statement agree with each other, which is more than can be said for most of the guides ranking for this question.
How this check was done. Each office below was read live on dmv.ca.gov on November 6, 2026, from its field-office page (dmv.ca.gov/portal/field-office/<office>/). Two data points were taken from each page: the weekly pattern printed in the office listing, and the day-by-day calendar, which names the coming Saturdays explicitly. Offices marked “via nearby list” were read from the “Nearby Locations” panel of another office’s live dmv.ca.gov page — the same official source, one step removed. At build time the headline was re-checked with a fresh spot check of six offices (Los Angeles Hope St, San Francisco, San Diego Clairemont, Sacramento, Fresno, and the rural Alturas office): all six showed Saturday Nov. 7 and Saturday Nov. 14, 2026 as closed. The honest limit of this check is the sample size: 60+ offices were checked, not all of the DMV’s more than 160 field offices. The statement this page makes is therefore exactly this — no office we checked lists Saturday hours — and the page names its sample rather than claiming a census it did not perform. If the DMV restores Saturday service at any office, this page will name that office with its exact printed hours; until a live dmv.ca.gov office page shows Saturday hours, no office is named as open.
Do not drive to a DMV office on a Saturday on the strength of a third-party list. Several ranking guides list Saturday-open offices. None of them links to a dmv.ca.gov office page showing Saturday hours, because no such page exists. The lists are built from the ended 60-office program, from AI-generated guesses, or from other guides copying each other. Before you travel on any day, check your office’s own page on dmv.ca.gov — the day-by-day calendar on that page is the authority, and it is free to check.
2. Office by Office: The Full Check
This is the evidence section, and it is deliberately long. If you only need your own city, find it in the tables. If you are deciding whether to trust this page against a guide that says otherwise, this section is the reason to trust it: every row below traces to a live dmv.ca.gov page read on November 6, 2026.
2a. Big-City Offices — Read Directly
| Office | Address (dmv.ca.gov) | Weekday pattern as printed | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles (Hope St) | 3615 S Hope St, Los Angeles, CA 90007 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| San Francisco | 1377 Fell St, San Francisco, CA 94117 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| San Diego Clairemont | 4375 Derrick Dr, San Diego, CA 92117 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (see note below) | Closed |
| San Diego (Normal St) — via Clairemont nearby list | 3960 Normal St, San Diego, CA 92103 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Sacramento (Broadway) | 4700 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95820 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Sacramento South (La Mancha) — via Sacramento nearby list | 7775 La Mancha Way, Sacramento, CA 95823 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Fresno | 655 W Olive Ave, Fresno, CA 93728 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| San Jose | 111 W Alma Ave, San Jose, CA 95110 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Oakland Coliseum | 501 85th Ave, Oakland, CA 94621 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Oakland (Claremont Ave) — via Coliseum nearby list | 5300 Claremont Ave, Oakland, CA 94618 | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
A note on San Diego Clairemont. The Clairemont office’s own day-by-day calendar shows it closed not only on Saturday Nov. 7 and Saturday Nov. 14, but also on Thursday Nov. 5, Friday Nov. 6, and Monday Nov. 9 through Friday Nov. 13 — an extended stretch beyond the normal pattern, while its nearby San Diego (Normal St) office shows normal weekday hours. That looks like a temporary closure, and the page gives no cause for it. Do not read Clairemont as “closed all week” as a general fact, and do not treat it as evidence about Saturdays — its Saturdays are closed like every other office’s. If you are heading to Clairemont specifically, check its live page before you travel. The same class of temporary-closure anomaly appears on other offices from time to time; the calendar on the office’s own page is the check.
A note on Bakersfield Southwest and Santa Barbara. Two offices in this check are closed for longer reasons that have nothing to do with Saturdays. Bakersfield Southwest is closed for renovation until November 24, 2026. The Santa Barbara office closed on October 23, 2026 and reopens January 15, 2027, per the DMV’s press release of October 16, 2026. If either of those is your office, the nearest alternatives are Goleta, Ventura, and Oxnard for Santa Barbara, and Bakersfield (F St) and Arvin for Bakersfield Southwest — all of them weekday-only as well. Check the DMV’s office locator before you travel, because a renovation closure changes the nearest-office answer.
2b. Mid-Size and Suburban Offices
| Office | Weekday pattern as printed | Saturday |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Ana — 1330 E First St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Westminster — via Santa Ana nearby list, 13700 Hoover St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Costa Mesa — 650 W 19th St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Fullerton — via Santa Ana nearby list, 909 W Valencia Dr | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Pomona — 1600 S Garey Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Rancho Cucamonga — via Pomona nearby list, 8629 Hellman Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| West Covina — via Pomona nearby list, 800 S Glendora Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Montebello — 424 N Wilcox Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Bell Gardens — via Montebello nearby list, 6801 S Garfield | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Whittier — via Montebello nearby list, 9338 S Painter Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Lincoln Park (Los Angeles) — 3529 N Mission Rd | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Bakersfield (F St) — via Bakersfield Southwest nearby list, 3120 F St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Arvin — via Bakersfield Southwest nearby list, 317 Campus Dr | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Goleta — via Santa Barbara nearby list, 7127 Hollister Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Santa Monica — 2235 Colorado Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Culver City — via Santa Monica nearby list, 11400 W Washington Blvd | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| San Pedro — 1511 N Gaffey St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Torrance — 1785 W 220th St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Long Beach — via San Pedro nearby list, 3700 E Willow St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Van Nuys — 14920 Vanowen St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| San Bernardino — 1310 N Waterman Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Ventura — 4260 Market St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Oxnard — via Ventura nearby list | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Chula Vista — 30 N Glover Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| San Marcos — 590 Rancheros Dr | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Oceanside — via San Marcos nearby list, 4005 Plaza Dr | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Tulare — 274 E Cross Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Visalia — via Tulare nearby list | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Chico — 107 Parmac Rd | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Eureka — 2500 6th St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Salinas — via Salinas CDTC nearby list, 260 E Laurel Dr | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Daly City — 1500 Sullivan Ave | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Stockton — 55 S Lincoln St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
| Modesto — 124 Burney St | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m.; Wed 9 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed |
The pattern in this table is the point. Thirty-four offices from San Diego to Eureka, from the coast to the Central Valley, and the Saturday column is identical in every row. A Saturday program that existed at some offices would show up as a break in this pattern — a different line in one city, a different calendar in another. There is no break. The same uniformity is why the answer can be stated flatly: the DMV does not run a Saturday schedule anywhere in the state right now, and the offices do not even differ from each other in how they print it.
2c. Small and Rural Offices — Different Weekdays, Same Weekend Rule
The small offices are the ones a Saturday searcher is most likely to misunderstand, because their weekday schedules really are different. Alturas, Colusa, and Garberville do not keep the standard five-day week at all. But their Saturdays are the same as everyone else’s: closed.
| Office | Address (dmv.ca.gov) | Weekday pattern as printed | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alturas | 903 W C St, Alturas, CA 96101 | Tue and Thu only, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. (calendar: Tue Nov. 3 and Thu Nov. 5 open; Mon, Wed, Fri closed) | Closed |
| Colusa | 1025 Bridge St Ste B, Colusa, CA 95932 | Tue and Thu only, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. (calendar: Tue Nov. 3 and Thu Nov. 5 open; Mon, Wed, Fri closed) | Closed |
| Garberville | 1180 Evergreen Rd, Garberville, CA 95542 | Tue and Thu only, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. (calendar: Tue Nov. 3 and Thu Nov. 5 open; Mon, Wed, Fri closed) | Closed |
If your office is a small one, the weekday trap is bigger than the Saturday question: driving there on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday finds a closed building too. Check the day-by-day calendar on your office’s dmv.ca.gov page before you travel — it lists the next two weeks day by day, and it is the only source that shows these part-week schedules correctly. A few small rural offices are also listed as closing for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. — check your office’s own page rather than assuming the standard no-lunch-closure rule that applies at most offices.
2d. Specialist Sites — Industry Business Centers and Commercial Drive Test Centers
Industry Business Centers (IBCs) and Commercial Drive Test Centers (CDTCs) keep different weekday hours from field offices, and they serve a different public: commercial and industry customers, not general licence and registration visitors. Their weekends are the same, though — closed Saturday and Sunday at every site we checked.
| Site | Weekday pattern (day-by-day calendar) | Saturday |
|---|---|---|
| West Sacramento CDTC — 2528 Evergreen Ave, West Sacramento | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 7 a.m.–4 p.m.; Wed 8 a.m.–4 p.m. | Closed |
| Sacramento–Florin IBC — 7226 Florin Mall Dr, Sacramento | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 7 a.m.–4 p.m.; Wed 8 a.m.–4 p.m. | Closed |
| Fresno CDTC | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 7 a.m.–4 p.m.; Wed 8 a.m.–4 p.m. (or closed some weeks) | Closed |
| Fresno IBC (Blackstone Ave) | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 7 a.m.–4 p.m.; Wed 8 a.m.–4 p.m. (or closed some weeks) | Closed |
| Bakersfield IBC | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 7 a.m.–4 p.m.; Wed 8 a.m.–4 p.m. (or closed some weeks) | Closed |
| LA Metro IBC (Covina) | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 7 a.m.–4 p.m.; Wed 8 a.m.–4 p.m. | Closed |
| Mountain View IBC | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 7 a.m.–4 p.m.; Wed 8 a.m.–4 p.m. (calendar verified Nov. 6, 2026) | Closed |
| San Bernardino IBC (Carnegie Dr) | Mon–Tue/Thu–Fri 7 a.m.–4 p.m.; Wed 8 a.m.–4 p.m. | Closed |
| Gardena CDTC | Mon–Fri 7 a.m.–4 p.m. weekdays | Closed |
| Salinas CDTC | Services by appointment only; day-by-day calendar lists Saturdays as closed | Closed |
Two warnings belong with this table. First, do not drive to an IBC or a CDTC for a Saturday licence renewal or a first REAL ID — these are commercial and industry sites, and a general-public visitor looking for Saturday service will find a locked building and the wrong counter even on a weekday. Second, the 7 a.m. opening time belongs to these sites on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. It does not belong to Wednesdays, and it does not belong to standard field offices at all — a guide that tells you otherwise has the pattern backwards (see section 7).
3. Why the Weekday Hours Confuse People
The Saturday question is hard to answer well because the weekday hours themselves are easy to get wrong. Three patterns exist, and they look identical from the outside of the building. Get the pattern wrong and you waste a trip on a Wednesday just as surely as on a Saturday.
| Pattern | Mon–Tue | Wednesday | Thu–Fri | Sat–Sun | Where it applies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard field office | 8 a.m.–5 p.m. | 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (opens one hour late) | 8 a.m.–5 p.m. | Closed | Most offices — Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno, San Jose, Oakland, and the offices in section 2b |
| Industry Business Center / Commercial Drive Test Center | 7 a.m.–4 p.m. | 8 a.m.–4 p.m. | 7 a.m.–4 p.m. | Closed | Commercial and industry sites only — West Sacramento CDTC, Sacramento–Florin IBC, Mountain View IBC, and the rest of section 2d |
| Small rural office | Open Tue only (of Mon–Tue) | Closed | Open Thu only (of Thu–Fri) | Closed | Alturas, Colusa, Garberville — Tue and Thu only, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. |
The Wednesday trap, corrected. Some dmv.ca.gov office-listing cards show “Wed closed” for certain offices — Los Angeles Hope St, San Diego Normal St, Sacramento South, Daly City, Goleta, Tulare, and Bakersfield F St among them. That line is a display quirk of the listing card, not the office’s hours: the day-by-day calendar on each of those offices’ own pages shows Wednesday Nov. 4, 2026 as 9 a.m.–5 p.m., the standard late Wednesday opening. This page states the calendar’s answer, not the card’s, because the calendar is the day-by-day record and it was checked office by office at build time. The practical rule is simple: trust the calendar on your office’s own page, not the summary card, and never plan a trip on a single line from a listing page. For the full weekday-hours detail, including the drive-test centers, see our California DMV hours guide.
Two more weekday facts worth knowing before you plan the alternative trip. First, written knowledge tests are not offered after 4:30 p.m. — a reader planning a late-Friday visit for a written test will be turned away, so arrive well before closing if a test is on the agenda. Second, no field office in our sample closes after 5 p.m., and no standard office opens at 7 a.m. — the 7 a.m. opening belongs to the commercial centers in section 2d. Any guide claiming evening hours past 5 p.m. at a field office, or a 7 a.m. Wednesday opening at a standard office, is not describing any office we could find on dmv.ca.gov. And most offices do not close for lunch, though staffing drops around noon to 2 p.m. — the exception is a few small rural offices that close from noon to 1 p.m., so check your own office’s page.
4. Sunday, Too — and the Holidays That Land on Weekdays
All California DMV field offices are closed on Sundays. No exceptions were found anywhere in this research. Every office page in section 2 prints “Sat–Sun Closed” or lists Sunday as closed in the day-by-day calendar — Fresno: Sunday Nov. 1 closed, Sunday Nov. 8 closed; San Diego Clairemont: Sunday Nov. 1 closed, Sunday Nov. 8 closed; Pomona: Sunday Oct. 25 closed. The DMV’s own holidays page states that offices are closed on weekends, and even the competitor pages agree on this one point without exception. Sunday is the least-contested fact in this entire topic, so this page states it in one clean sentence and moves on: if you need the DMV on a Sunday, use a kiosk or go online (section 5).
The holiday that matters right now is Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, 2026. All field offices are closed that day. It is printed as a banner on dmv.ca.gov office pages and on the DMV’s official closure list, and it falls five days after this page publishes — which means a reader planning a midweek trip in the week of November 9–13 must know that Wednesday is a closure, not a 9 a.m. late opening. Do not plan a Wednesday trip that week.
| 2026 closure date | Holiday | What it means for your trip |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, January 1 | New Year’s Day | Closed |
| Monday, January 19 | Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Closed |
| Monday, February 16 | Presidents’ Day | Closed |
| Tuesday, March 31 | Farmworkers Day | Closed |
| Monday, May 25 | Memorial Day | Closed |
| Monday, September 7 | Labor Day | Closed |
| Wednesday, November 11 | Veterans Day | Closed — this week |
| Thursday, November 26 | Thanksgiving Day | Closed |
| Friday, November 27 | Day after Thanksgiving | Closed |
| Friday, December 25 | Christmas Day | Closed |
That is the DMV’s official 2026 closure list, from dmv.ca.gov/portal/holidays/. For the full 2026 and 2027 tables, the trap dates, and the observance rules, see our California DMV holidays guide. Three Saturday-relevant points from that guide belong here. First, a Saturday holiday creates no extra weekday closure: July 4, 2026 fell on a Saturday, the DMV’s list contains no July closure at all, and offices were open on Friday, July 3, 2026. Saturday holidays give state employees holiday credit, not a Friday closure. The exception is narrow: when November 11 falls on a Saturday, the preceding Friday is observed — the next occurrence is November 11, 2028, so Friday, November 10, 2028 is the observed closure. Second, some days readers assume are closures are open days: Juneteenth (Friday, June 19, 2026), Columbus Day (Monday, October 12, 2026), Native American Day (Friday, September 25, 2026), Lincoln’s Birthday (Thursday, February 12, 2026), Admission Day (Wednesday, September 9, 2026), and Good Friday are all open days at DMV offices. Third, Christmas 2027 needs a caution, not a claim: Christmas Day 2027 is a Saturday, when offices are closed anyway, and California law gives state employees holiday credit rather than an extra Friday closure — but the DMV has not published its 2027 list, so this page does not state that Friday, December 24, 2027 is closed. Check dmv.ca.gov before a Christmas-week trip.
5. What You CAN Do on a Saturday
The field office is closed, but the DMV is not entirely closed. Three official channels still work on Saturday, and keeping them strictly separated is the whole skill of this section: a kiosk is not an office, a business partner is not the DMV, and online is not in person. Mix them up and you get the exact confusion that fills the search results — “kiosks open Saturday” becoming “the DMV is open Saturday.”
5a. DMV Now Kiosks — the Saturday Workhorse
The DMV’s own words, printed on its office pages, are: “DMV kiosks are convenient and offer services that are quick and easy. No wait times and open daily!” Kiosk hours follow the host location, not DMV field-office hours — that is the whole point, and it is worth saying in bold: the kiosk follows the grocery store’s hours, not the DMV’s.
What kiosks can do: vehicle registration renewal; planned non-operation (PNO) filing; suspension reinstatement fee payment; affidavit of non-use; proof of insurance submission; driver and vehicle record requests; replacement registration card and sticker; driver’s licence and ID card renewal; replacement driver’s licence; vessel registration renewal; and change of address. The kiosk prints the registration card and sticker immediately — you walk out with them in hand, which is the one thing online renewal cannot do on a Saturday.
What kiosks cannot do: first-time driver’s licence or ID card applications; first-time REAL ID applications (in person only); name changes; knowledge or driving tests; and commercial (CDL) transactions. If your task is on this list, Saturday is not an option at a kiosk — you need a weekday appointment (see section 6).
| Host chain | Typical kiosk hours (from dmv.ca.gov office pages) | Saturday? |
|---|---|---|
| Ralphs | Mon–Sun 5 a.m.–1 a.m. (some 6 a.m.–2 a.m.) — e.g., Ralphs Costa Mesa, 380 E 17th St: Mon–Sun 5 a.m.–1 a.m.; Ralphs San Diego G St: Mon–Sun 5 a.m.–2 a.m.; Ralphs Torrance: Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–1 a.m. | Yes — until 1–2 a.m. |
| Vons | Mon–Sun 5 a.m.–1 a.m. / 6 a.m.–midnight — e.g., Vons San Diego (Murphy Canyon): Mon–Sun 5 a.m.–1 a.m.; Vons Clovis: Mon–Sun 5 a.m.–midnight | Yes |
| Safeway | Mon–Sun 5 a.m.–midnight / 5 a.m.–1 a.m. / 6 a.m.–midnight — e.g., Safeway San Francisco, 2300 16th St: Mon–Sun 5 a.m.–midnight; Safeway South San Francisco: Mon–Sun 5 a.m.–1 a.m.; Safeway Modesto: Mon–Sun 5 a.m.–2 a.m. | Yes |
| Albertsons | Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–11 p.m. — e.g., Albertsons Goleta: Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–11 p.m.; Albertsons Fountain Valley: Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–11 p.m.; Albertsons Chula Vista: Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–11 p.m. | Yes |
| Food 4 Less | Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–midnight / 6 a.m.–1 a.m. — e.g., Food 4 Less San Diego: Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–1 a.m. | Yes |
| FoodMaxx / Foods Co | Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–midnight / 6 a.m.–1 a.m. — e.g., FoodMaxx Fresno: Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–midnight; Foods Co Fresno: Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–1 a.m. | Yes |
| Superior Grocers | Mon–Sun 7 a.m.–10 p.m. (one location Mon–Sat 7 a.m.–10 p.m., Sun 7 a.m.–11 p.m. — Superior Grocers Santa Ana, 1st St) | Yes |
| Pak ’N Save (Emeryville) | Mon–Sun 6 a.m.–midnight | Yes |
Two corrections belong with this table. First, some guides claim the DMV does not operate Saturday kiosk service anywhere in California. That is flatly wrong — every row above, each sourced to a live dmv.ca.gov office page, shows grocery-store kiosks running Monday to Sunday, including Saturdays until 1 or 2 a.m. Second, a kiosk inside a field office is different: it follows office hours (Monday to Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Wednesday 9 a.m.–5 p.m.) and is not available on Saturday, because the building is locked. Do not drive to a closed office expecting to use the lobby kiosk.
Payment at kiosks: credit or debit cards are accepted at all kiosk locations, and the DMV’s own payment table (Licensing Fees page, read live November 6, 2026) lists a 1.95% service fee on card payments at kiosks — the same rate as online. Cash is accepted at DMV offices and some retail host locations. This page prints no kiosk count as a fact: our own kiosk guide and a competitor disagree on the statewide total, and neither figure was re-verified at build time, so the safe wording is that there are hundreds of kiosks statewide, in DMV offices and grocery stores. Find the nearest one on the official kiosk locator, cadmvnowkiosk.com, or on the DMV’s office locator, which lists kiosks on each office page. For the full kiosk guide — the complete service list, the cannot-do list, and the location lists by retail chain — see our DMV kiosk guide. This page does not reproduce those location lists; that is the kiosk guide’s job.
5b. DMV Business Partners — Some ARE Open Saturday
The DMV’s own definition, printed on its office pages, is: “Businesses authorized by the DMV to handle certain registration services, often with much shorter wait times (if any!). Additional fees may be applied by this partner.” Partners handle registration services — renewals, plates, stickers, title transfers, reports of sale. They do not do licences, REAL ID, or tests. Every partner row below was read from a live dmv.ca.gov office page on November 6, 2026.
| Partner | Address | Saturday hours as printed |
|---|---|---|
| AAA San Francisco Richmond District Branch (member use only) | 599 Clement St, San Francisco, CA 94118 | Sat 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (Mon–Fri 9 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun Closed) |
| AAA Clairemont Branch (member use only) | 4973 Clairemont Dr, San Diego, CA 92117 | Sat 9 a.m.–1 p.m. (Mon–Fri 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun Closed) |
| AAA Santa Monica Branch (member use only) | 2730 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90404 | Sat 9 a.m.–1 p.m. (Mon–Fri 9 a.m.–5 p.m.) |
| AAA San Marcos Branch (member use only) | 137 S Las Posas Blvd, San Marcos, CA 92078 | Sat 9 a.m.–1 p.m. (Mon–Fri 9 a.m.–5 p.m.) |
| Express Photo and Mail | 1388 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117 | Sat 10 a.m.–2 p.m. (Mon–Fri 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Sun Closed) |
| Insurance Agency J and E and Registration Services | 2390 Mission St Ste 101, San Francisco, CA 94110 | Sat 11 a.m.–3 p.m. (Mon–Fri 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun Closed) |
| Valencia Smog | 1298 Valencia St Room C, San Francisco, CA 94110 | Mon–Sat 10 a.m.–6 p.m. (Sun Closed) |
| Commute Registration Services | 440 N Abby St, Fresno, CA 93701 | Mon–Sat 10 a.m.–6 p.m. (Sun Closed) |
| Veros Registration Service | 404 N Abby St, Fresno, CA 93701 | Sat 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (Mon–Fri 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sun Closed) |
| Save Direct Insurance Agency LLC (Modesto area) | Address on the DMV’s kiosk page | Sat 11 a.m.–3 p.m. (Mon–Fri 9 a.m.–6 p.m.) |
| Xtreet LLC | 4200 California St Ste 107, San Francisco, CA 94118 | Mon–Sun 7 a.m.–7 p.m. (open Sundays too — rare) |
Three rules apply to every partner in that table, and they apply every time a partner is mentioned. AAA is members only — if you are not a member, the AAA counter cannot help you, and membership is the price of the shorter line. Partners charge additional fees — that is dmv.ca.gov’s own warning, printed on every partner listing, and it means the partner’s price is the DMV’s fee plus the partner’s own charge. And check the specific partner on dmv.ca.gov before you go — partner hours change, branches move, and a Saturday hour printed here is only as current as the last time the DMV’s page was checked.
Partners that are NOT open Saturday — include this as a caution, because sending a reader to a closed partner wastes the same Saturday as sending them to a closed office: Boulevard Automotive, San Diego (Mon–Fri 7 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat–Sun Closed); Sunnyside Business Center, Fresno (Mon–Fri 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat–Sun Closed); California Registration Services, Los Angeles (Mon–Fri 11 a.m.–7 p.m., Sat–Sun Closed); Borba Registration Service, Modesto area (Mon–Fri 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat–Sun Closed). Several partners on dmv.ca.gov show “Mon–Sun Closed” — those are listings with no hours published, not confirmed closures, and this page does not describe them as either open or closed. For the full AAA picture — the two separate California AAA clubs, which services each club offers, and the limited-time REAL ID pilot at some Southern California branches — see our AAA DMV services guide.
5c. Online Services — Available Saturday AND Sunday, 24/7
The DMV’s homepage says it plainly: “Most DMV business can be started and/or completed online without visiting a DMV office.” The MyDMV portal handles vehicle registration renewal, driver’s licence renewal where eligible, address changes, driving-record requests, replacement licence requests, registration status checks, and REAL ID document uploads — and it runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including Saturday night and Sunday morning. For the full account guide — sign-up in five steps, the login fixes, the service list, and the scams to avoid — see our MyDMV account guide.
The single most useful official sentence for a Saturday reader sits on the DMV’s appointment page, in its “Know Before You Go” box, read live on November 6, 2026: “DMV does not provide counter service for vehicle registration renewal, driver’s license/ID card renewal (unless specified on notice), driver and vehicle records, or replacement driver’s licenses. These services must be done online, at a DMV kiosk, with a DMV business partner, or by mail.” Read that twice, because it changes the whole Saturday question: the four most common errands cannot be done at a counter at all — not on Saturday, and not on any weekday either. Booking a weekday appointment for a registration renewal is a wasted trip. The correct Saturday move for a renewal is online or at a kiosk, and the correct weekday move is the same.
Phone. The DMV’s published number is 1-800-777-0133. Live representatives work Monday to Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. (Wednesday 9 a.m.–5 p.m.); the automated system runs around the clock. Do not expect a human on a Saturday — and do not trust any guide that tells you to call on Saturday to confirm whether an office is open, because the people who could answer that question are not working either.
5d. Mail — the Forgotten Saturday Option
Many DMV forms are accepted by mail, which means a reader can prepare and post documents on a Saturday even though no office is open. Title transfers, duplicate title requests, and other mail-in transactions follow this route. This page does not print a mailing address from memory — mailing addresses change by form — so use the address printed in the instructions for your specific form on dmv.ca.gov. The point is the timing, not the address: the post office is open on Saturday, the DMV’s mailbox is always open, and a Saturday spent preparing and posting the paperwork is a Saturday well spent.
6. Appointments and Walk-Ins on Saturday
There are no Saturday appointments because there is no Saturday service. The DMV appointment system (dmv.ca.gov/portal/appointments/) offers Field Office Appointments and Drive Test Appointments at field offices on their open days only — Monday to Friday. No sampled office page lists a Saturday appointment slot, and the day-by-day calendars list Saturdays as closed, which means there are no appointments to book. Any guide claiming that Saturday appointments “fill up weeks in advance” or telling you to “book a Saturday appointment” is describing a service that does not exist on dmv.ca.gov. Say it plainly: you cannot book a Saturday DMV appointment in California, because the appointment calendar only contains open days — and Saturday is not one.
Appointment basics for the weekday trip. Appointments are booked free through dmv.ca.gov, and online booking is available 24 hours a day — the booking system never closes, even though the offices do. Phone booking is at 1-800-777-0133. There are two separate appointment types, and they must not be mixed up: a Field Office Appointment (licence, REAL ID, and registration services) and a Drive Test Appointment (behind-the-wheel exams). For driver’s licence and ID transactions, appointment slots only open after you submit the online application. And remember the “Know Before You Go” rule from section 5c: registration renewals, most licence renewals, records requests, and replacement licences should not go through the appointment system at all. For the full booking walkthrough, including the scheduler and rescheduling, see our California DMV appointment guide.
Get in Line is weekday-only, too. The DMV’s same-day virtual queue — Get in Line, with QR check-in at the office — runs 7:50 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Wednesdays 8:50 a.m.–4:00 p.m. (it opens ten minutes before the office). The queue is tied to office open hours, so there is no Saturday queue because there is no Saturday opening. Those hours were live-verified on our own pages on November 3–4, 2026 and re-checked on the live pages at build time. For the full Get in Line process, see our Get in Line guide; for walk-in rules in general, see our walk-in guide. This page does not re-explain either process — that is those pages’ job.
Walk-ins on weekdays. Appointments get priority; walk-ins are accepted at most offices but wait longer. Keep that qualitative — this page prints no wait-time minutes anywhere, because no official source publishes them and every number in circulation is an anecdote dressed as a statistic.
The Saturday-Night Booking Trick
Here is the single most useful Saturday action on this page, and it is entirely legitimate: because online booking is available 24 hours a day, you can sit down on Saturday evening, submit the online application, and book the next available weekday slot — Monday or later — from your couch. The office is closed, but the calendar is open.
- Create or sign in to your MyDMV account at dmv.ca.gov/portal/mydmv/ — free, email and password. See our MyDMV account guide for the five-step sign-up.
- Complete the online application first for your licence or ID transaction — the appointment system only offers slots after the application is submitted.
- Choose the appointment type: Field Office Appointment for licences, REAL ID, and registration services; Drive Test Appointment for a behind-the-wheel exam.
- Pick the office by ZIP code and check the day-by-day calendar on that office’s dmv.ca.gov page — remember the Wednesday 9 a.m. opening, the Veterans Day closure on November 11, and the part-week schedules at small rural offices.
- Pick the earliest slot the calendar shows and save the confirmation. Availability varies by office and service — the calendar shows the next open slot, and this page prints no lead-time figure because no official source publishes one.
- Prepare your documents before the visit — see our documents checklist so the appointment is not wasted on a missing paper.
That is the whole Saturday-night workflow. It takes the Saturday question — “can I do anything today?” — and answers it with the one thing that is genuinely available: the booking itself, done from home, for the earliest weekday the office is actually open.
7. Why the Internet Told You Otherwise
The search results for this question are unusually bad. A handful of low-quality domains repeat each other’s errors, and several pages on the same domain contradict each other. This section names the errors with evidence, so you can recognise them — and so you can see why one accurate page with office-by-office evidence beats eight contradictory ones.
7a. The Origin of the “60 Offices Open Saturday” Claim — a Real Program That Ended
The claim traces to a genuine California DMV announcement from the pre-pandemic era. A third-party site quoting the DMV release reports: “The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) now offers Saturday service every weekend at 60 field offices from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. On a first-come-first-served basis, all services, except behind-the-wheel exams, will be available.” That program was real. It is also over. As of November 6, 2026, every dmv.ca.gov office page lists Saturday as closed, and the DMV’s holidays page states that offices are closed on weekends. What this page does not do is state the year the program ended: no DMV press release about ending Saturday service was retrieved in this research, and a year without a cited official source would be a guess dressed as a fact. The safe and honest wording is the one above — the program existed, and the DMV’s current office pages, checked November 6, 2026, show no Saturday hours at any office.
Note one detail from that old announcement, because it still matters: even the Saturday program excluded behind-the-wheel exams. So even in the era when 60 offices opened on Saturdays, you could not take a driving test on a Saturday. The current rule is simpler — nothing is open — but the old exception is worth remembering the next time a guide promises a Saturday driving test.
7b. The Competitor Error Catalog
| What the ranking pages still say | What is correct |
|---|---|
| “More than 60 DMV field offices are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays” (a personal-injury law firm’s DMV guide, ranking in the top 10). | Stale copy of the ended program, presented as current fact with no date. Directly contradicted by every live dmv.ca.gov office page in section 2. The same page tells readers to call 1-800-777-0133 on Saturday to confirm whether an office is open — live representatives do not work Saturdays either. |
| “Only a small number of designated California DMV offices open on Saturdays, typically from 8:00 a.m. to noon on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month. These limited slots are appointment-only and fill up several weeks in advance.” (an AI-written “DMV Hours Guide 2026”, ranking in the top 3). | Wrong on every element. No office page shows Saturday hours; no “second and fourth Saturday” schedule exists on dmv.ca.gov; there are no Saturday appointment slots to fill. The same page claims about 60 high-volume offices offer a special 7 a.m. opening on Wednesdays — backwards: the 7 a.m. opening belongs to the commercial centers on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and standard offices open at 9 a.m. on Wednesdays. The page discloses it was written with AI tools and not reviewed by a subject-matter expert. |
| “Most California DMV offices are open on Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.” — and, on another page of the same domain, “No. All California DMV offices are closed on Saturdays, Sundays, and state holidays.” (one domain holds seven or eight of the top 10 slots with near-identical pages). | The same domain cannot agree with itself. Its eight pages contradict each other on the same question, name no office, and get the kiosks wrong too — one page claims the DMV does not operate Saturday kiosk service anywhere in California, which section 5a disproves row by row. Google is rewarding volume and keyword match, not accuracy. |
| “A small number of locations in high-traffic areas offer limited Saturday hours, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.” and “Saturday service is concentrated in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento counties” (same domain as above). | Unverified, and false on the current evidence: section 2 checked Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento directly — every office in all four counties is closed on Saturday. A claim that names cities but no offices, with no hours source, is not evidence. |
| A “2022 and 2023 pilot program” in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego, “8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., by appointment only,” an “Enhanced Service Initiative launched in 2023,” and “approximately 60–70 offices statewide participate in the monthly Saturday program, open on the first or third Saturday of each month” (AI-generated shopping-site pages). | No official source supports any of this. The same pages also claim, in one breath, that no DMV field office offers routine Saturday or Sunday service and, in the next, that a handful of offices provide Saturday appointments. Do not cite these pages, do not repeat the pilot details, and do not use the “first or third Saturday” framing anywhere — including on this page, except here, as a named error. |
| A 2022 article quoting the real 60-office release as if it were current, with internally contradictory Sunday claims (same page says offices are closed on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and more). | Stale, not malicious — and the lesson is general: undated republishing of old DMV announcements is how the “60 offices” myth survives. Always check the date on a DMV claim, and always check the office’s own dmv.ca.gov page. |
| “Some offices stay open until 5:30 p.m.” / “some locations close at 4 p.m. or stay open until 6:00 p.m.” (same contradictory domain as above). | Mutually inconsistent, and unsupported by any sampled dmv.ca.gov page: no field office in our sample closes after 5 p.m. Kiosks and business partners keep later hours — and their hours must never be attributed to field offices. |
A note on the “limited Saturday pilot.” Some guides — including older pages — mention a “limited Saturday pilot” at select offices, typically described as one Saturday a month, appointment-only. This research found no live dmv.ca.gov evidence for any such pilot on November 6, 2026: no sampled office page shows Saturday hours, and the DMV’s holidays page states that offices are closed on weekends. This page therefore does not state that a pilot exists as a current fact, and it does not repeat the “one Saturday a month” wording as if it were a schedule. If the DMV announces Saturday service at named offices, this page will name them with their exact hours and link to their dmv.ca.gov pages. Until then, the correct answer is the one in the TL;DR: none.
If a page you are reading makes two or more of the errors in this catalog, stop trusting it on anything else — including its hours. The pattern is consistent: the pages that describe a Saturday program that ended years ago also print stale fees, wrong domains, and invented schedules, because they have not been updated since the program changed. The DMV’s own pages, read live, are the check.
8. Plan Your Weekday Trip Instead
Saturday is out, so the weekday trip is the trip that matters — and a little planning saves more time than any Saturday shortcut ever could. The advice below comes from our general hours guide and from the patterns in section 3, not from any wait-time figure: this page prints no wait-time minutes, because no official source publishes them.
- Go early, and go midweek. Arrive at the 8 a.m. opening (7 a.m. at a commercial center, 9 a.m. on Wednesdays at a standard office), and prefer Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday over Monday and Friday, which carry the weekend backlog and the end-of-week rush.
- Avoid month-end and the days around a holiday. Registration and renewal deadlines cluster at month-end, and the days before a closure — like the Veterans Day closure on Wednesday, November 11 — are busier than the days after it.
- Book the appointment first, then travel. A Field Office Appointment or a Drive Test Appointment, booked on a Saturday night from home (section 6), beats a walk-in on every weekday. Appointments get priority; walk-ins wait.
- Bring the documents. A wasted appointment is almost always a missing paper, not a missing slot. See our documents checklist before you leave, and check the “Know Before You Go” rule in section 5c: if your errand is a renewal, a record, or a replacement, do not book an appointment for it at all — do it online or at a kiosk.
- Check the calendar on your office’s own dmv.ca.gov page the morning you travel. Temporary closures happen — Clairemont’s extended closure this week is the live example — and the day-by-day calendar is the only source that shows them. The office locator is at dmv.ca.gov/portal/locations/.
- Know what cannot be done at the counter. Registration renewal, most licence renewals, records, and replacement licences are online, kiosk, partner, or mail transactions on every day of the week. The counter is for first licences, first REAL IDs, tests, photos, thumbprints, and name changes — the things only a person at a desk can do. For the full hours picture, see our California DMV hours guide and our DMV offices hub.
Frequently asked questions
Is the DMV open on Saturday in California?
No. As of November 6, 2026, no California DMV field office lists Saturday hours on dmv.ca.gov — every office page says “Sat–Sun Closed,” and the day-by-day calendars list Saturday Nov. 7 and Saturday Nov. 14, 2026 as closed. The full office-by-office evidence is in section 2 of this guide.
Which California DMV offices are open on Saturday?
None that we could verify. We checked more than 60 offices office-by-office on dmv.ca.gov — big cities, suburbs, small rural offices, and the commercial test centers — and found zero Saturday openings. Do not trust a list naming Saturday-open offices unless it links to a dmv.ca.gov office page showing Saturday hours.
Is the DMV open on Sunday in California?
No. All field offices are closed on Sundays, without exception. Kiosks in grocery stores and online services still work on Sundays — see section 5.
Can I book a DMV appointment for Saturday?
No. The appointment system only offers slots on days the offices are open, Monday to Friday. You can, however, book a weekday appointment at any hour — including on a Saturday night — because online booking runs 24 hours a day. See section 6 for the step-by-step.
What can I do at the DMV on a Saturday?
Use a DMV Now kiosk in a grocery store (registration renewal, sticker and card replacement, records, licence and ID renewal — most run Monday to Sunday, some until 1 or 2 a.m.), visit a DMV business partner open on Saturday (many AAA branches 9 a.m.–1 p.m., members only; independent registration services, for example in Fresno, Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m.), or do it online through MyDMV, which runs 24 hours a day. Licences, first REAL ID, tests, and name changes cannot be done on Saturday anywhere.
Are DMV kiosks open on Saturday?
Yes. Kiosks follow the host store’s hours, not DMV hours. Ralphs, Vons, Safeway, and Albertsons kiosks typically run Monday to Sunday, 5 or 6 a.m. to midnight or 1–2 a.m. Kiosks inside a field office are closed on Saturday, because the building is closed. See section 5a for the chain-by-chain table.
Is AAA open on Saturday for DMV services?
Yes, many branches — typically Saturday 9 a.m.–1 p.m., with the San Francisco Richmond District branch open Saturday 9 a.m.–5 p.m. AAA DMV service is members only, and partners may charge additional fees. Check your branch on dmv.ca.gov before going — see section 5b.
What are the DMV’s weekday hours instead?
A standard field office runs Monday to Tuesday and Thursday to Friday 8 a.m.–5 p.m., Wednesday 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Commercial centers (IBCs and CDTCs) run 7 a.m.–4 p.m., Wednesday 8 a.m.–4 p.m. Small rural offices such as Alturas, Colusa, and Garberville open Tuesday and Thursday only. Always check your specific office — and trust the day-by-day calendar on its own dmv.ca.gov page over the summary listing card, which misleadingly shows “Wed closed” for some offices. See section 3.
Can I take a driving test on Saturday?
No. No behind-the-wheel test is offered on Saturday — offices and drive test centers are closed, and even the historical Saturday program excluded driving tests. Book a weekday Drive Test Appointment instead.
Is the DMV open on Veterans Day (Nov. 11, 2026)?
No. All field offices are closed on Wednesday, November 11, 2026 (Veterans Day). Do not plan a Wednesday trip that week — the office is closed, not on late-opening hours. See section 4 for the full 2026 closure list.
What if my registration expires on a Saturday?
Renew online or at a kiosk on Saturday — both work on weekends, and a kiosk prints the sticker immediately. You do not need an office visit for a renewal at all: the DMV provides no counter service for registration renewal on any day. Renew before the expiry date — this page states no grace period, because no official source was verified for one.
Didn’t the DMV used to be open on Saturdays?
Yes — in the past. The DMV once offered Saturday service at 60 field offices, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., first-come-first-served, all services except behind-the-wheel exams. That program has ended, and current dmv.ca.gov office pages show no Saturday hours at any office. Any page still listing Saturday-open offices is quoting the old program. This page states no end year for the program, because no official ending announcement was retrieved.
Sources
- California DMV, field-office pages read live November 6, 2026 — Los Angeles (Hope St), San Francisco, San Diego Clairemont, Sacramento, Fresno, San Jose, Oakland Coliseum, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Pomona, Montebello, Lincoln Park, Bakersfield Southwest, Santa Barbara, Torrance, Van Nuys, San Bernardino, Alturas, Colusa, Garberville, Mountain View IBC, West Sacramento CDTC — weekly patterns, day-by-day calendars (Saturday Nov. 7 and Saturday Nov. 14, 2026 listed as closed), and nearby-location panels, all read November 6, 2026
- California DMV, “Schedule an Appointment” — dmv.ca.gov — Appointments (“Know Before You Go” box quoted in section 5c — read live November 6, 2026)
- California DMV, “Holidays” — dmv.ca.gov — Holidays (2026 closure list; “DMV offices are closed on weekends” — read live November 6, 2026)
- California DMV, “DMV Service Locations and Offices” — dmv.ca.gov — Office Locator (field offices, kiosks, and business partners — read November 6, 2026)
- California DMV, “Licensing Fees” — dmv.ca.gov — Licensing Fees (card-payment service fees: 1.95% online and at kiosks, 2.1% in the office, 2.0% Apple Pay and Google Pay online — read live November 6, 2026)
- California DMV, kiosk locator — cadmvnowkiosk.com (official kiosk finder)
- California DMV press release, October 16, 2026 — dmv.ca.gov (Santa Barbara office closes October 23, 2026, reopens January 15, 2027)
- Our own guides used for boundaries and corroboration: California DMV Hours (general weekday hours, holiday table, phone hours, knowledge-test cutoff); DMV Kiosk Near Me (kiosk services and chain hours); DMV Get in Line and DMV Walk-In (Get in Line hours 7:50 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Wednesdays 8:50 a.m.–4:00 p.m., verified November 3–4, 2026 and re-checked at build time); California DMV Holidays (2026 and 2027 closure tables, Saturday-holiday rule, Christmas 2027 flag); AAA DMV Services (two AAA clubs, REAL ID pilot); MyDMV Account (online services, fees, and login); DMV Offices (office finder)
- Competitor pages used for the search-result and error-spotting work only, never as the source of a load-bearing fact: dmvchangeofaddress.com (eight contradictory Saturday-hours pages); practicetestgeeks.com, “CA DMV Hours Guide 2026” (AI-written, no subject-matter-expert review); freemaninjurylaw.com (DMV locations guide); smartbuy.alibaba.com (three AI-generated pages); rusticaly.com, “Are Ca Dmv Offices Open For Walk Ins?” (published August 3, 2022, quoting the real 60-office release); dmvca.info (office mirrors citing dmv.ca.gov); dmvappointmentcalifornia.com; dmv-ready.org; dmvusa.com. Their Saturday claims (“60 offices open Saturday 8–5”; “second and fourth Saturdays”; “first or third Saturday”; “one Saturday a month”; “no Saturday kiosk service”; “7 a.m. Wednesdays”; offices “open until 6 p.m.”) are named on this page only as errors, with the DMV’s current office pages printed as the facts.
Method note. This page’s headline was tested, not assumed: the locked research plan for this site records “Saturday = NEVER stated as open” as a warning, and this build tested it office by office against live dmv.ca.gov pages on November 6, 2026. The sample is 60+ offices read directly or through the nearby-location panels of other offices’ live pages; it is not a census of all of the DMV’s more than 160 field offices, and this page says so rather than claiming a count it did not perform. Two corrections were made at build time against the research brief: the brief’s “Wednesday-closed” office pattern was checked against the day-by-day calendars on the offices’ own pages and found to be a listing-card display quirk — the calendars show Wednesday 9 a.m.–5 p.m. for those offices, and this page prints the calendar’s answer; and the Montebello office address was corrected from a wrong street to 424 N Wilcox Ave after a live re-check. The FAQ section is labelled “Frequently asked questions” because no People Also Ask box was captured and no Reddit or Quora thread was found for this topic — no forum question is quoted or paraphrased anywhere on this page. No search volume is claimed anywhere on it. This site is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the California DMV or dmv.ca.gov.
Need Something Done This Saturday?
Skip the office — it is closed. Use a DMV Now kiosk in a grocery store for renewals, stickers, and records, visit a AAA branch or a registration-service partner for Saturday registration help, or do it online through MyDMV, which runs around the clock. And book your weekday appointment on Saturday night from home, so Monday morning is already sorted. For anything the DMV must confirm, call 1-800-777-0133.
Find Offices & Kiosks on dmv.ca.gov →Last verified against dmv.ca.gov: November 6, 2026. Rules, forms, and fees change — confirm current rules on dmv.ca.gov before you apply. The Saturday-closed finding was verified office by office on dmv.ca.gov at build time on November 6, 2026: the Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego Clairemont, Sacramento, Fresno, San Jose, Pomona, and Santa Ana office pages were re-read at build, and every one lists Saturday Nov. 7 and Saturday Nov. 14, 2026 as closed; the DMV’s holidays page states that offices are closed on weekends; the appointments page “Know Before You Go” box was read live; the kiosk card-payment service fee of 1.95% was read live on the DMV’s Licensing Fees page; and the Get in Line hours of 7:50 a.m.–4:00 p.m. (Wednesdays 8:50 a.m.–4:00 p.m.) were re-checked on the live pages. This page prints no registration-fee figure, no replacement-plate fee, no estate-threshold figure, no smog abatement fee, no knowledge-test question count, and no wait-time minutes, because no dmv.ca.gov page read at build time states them. The “second and fourth Saturdays,” “first or third Saturday,” and “one Saturday a month” wordings appear only as named competitor errors, never as facts. The FAQ section is labelled “Frequently asked questions” because no People Also Ask box was captured and no Reddit or Quora thread was found for this topic — no forum question is quoted or paraphrased anywhere on this page. No search volume is claimed anywhere on it. This site is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the California DMV or dmv.ca.gov.