Old Saybrook - Closing the Department of Motor Vehicles office here would shutter one of the more efficient offices in the state, consumers insisted Wednesday.

The busy DMV office on Custom Drive catered to a constant stream of motorists Wednesday morning, and more than a dozen who came and went agreed the Old Saybrook site is their DMV office of choice. Its shutdown would be a blow to them and the area, they said.

"It's going to affect me badly," said Ralph Marden of Warwick, R.I. "If you're pressed for time this is the place to come. They're fast and efficient. Mostly, we try to go here because of the service. It's a bit longer of a trip, but it's well worth the extra 15 minutes."

Marden ought to know. He wouldn't identify the Warwick-based auto dealership he works for, but as a runner registering cars for Connecticut and Rhode Island customers, he said, he and his colleagues make trips to the Old Saybrook DMV several times a week.

Others echoed his opinion.

"The whole reason I come down here is because it's quicker," said Andy Spinner of Mystic, as he waited to register a boat trailer.

"It's not going to be good if it closes. It's going to be an all-day thing" to get a license or register a vehicle at other DMVs, he predicted.

Besides Old Saybrook, the towns of New Britain, Danbury and Enfield will lose their full-service DMV offices on Aug. 11 if Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's "Plan B" budget remains intact. Also slated to close are the Putnam satellite DMV office as well as the photo license centers in Derby, Middletown and Milford.

That leaves six DMVs remaining in the state to serve the same number of customers.

Most of the motorists interviewed Wednesday said they'd go to Wethersfield or Norwich if the Old Saybrook office closes as planned.

Plan B is Malloy's strategy for closing a $1.6 billion hole in his $40.5 billion biennial budget that was left when labor givebacks didn't come through. He is now resuming talks with the unions under different voting rules in hopes of reaching an agreement - but the outcome remains uncertain.

John and Virginia Hancock, who spend summers in Essex, were at the DMV to pick up a form needed to register a boat.

"It's a convenience, but it's not a luxury," John Hancock said. "It's essential. I understand the need to cut in other places (in the state budget), but not essential services."

Asked why the Old Saybrook DMV, with its word-of-mouth reputation for efficiency, was picked for closing, state DMV spokesman Bill Seymour said the choice came down to "bumping rights" of workers targeted for layoffs under Malloy's Plan B budget.

"We had to look at the notices that went out, the employees affected by notices and the bumping that occurs as a result, and from that point, we had to make some decisions regarding offices to close," he said. "These were decisions that were difficult to make."

Since AAA offices where licenses can be renewed include an office in Old Saybrook, the town was picked for closure over Winsted, which has no local AAA office, he added.

Asked if Aug. 11 is the absolute date for closure of the four targeted branches, Seymour would say only that DMV is "waiting for further instructions from the governor's office."

Seymour also agreed with the observation by consumers that lines and wait times will only increase if the closings are implemented.

"If this plan goes into effect, I think people can count on a 20- to 30-minute addition to their wait time at any DMV," he said. "It's that simple. With fewer offices, there are going to be longer wait times."

DMV is adding other services, Seymour said.

By Sept. 1, auto-dealer runners without online access will be able to take the paperwork to one of 25 "hubs" around the state, where online access is available, he said.

And as is the case today, consumers can access some DMV services through AAA and do not have to be AAA members to do so, he said. Motorists can renew licenses there, and soon may be able to renew DMV-issued identification cards and get duplicate licenses there as well, he said.

Besides adding a larger suite of online services through a $51 million upgrade to DMV computer services, Commissioner Melody A. Currey also determined the Old Saybrook area was well covered because Norwich's DMV is not that far away, Seymour said.

"This is the price of having to trim services in government when there isn't the money and there's public calls for cutbacks in services," he said.

Patti Prue of East Haddam ran in and out of the DMV Wednesday, returning plates after purchasing a Kia Sorento. She purposely bought the new car a month early just so she could come to the Old Saybrook office, she said.

Now she has to plan for her 17-year-old daughter to get her license soon, as well, or the teenager will have to take her driver's test in Wethersfield, a town she's never driven in before, her mother said.

"I think we're going to see a lot of cuts before things get better," Prue said. "I hope in the long run it all pays off, but it's going to hurt first. It's going to hurt big time."

p.daddona@theday.com