Expired driver's license

[HoneySuckle]

I just realised that my DL expired at the end of March!!!

Is there a grace period?

[Hoss]

I just realised that my DL expired at the end of March!!!

Is there a grace period?

No.  And prepare to jump through hoops to get one now that you've let it expire.  You'll have to gather up your 'papers', go to one of the big two ODOT DL places (one on 36th St N or there's a new one over in the old Eastland Mall) and get it there.

Unless they've changed it since one of my co-workers last year lamented on how it took him about 4 hours to get all this done.  It may well help you though that you found this out in the middle of the month as opposed to the first week.

But as far a 'grace period' for an expired license, it doesn't work the same as a tag.  You get penalties assessed on a tag one month after the expiration, but no grace from a PoPo if he/she wishes to ticket you for it.  There's no monetary penalty for letting your license expire unless the officer feels like writing you up for an expired license.  So it will cost the same.  $21..unless THAT'S been increased as well; I haven't gotten a new license since 2009 and mine won't expire until 2013.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Wow!  You guys got it easy.  My renewals cost about $100.  Plus the background check fees.  But I get the license with the yellow background instead of the blue,....so there!

[HoneySuckle]

No.  And prepare to jump through hoops to get one now that you've let it expire.  You'll have to gather up your 'papers', go to one of the big two ODOT DL places (one on 36th St N or there's a new one over in the old Eastland Mall) and get it there.

Unless they've changed it since one of my co-workers last year lamented on how it took him about 4 hours to get all this done.  It may well help you though that you found this out in the middle of the month as opposed to the first week.

But as far a 'grace period' for an expired license, it doesn't work the same as a tag.  You get penalties assessed on a tag one month after the expiration, but no grace from a PoPo if he/she wishes to ticket you for it.  There's no monetary penalty for letting your license expire unless the officer feels like writing you up for an expired license.  So it will cost the same.  $21..unless THAT'S been increased as well; I haven't gotten a new license since 2009 and mine won't expire until 2013.

I thought there was one at 101st & Sheridan?  I can't go there?  What papers will they need?  Can I use my passport??  Geez.  This sucks.  First off, I lost my DL in Dallas.  That's the last time I saw it while shopping, so I'm thinking that's where I lost it.  I put a note in my day planner back in January that I needed to renew in March (found that note tonight which got me looking for the darn license), so now I don't have the old one which I guess is going to complicate matters?  This is really stressing me. 

[Hoss]

Wow!  You guys got it easy.  My renewals cost about $100.  Plus the background check fees.  But I get the license with the yellow background instead of the blue,....so there!

Ah yes, CDL.  You have to keep your medicals current as well...unless you're no longer doing anything that requires you maintain that CDL...

[Hoss]

I thought there was one at 101st & Sheridan?  I can't go there?

It's got to be one of the testing centers if I'm not mistaken.  You don't have to retest, but that's where it has to be.

[nathanm]

I thought you got 30 days to not have to provide additional documentation for a license renewal.

Edited to add: Either way, it looks like if you have a birth certificate, you can go to any of the tag agents on this list to do the renewal. If you don't, you've got to go to the examination station.

[dbacks fan]

I moved to AZ in '98 and changed licenses accordingly. I was shocked when they told me that I won't have to renew it until 2028 when I turn 65.

[nathanm]

I moved to AZ in '98 and changed licenses accordingly. I was shocked when they told me that I won't have to renew it until 2028 when I turn 65.

I guess some states are less interested in revenue generation and public jobs programs.

[Hoss]

I guess some states are less interested in revenue generation and public jobs programs.

AZ is the only state that does that.  And if I'm not mistaken you have to be of a certain age to qualify.  I know this because of the industry I work in.  I'm sure the Grizz knows of whom I speak.

And of course Oklahoma was one of the last states to adopt a secure DL with many counterfeiting measures.  But when they did, they made sure they had one of the most difficult to ACCURATELY forge.  The words to the song from the musical 'Oklahoma' are microprinted in the background of the license, plus doubling the phots, and embossing a watermark (believe it's the state seal) that can only be seen at a certain angle to the light.  At the time, it was touted as the most secure and difficult to forge license made in the country.

But I think the reason it (renewing past the expiration) was so difficult at first was that they were expunging the old licenses, and if you had one of the new licenses, you had both your index fingerprints on file with ODOT.  If you didn't, you had to prove who you were and had to go to the exam stations to do so.  It's likely not so difficult now that everyone in the state should have the new license (since they started doing the new OK licenses in Sep 2003, then everyone by the end of 2007 should have had a new one).  AND I believe HB1804 had some to do with it as well.

[Conan71]

AND I believe HB1804 had some to do with it as well.

Yep, those hateful laws geared at getting rid of all the brown people.   

I think you are required to present a birth certificate and/or some sort of secondary ID.  Bottom line is, don't let it expire.

[Hoss]

Yep, those hateful laws geared at getting rid of all the brown people.   

I think you are required to present a birth certificate and/or some sort of secondary ID.  Bottom line is, don't let it expire.

Of course that wasn't my inference at all (I was actually for that bill).  But I do remember how much more difficult it made it to get your license if it expires.  I actually had to take mother to get her state ID (she can't drive but still needs that card) and I was about 3 months from my expiration.  I didn't realize you could renew up to 6 months before the planned expiration.  So I did while getting hers done.

For what it's worth, the fastest place in town to get that done, even around the end/first of the month, is the tag agency at about 58th and Garnett.  I was in and out of there, even with getting my mom's renewed, in about 10 minutes.

[patric]

if you had one of the new licenses, you had both your index fingerprints on file with ODOT.  If you didn't, you had to prove who you were and had to go to the exam stations to do so.  It's likely not so difficult now that everyone in the state should have the new license (since they started doing the new OK licenses in Sep 2003, then everyone by the end of 2007 should have had a new one).

You still have to show primary and secondary ID for an expired license even if you have the new license, I believe the fingerprinting is either theater or biometric harvesting.  ...and it's on file with the secretive DPS, not ODOT.

[nathanm]

You still have to show primary and secondary ID for an expired license even if you have the new license, I believe the fingerprinting is either theater or biometric harvesting.  ...and it's on file with the secretive DPS, not ODOT.

The fingerprint serves as a secondary form of ID, but since an expired license isn't good for primary ID (does it suddenly turn into a pumpkin the day after the expiration date?), you have to show a birth certificate, passport, or one of the other forms of required photo ID.

I still think HB1804's ID-related requirements are stupid. Better to have unlicensed drivers driving around who can't get insurance? Yeah, right. Especially in one of the few states where you can't buy uninsured/underinsured motorist property damage insurance... (it cost me less than $2 a month for UMBI and UMPD in Arkansas) And God help the people who are legal but don't have the papers to prove it because they're in the middle of an adjustment of status...

[Hoss]

You still have to show primary and secondary ID for an expired license even if you have the new license, I believe the fingerprinting is either theater or biometric harvesting.  ...and it's on file with the secretive DPS, not ODOT.

The difference though now is that you don't have to go to the exam station to do it.  That's like pulling teeth.

The one and only time I ever had to go to an exam station for anything other than an exam or transfer (when I moved back from TX) was when I let my insurance lapse by one day, then got pulled over while driving to get my insurance renewed and getting an $85 dollar ticket, which was of course reduced to court cost (at the time $15) when I proved I renewed it (later that day).  What they failed to tell me was that I was required to contact the Office of Financial Responsibility and tell them I did.  Instead, in two years, when I renewed my license..or tried to renew it...they told me it had been suspended.  Never received anything in the mail, nothing...so, in order to reinstate my license, I had to pay some exorbitant fee (think it was $150) and I had to go to the exam station on 36th St N.  That took me nearly three hours of waiting for something that took 5 minutes to rectify.  Not a very efficient process by any means.

Hopefully you can correct yours at one of the tag agencies, which are much faster.  Even the slow ones are faster than the exam stations.