Expired Driver's License Question.

[soldier07110]

I'm fully aware that an expired license is an expired license, and you're not supposed to drive without a current one. My Birthday was a week ago and my DL expired on that date. I put in an order for a new one about a month before it expired and have yet to receive it. Upon looking into why I haven't received it, I was told I would be charged $72 for an out of state citation that happened over two years ago in order for them to renew my license. Paid it, now I'm just waiting. It sucks enough because I can't make any purchases requiring ID obviously, but how screwed am I if I get pulled over with this tomorrow or even possibly a week from now? I NEED to drive, that's not really optional for me. What's the SOP from an LEO perspective in this case?

Thanks!

[alex00]

If the DMV is holding up your license due to an out of state ticket they may have actually suspended it. Generally speaking, though, I give quite a bit of leeway on an expired license. In my county, the courts will dismiss an expired license citation if you show proof of renewal. The charge is turned into a 'not in possession' violation with a correction fee. However, I've written tickets for very recently expired licenses, and let drivers slide on lengthy expired licenses. There is no way to judge what the individual officer will do when/if you get pulled over. Obviously, my advice is don't drive. But if you do, drive like you have a very hot cup of coffee between your legs, and make sure all your lights work.

[retired]

It really isn't possible to answer whether an officer will cite you or not as it depends on the individual officer's discretion. I would surmise they all would ask why you waited a month to follow up on what was taking so long. I am not attacking you with that statement; merely stating what will probably occur if stopped.

Did you try to request a copy of a valid temporary CDL from DMV, good until your "real" CDL arrives. If not, you should do so immediately (Monday would be good). You didn't mention if you had requested it, so I'm guessing you didn't. You need to obtain one or the odds of receiving a cite are pretty high I would think.

ETA: When I advised getting a copy of a valid temporary CDL, that was presupposing your out of state problem had been rectified completely and DMV had that info. Obviously, if they hadn't received confirmation of the payment, you wouldn't be issued a copy of a temporary CDL. I should have mentioned that.

[Grumpyoldretiredcop]

I'm fully aware that an expired license is an expired license, and you're not supposed to drive without a current one.

That says it all. You know better.

Sounds like DMV is waiting for an abstract (probably transmitted electronically) from the out of state court to release the hold on your privilege. The court I worked in used to charge a small fee for people to get a paper copy of the abstract on the spot so that they could go immediately to the DMV to release a hold. That's about all I could suggest based on what you posted. You might be able to expedite the abstract that way, depending on where the court is. Otherwise, you'll just have to wait until DMV receives it, then do whatever DMV requires to restore your license. Edit - retired's got a good idea, try requesting a temporary DL.

In the meantime, you CANNOT drive, no matter how badly you want/need to. You don't have a driving privilege until you clear this. If you're caught, you can be charged with 12500 VC, a misdemeanor, potentially facing up to 6 months in jail, a $1000 maximum fine, and 3 years summary probation. The traffic judges in whose courts I worked would sometimes, but not always, reduce it to an infraction with up to a $500 fine and 6 months' probation. Don't make your situation worse by driving without a license!

Before anyone lights up their flame gun saying I'm being harsh, something very similar happened to me during my Navy service - my license expired while I was deployed. I didn't drive after getting back until I went into DMV, had to retake the class C and M written tests. It happens.

Disclaimer - I'm a retired cop, not an attorney. Nothing in this post is meant to be construed as legal advice. Even if it were, it'd be worth the fee charged - zero.

[SJgunguy24]

The DMV did me wrong like that once, but it wasn't a ticket it was the DMV employee forgot to enter something into the computer. I waited 3 months for my card and I had to go the the DMV I renewed at and find the person who entered my info. That was a HUGE PITA but I got it done.

As to officer discretion, I had expired tags and was on my way to the DMV. I got pulled over and I jumped out of my truck and yelled "I have 5 minutes until they close!" With my paperwork in hand.

He told me to get in my truck and hual a** over there. He followed me to the DMV and waved when I pulled in. I thought that was pretty cool.

[retired]

The DMV did me wrong like that once, but it wasn't a ticket it was the DMV employee forgot to enter something into the computer. I waited 3 months for my card and I had to go the the DMV I renewed at and find the person who entered my info. That was a HUGE PITA but I got it done.

As to officer discretion, I had expired tags and was on my way to the DMV. I got pulled over and I jumped out of my truck and yelled "I have 5 minutes until they close!" With my paperwork in hand.

He told me to get in my truck and hual a** over there. He followed me to the DMV and waved when I pulled in. I thought that was pretty cool.

In the OP's situation, it doesn't sound like DMV did him wrong, he forgot, didn't know or chose not to take care of his out of state cite. I'm not slamming the OP, just mentioning some things that probably occurred with his out of state problem. That isn't the fault of the Ca. DMV of course. Due to how busy they are, the odds are they aren't going to contact him about his problem; it would be incumbent upon him to determine why nothing had happened instead of waiting a month.

[soldier07110]

All good advice, I'll look into the temporary DL tomorrow. To clarify, I didn't wait a month to renew, I renewed a month before the expiration date and upon looking into further, discovered there was an out of state issue. That issue had been resolved years back, but there was a $72 charge JUST to get them to release my DL. I had NO idea about that until I called and wouldn't have otherwise, so I'm glad I did. I appreciate the info, and to my own credit, I've got a clean record, registration's current, I stick to the speed limit and use signals. I always learn a TON when asking these kinds of questions as I just have, tried to keep the OP short so it wouldn't be a boring read; my apologies if it was too vague.

Thanks Gents.

[jafount]

If a person had been licensed and it expired, I never viewed 12500 in the same light as 14601. Letter of the law vs spirit of the law and all that. Personally I wouldn't waste my pen ink scratching a 12500 tag because someones birthday passed and they didn't realize they expired.

I've always found it difficult to reconcile that whole "privilege" thing. My grandfather didn't need a license to drive when cars first hit the scene. Neither did a person need a pilot's license to fly. It's never until the government gets involved (usually because it results in revenue) that things get so screwed up. Sorry, but the minute this state began issuing driver licenses to illegals, the whole "privilege" thing went right out the window.

[SVT-40]

Before I retired I stopped a individual who's license had just expired on his BD and he had not yet received his new license. A DMV check showed his license "valid' but "withheld"....Now that was a new one. It turned out to be some similar issue as the O/P has.

Technically his license had been renewed so it showed as valid, but there was some other out of state issue which kept the DMV from actually issuing the guy his license.

To keep things simple I just issued him a cite for 12951(a) VC. So when he rectified the situation he could just go to the court and show his valid license. The court date was about 2 months in the future so he had ample time to get his act together.