Make an honest woman out of me (in the eyes of the DMV)!

August 25, 2005 2:40 PM

Help me with my driver's license drama! The short version: If I have a (wrongly..err...I think) suspended license in another state, how do I get a license in a new state? I'm scared and intimidated but ready to be on the right side of the law. Anyone have any insight?

Long version:
I got my license in Florida years ago. I moved to Texas. I didn't get my new license in Texas for a loooooong time (you're supposed to get it within 90 days, but oh well...), but then I lost my FL license and decided it was time to convert. When I went to the DMV in TX, they told me that my FL license was suspended, but couldn't tell me why. I called a gazillion different phone numbers in FL until someone told me that it was suspended for lack of insurance coverage, but I've *always* had insurance. They gave me yet another number to call, which was busy for 4 hours a day for three days (I had it on speaker phone in my office). I gave up. Now, I just moved to Virginia and would like to square up with the DMV of this fair commonwealth. What should I do? I don't wanna go to jail! Is this going to be expensive?

posted by lalalana to Law & Government (5 answers total)

Here is the Florida statue covering suspended licenses. Basically it's your job to try to find someone to talk to and to get a straight answer about what is preventing you from having a FL license. If you don't have a license, I don't think I need to tell you, you should not be driving since getting a further record could exacerbate the trouble you're having already. So, when you say "I lost my FL license" what exactly does that mean, like physically lost it? Did you switch your insurance to reflect your TX residence? Did you get any more information from the person you spoke to? Can you call him/her again? Starting now, your job is getting ahold of the FL DMV people.

* call a number, get a name, explain the story, get some information WRITE DOWN all the info and if you have to repeat, repeat.
* give yourself some reasonable amount of time to get someone who will give you a solid answer including
- what the infraction was
- how you get it cleared up [not another phone number, an answer to the question, if the answer is a phone number, take it and move on]
- how you can prove that it's been cleared up to the nice people in VA
* if that doesn't get you anywhere [and anytime you get a number that is busy for more than a day or two, move on, you're not helping your own situation, just making a case for "it's impossible" which will not be a good story for the VA DMV] try either the state Attorney General's office, the highway safety ombudsman [or this form for DMV issues], an elected rep in Florida, or these guys [at the bottom of the page]. They are not the people you should be talking to, but they may know who you should be talking to.

Basically, you should be showing that you are making a good faith effort to resolve this, so if you finally do get to someone who can help you, you can say "See, I really have been trying" which can sometimes be the difference between someone wanting to help you out and saying "You should have dealt with this when you were in Texas"
posted by jessamyn at 3:14 PM on August 25, 2005

As a Virginian, let me tell me that Virginia DMV is now very strict as they were so lax that most of the 9/11 attackers had VA driver licenses. They will check and if you have a suspended license from another state, you won't get a new VA license and may be in all sorts of trouble. Follow jessamyn's advice.
posted by TheRaven at 3:36 PM on August 25, 2005

Wow, I have a very similar problem, so I'll ask my own slightly more focused question as a corollary. You have a suspended license issued by a state that you don't live in anymore. Once you pay the fines or whatever it is you have to do, what exactly is the status of your license? Is it reinstated, even though by that point it is going to be obvious to all the authorities involved that you are no longer a resident of the state? My license was physically confiscated. I owe a fine and a court appearance on the other side of the country (in California). Once I go through the motions, it seems unlikely that they're going to mail my license back to me in New York (or even hand it back to me physically while I'm in California for the mandatory court appearance). Maybe they'll issue some sort of document that I can then take to the DMV in New York as evidence that I more or less have a valid license in California, even though I don't have it physically? Can I pay a lawyer to straighten this out for me (but in which state?)? Argh.
posted by bingo at 7:15 PM on August 25, 2005

Once you are suspended or revoked in one state, no other state should give you a new license. But they often do if they don't notice the suspension when you get your new license. But -- and this happens a lot -- don't be shocked when you are pulled over for a speeding ticket a couple of years later, if you get a ticket for driving while suspended or revoked. Your new license was not validly issued -- and when the officer runs you, up will pop the other state's suspension status. In many states this is a pretty serious offense, in my state requiring a minimum of 2 days in jail. So, what you have to do is take care of the old suspension or revokation -- the sooner the better. The suspending state's department of motor vehicles should be able to tell you exactly what you need to do to get rid of the old suspension / revokation. Once you have done that, unless the license has expired, you have a valid driver's license in that state -- which you need to turn in to the new state to make your new state's license valid. Note: most states have a legal requirement that you get one of their driver's licenses soon after you move there . (In my state it is within 30 days of moving here, or immediately upon getting employment here, whichever comes first.) If your old license is expired when you've fixed the underlying suspension problem, don't be surprised it your new state requires you to take all the tests, etc.
posted by rabbus at 8:30 AM on August 26, 2005

My husband and I were dealing with this situation before he passed away recently. He finally got NC to realize that he had paid the fine and done the paperwork YEARS ago (6 to be exact). After this realization, they sent a letter to us saying that his license suspension was released and he was free to get a license here in NM. Unfortunately, I received the letter the day after he died. Grrr.
posted by moosedogtoo at 9:34 AM on August 26, 2005