Will the MA RMV send me a replacement license out of state?
December 21, 2020 9:22 AM Subscribe
I live in MA, but spending the next 6+ weeks with my family in another state. I'm going to need to rent a car to eventually return, but I've misplaced my driver's license. Is there a way to get a replacement sent to me out of state?
I'm assuming there isn't an alternative way to get a rental car without a physical copy of my license but I guess that's another possibility?
I'm assuming there isn't an alternative way to get a rental car without a physical copy of my license but I guess that's another possibility?
In your position, I'd just try calling the RMV at (857) 368-8000 and see what they say. (The online portal is less likely to be able to handle this request; it appears from the page above that the default is to mail it to your MA address within 7–10 days.)
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:30 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:30 AM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
We had a similar problem this summer -- expired licenses, needed to drive xcountry, wanted to rent an RV (couldn't, in the end).
Our state's DMV was very backed up and unable to commit to a delivery timeframe. We renewed online, which allowed us to print out a copy of a receipt that we'd in fact renewed, so maybe you could do this for replacement.
We were also worried about the DL issue in regards to insurance. Called our insurance. They said they were waiving things for a year because of the pandemic.
The rental place was actually the easiest, they said they'd take the printout. So, do some calling.
posted by Dashy at 1:17 PM on December 21, 2020
Our state's DMV was very backed up and unable to commit to a delivery timeframe. We renewed online, which allowed us to print out a copy of a receipt that we'd in fact renewed, so maybe you could do this for replacement.
We were also worried about the DL issue in regards to insurance. Called our insurance. They said they were waiving things for a year because of the pandemic.
The rental place was actually the easiest, they said they'd take the printout. So, do some calling.
posted by Dashy at 1:17 PM on December 21, 2020
Check before trying mail forwarding; some DMV mail (and, in my experience, certain other government agency mail) will intentionally get returned to sender rather than forwarded (this happened with a title I was supposed to get from the California DMV.)
If you can’t have it mailed to you out of state, you could see if your address in MA qualifies for informed delivery so you can know when it has arrived in MA and have someone send it to you.
posted by needs more cowbell at 1:41 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
If you can’t have it mailed to you out of state, you could see if your address in MA qualifies for informed delivery so you can know when it has arrived in MA and have someone send it to you.
posted by needs more cowbell at 1:41 PM on December 21, 2020 [1 favorite]
Best answer: If you go to the RMV website you can definitely put in a different mailing address than your residential address, and you can select non-Massachusetts states for the mailing address. I think you can probably just do this online.
posted by mskyle at 1:56 PM on December 21, 2020
posted by mskyle at 1:56 PM on December 21, 2020
Response by poster: The license replacement instructions said it would go to my address on record, but when I started the process I was allowed to put an out of state mailing address so that is what I did.
I also set up mail forwarding because that seems like it would be useful to have independent of replacing my driver's license.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 7:51 AM on December 22, 2020
I also set up mail forwarding because that seems like it would be useful to have independent of replacing my driver's license.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 7:51 AM on December 22, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
If not, put in a temporary mail forwarding.
posted by AugustWest at 9:52 AM on December 21, 2020