DMV defacing driver's licenses at renewal: how to avoid

[signalman]

Funny that JN started this topic yesterday, since I had found a couple of my old expired licenses yesterday while going through stuff.  New Jersey uses the hole punch method to void the old license/ID card when one renews their license.  Before 9/11, motorists were allowed to renew via mail and receive a non photo license (I have one of those).  After 9/11, NJMVC changed their policy and required everyone to renew in person and get their picture taken.  One also had to bring documents proving who they are and their address.  It has been known as the 6 point system consisting of one primary document worth 4 points (motorist's current not expired license covers this) and two secondary documents worth 1 point each.  Some secondary documents may be worth 2 points, I don't remember.  It's my understanding that NJ has once again changed their policy in regard to license renewal.  I believe that motorists are now required to renew in person every other time.  The last time I renewed mine I had to do so in person.  My current license is due for renewal in 2017, so I guess I'll find out then if I'll be eligible to renew by mail.

[SP Cook]

In WV, they take your old license when you get a new one, whether it is a renewal or out-of-state transfer.  It goes right in a shredder if it is a WV one, out-of-states are sent to the central office which informs the issuing state to cancel it (so you cannot say you lost it and thus have a DL in two states). 

They used to have a laminator-printer on site (still do actually, because they issue lots of other IDs as well, such as gun permits, state employee's IDs, various licensed professions, etc. , which they will give you over the counter) but what they do now is give you a cardboard one that expires in 60 days and mail you the new one, which has some kind of security code on it. 

[Brandon]

In Illinois, there are two ways to renew.  You can go down to the Secretary of State's Driver Services Facility and they will take you old license from you when they replace it with the new one, or...

If your driving record is completely clean, you can apply for a new one to simply be mailed to you through the Safe Driver Program.  I get mine through the latter.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minnesota recently switched to the hole-punch method (before, it was the corner-clip method). It takes about 3-4 weeks to get your new license in the mail, and you use your expired one for the picture in conjunction with a temporary paper form showing you have renewed.

[cl94]

New York doesn't care. I have my permit and junior license still and will be keeping my current one when the new one comes in the mail next week.

[froggie]

In Vermont, I had to surrender my Minnesota license when I applied for a license here.

[slorydn1]

I have all of my NC licenses since 1991 when I moved here, and I still have my old Illinois licence buried in a box somewhere-complete with the staple holes in the picture from all the times it got stapled to a ticket back in the day (do they still do that up there?)

[realjd]

Possible solution: say you lost it and are getting a replacement. I would imagine a replacement license with less than a month of validity left would include a renewal rolled into the deal unless Kansas has particularly brain-damaged policies. (In Oklahoma, I went to get my address changed on a license once and I got a renewal with the deal because I had less than a year left on the old one, which seemed pretty generous.) This presupposes that there are not any confiscatory fees associated with replacement licenses.

This is the tentative game plan for when I renew in 2018, since issue of replacement licenses is fairly straightforward:  there is a fee, but it is low, and there is no requirement to produce a police report to prove loss.  I figure the worst that can happen is that they call a state trooper and ask me to explain to him how I was able to get to the license bureau without a valid license on my person.

You can't just order a replacement license online?

[The Nature Boy]

In Maine, they just hole punched "VOID" into my NC license when I moved here.

[Duke87]

I don't know how common it is for a certain state/provincial agency to discard an old licence when you move.

In the U.S. at least, isn't it common or uniform practice to require surrender of an out-of-state license when you move and get a new license, so you can't use both at once and spread out your moving violations between two or more jurisdictions?

When I changed out my CT license for a NY license, the NY DMV took my CT license from me on the spot and stapled it to my application. It is presumably now either in a government filing cabinet somewhere or destroyed. As far as I know there would have been no legal means for me to keep it other than to not move to New York. I do still have a color scan of the front of it, though.

However, when I renewed my CT license prior to this, the DMV in Connecticut just handed my original license back to me intact. So that one I still have somewhere.

[bulldog1979]

I have my original permit and all of my expired licenses from Michigan, although not all of them accessible at the moment. Here they clip the corner and staple the temporary license to it. I believe that my original license I received when I was 16 had a hold punched through the expiration date. My first license was the last of the style Michigan used with an actual picture trimmed to fit on part of the form and enclosed within lamination. Since then, the current licenses are printed in a single piece of plastic with a magnetic strip on the back, sort of like a credit card without raised numbers.

[PHLBOS]

In Vermont, I had to surrender my Minnesota license when I applied for a license here.

I had to do similar with my Massachusetts license (that I renewed a year earlier) when I applied for a Pennsylvania license circa 1991.

[jeffandnicole]

Funny that JN started this topic yesterday, since I had found a couple of my old expired licenses yesterday while going through stuff.  New Jersey uses the hole punch method to void the old license/ID card when one renews their license.  Before 9/11, motorists were allowed to renew via mail and receive a non photo license (I have one of those).  After 9/11, NJMVC changed their policy and required everyone to renew in person and get their picture taken.  One also had to bring documents proving who they are and their address.  It has been known as the 6 point system consisting of one primary document worth 4 points (motorist's current not expired license covers this) and two secondary documents worth 1 point each.  Some secondary documents may be worth 2 points, I don't remember.  It's my understanding that NJ has once again changed their policy in regard to license renewal.  I believe that motorists are now required to renew in person every other time.  The last time I renewed mine I had to do so in person.  My current license is due for renewal in 2017, so I guess I'll find out then if I'll be eligible to renew by mail.

In general, if you have a digital license and the picture still looks like you and the signature still matches what you use, you can renew by mail.  Then the next time you're up for renewal, you'll have to show up in person.

There are a few exceptions to this policy (ie: CDL license, Boat license, etc) but as long as you're a normal driver, you should be able to renew via mail.

[signalman]

Funny that JN started this topic yesterday, since I had found a couple of my old expired licenses yesterday while going through stuff.  New Jersey uses the hole punch method to void the old license/ID card when one renews their license.  Before 9/11, motorists were allowed to renew via mail and receive a non photo license (I have one of those).  After 9/11, NJMVC changed their policy and required everyone to renew in person and get their picture taken.  One also had to bring documents proving who they are and their address.  It has been known as the 6 point system consisting of one primary document worth 4 points (motorist's current not expired license covers this) and two secondary documents worth 1 point each.  Some secondary documents may be worth 2 points, I don't remember.  It's my understanding that NJ has once again changed their policy in regard to license renewal.  I believe that motorists are now required to renew in person every other time.  The last time I renewed mine I had to do so in person.  My current license is due for renewal in 2017, so I guess I'll find out then if I'll be eligible to renew by mail.

In general, if you have a digital license and the picture still looks like you and the signature still matches what you use, you can renew by mail.  Then the next time you're up for renewal, you'll have to show up in person.

There are a few exceptions to this policy (ie: CDL license, Boat license, etc) but as long as you're a normal driver, you should be able to renew via mail.

Thanks for the info.  I wasn't exactly sure how it worked.  I thought that I had a digital license prior to renewing in 2013, but maybe I didn't.  I remember NJMVC changing the policy right before I last renewed my license because I remember hoping that I might be able to renew via mail.  I was quite disappointed when I received my renewal notice and it saying that I had to renew in person. 

As for a special license..I just have a regular operator and motorcycle license.  I don't have one for boating or commercial.  I keep my motorcycle endorsement renewed and valid even though I haven't owned a bike since 2007 and haven't ridden since 2010.  It's cheap to keep valid and it's certainly easier than letting it lapse and then having to retest to become licensed should I want to ride again.