Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed!
 

:p I had arranged with Skip (Glenn in Huntsville) to meet at his house for me to pick up my treadle machine head that he's refinished for me....he's sent me pictures of it and he's done a wonderful job on it! Anyway, I had to make a stop about halfway there, and I had to show some i.d. for something, and that's when I found out that my driver's license was expired by about a month! I called him and apologized, then explained that I was going back to my county to renew my license before going to his house, then I'd be there later. He was so nice about it and agreed to that.

Then I got back to the license renewal office, and there on the door was a great big sign saying that they couldn't renew any licenses statewide right now because of something going on (I forget the exact wording, but I got the impression it had to do with the computers). I then went to the bank, and their computers were "iffy". Man, I'm just laying around the rest of the day, it may not be safe to operate my computerized sewing machine!:(

If I ever get my license renewed, I WILL be there Skip! And in my defense, my birthday is in December, and here in Alabama, we usually renew our license in the month of our birthday.

I received a letter from the State of Ohio last year, that my drivers license had expired, here we have 30 days after it expires to drive, if over 30 days you have to take the test again...OH no I would not want to do that...LOL

In Ala., we don't receive reminders. We had moved back to Alabama 4 yrs. ago in May from another state, and our licenses expired 4 yrs. after that date. We forgot all about it. Both of our birthdays are in Dec. and neither one of us thought a thing about renewing those darned licenses in May!

6 yrs ago they were 6 months before you had to take the test again-We were working in Richmond,Ind and I got pulled over for a cracked tail light -the officer was nice-no ticket : ) So we went up to Eaton Oh. to get licensed renewed we got there at 3:30 they closed at 4:00 I cut it to close I would have had to do the drivers test the next day. I would never have passed -sadly my parallel parking has not improved in 40 yrs :(

I drove around my town /state for 6 MONTHS with expired car plates!! The nice cop in the next state was happy to let me know!! That cost me a $75.00 ticket. We get reminders BUT when I went to take care of this, my address had been entered into the system incorrectly...hence, no "reminder" now I get email notifications! And , i can pay online. Case closed.

Sandy

Sandy, you're lucky to have gone that long, and then to find out about the mix-up with your address. Like they say, computers are only as good as the carbon-based units in front of them!

The first time one of my sons was driving after driver's ed he and I were going someplace and he told me there was a police officer behind us but didn't have his lights on. I told him to relax that the police officer was just going somewhere. Next thing I know my son is freaking out because the officer had put his flashers on. I told my son to relax and GENTLY pull off to the side of the road. Turns out the plate on the car he was driving (my car) had expired plate by over 6 months. I had blithely driven around for that long never the wiser. Fortunately we just got a warning and the police officer was nice to tell my son that he thought he was doing a wonderful job driving. Needless to say we went back home and got another car to finish our errands.

I drove for a year on expired drivers license and didn't know it. Didn't have to retake the test though, just buy new.

A few years ago I had driven to Florida and back home to Illinois on expired plates; they were expired expired for 9 months before I realized it. Went to renew them and paid for the tags plus late fee then had to renew again in 3 months. What a bummer...

I love all your stories! Makes me feel better knowing I'm not the only one. We were at the license office this morning at opening time, but they were still down. They said to try back later, so we went back about lunch time.

We just got back from getting our licenses renewed. I want to know who that old lady is who snuck in on my photo?

It's been raining cats & dogs all morning, so I think I'll wait until tomorrow to try to make it to Skip's to get my machine, but it's supposed to be like this tomorrow too.

When I lived in Tennessee in 2003, I gave up my drivers license due to poor vision, and epilepsy. I could still legally drive today, but I do not belong on the road with you and your loved ones or mine. I now live in Oregon and have never been licensed here. Last year I got a notice from the state of Oregon telling me my Oregon driving privileges have been suspended due to failure to license in Oregon. I tried calling to explain, but I was informed that I needed to pay $75 to reinstate it. I repeated that I do not drive, and was again told I would have to pay the penalty, and if I was caught driving it would be a large ticket, and license suspension for 5 years. I can live with that. Lol!

Bummer, we in CA do renewals by mail !! Makes it so much easier and it is also a reminder.

Some of these entries had me laughing out loud. Take my advice and don't let NC take your license away from you. You will NEVER get it straightened out. Ask my son who now lives in TN and cannot get a license because of NC. I tell him he ought to make NC pay his attorney here to get him a license.....

same thing happened tp me almost 5 mos never got the renewal notice thank god they didnt make me retake the test happens to all of one time or another

State of NH sends email notification as well as snail mail 6 weeks before license renewal. They are now trying to do license renewals by computer. You use the same picture from your previous license, cannot make any changes to the license and you pay by debit or credit card. This is how I renewed my license last year. Will have to go to the DMV next time to renew because they won't use 10 year old pictures! Guess the DMV doesn't want us to look young forever!

Town (at least the one I live in) sends snail mail notices 2 months before registrations (plates) expire. (In NH you have to pay both the town and the state for the privilege of driving a car).

I must say that dealing with the DMV here in New Hampshire is an absolute pleasure compared to dealing with the DMV in Massachusetts. It was an all day event when you had to go to the registry in Boston!

I absolutely love your comment here. I had to laugh when I read it. Eons ago when we first started using computers for our school attendance one of our school secretaries was gipping and complaining about the computer she was working on. She made some crazy statement about the computer that it was just not working, she kept coming up with the wrong answer for her daily totals . I really made her mad when I told here the computer could only do what the operator typed in. I like you definition much better.

We are lucky here in Tx. We get a reminder when our lic. and lic. plates are due. Lic. Plates are due annually. Our driver's lic. expire on our B-Day every 6 yrs.. We also get to sometimes renew them by mail, but usually have to go to the local office and take an eye exam. But I check every so often on my Diver's lic date for renewal because I have had no notice in the past.

Keep these stories coming.... I love reading them!

P.S. We do get a reminder for our car tags, or plates, but not for our driver's licenses. Gerbie, I with we had a 6-year license, but ours is only 4 years. Like I said earlier, we had moved back to Alabama 4 yrs. ago in May from another state, and our licenses expired 4 yrs. after that date. We forgot all about it. Both of our birthdays are in Dec. and neither one of us thought a thing about renewing our licenses in May, as we were used to it being expired in our birth month.

MA stopped sending reminders years ago. I attach a 3x5 card to the December page of our hanging calendar and move it to a new calendar each year. When the year comes when one of our licenses expires I make a note on the month it expires. I do put on a computer calendar but since we had a crash once and lost all calendar entries I also now keep all appointment cards in a folder in case of a crash-just clean out folder once in a while. In MA we now renew licenses on the computer as you described. Only go to the registry every 10 years. We can register our vehicles online also. Much better than all those lines.

Selm, great idea about the 3x5 card. We can buy our car tags online, but not our licenses. I told my DH yesterday that I was going to mark the calendar on May 1st every year from now on and that would remind us to check our licenses. That may seem like over-kill, but with our memories, it helps keep us on track. Maybe I'll just put a card up, with things to check off for each year. Thanks for the idea!:thumbup:

Our drivers license does not expire until we are 65 years young here in Arizona. Yes that means you can drive for over 20, 30 years before you need to renew. It is crazy here.

Here in Colorado they went to 10 year licenses.

When hubs & I got married in 2003 I had my license changed
to reflect my new last name. Renewed my license last year.

In that 10 year time frame they had changed the way renewals
where being done. As long as you didn't have any tickets or anything
else to cause an issue on your driving record (points etc...) than you
could go online and renew the license you pay for it at that time, about
2-4 weeks later your new license arrives in the mail.

I find it amazing how there are so many variations in how licenses, vehicle registration and insurance are handled in different places.

Where I live we have learners and novice licenses (2 year limits) then adult licenses are 5 years, renewing on your birthday. You have to go in to renew and a new photo is taken each time. Once you are 80 you have to have a medical before you renew your license.

Once a vehicle is registered it is done, but insurance is mandatory and must be renewed annually. You can pay monthly for you insurance. Or get as little as 3 months insurance. There are no city, municipality or county fees added on.

It just amazes me how each state or country has different rules about renewing licenses. I'm just happy that I didn't have to take my driver's test all over again, I'm sure I've 'learned' how to break a few rules! I found out that we have a 60-day grace period with our licenses, but only a 15-day grace period with our car tags or plates, and insurance is mandatory here also, and we have to show proof of insurance when purchasing new (to us) car tags. I'm almost positive that it is mandatory everywhere in the U.S.