Have you checked your ID lately? Is the expiration date coming up soon? Are you not quite sure what you need to do? If you are finding yourself in this situation, this post can help give you some direction and find some answers.
When an ID expires it should be destroyed by shredding it. It is important to take the necessary steps for the ID to then be replaced promptly after the ID’s expiration date. This can help avoid possible fees and penalties for having an expired ID and will ensure nobody can steal your information.
To learn more about what you should do with an expired ID, keep reading.
What Should I Do With An Expired ID?
When your ID expires it is important to first destroy it. Documentation, especially that regarding personal information, needs to be destroyed immediately. This will significantly decrease the chances of it falling into the hands of someone who could use that information to impersonate you and steal your identity.
You can do this one of two ways. You can either purchase a shredder and shred the card on your own, or you can take it to the DMV and they will use their machine to shred it for you. While using a shredder is definitely more efficient and a faster way to get the job done, you can also use scissors but just make sure you cut it into tiny enough pieces that no one could put them together to salvage it later on. All this being said, it is completely up to you how you go about it, there are no laws stating how to specifically handle destroying your expired ID.
Some may take this part of the process lightly and it is quite a serious requirement to destroy your expired ID. If the correct precautions are not taken there are a few different unfortunate things that could happen: there are internet thieves that could take the basic information on your ID and gain access to things like your bank account, mailing information, employment data, as well as a number of other security protected personal information.
Having to deal with fraud and hacking is an issue that can easily be avoided by taking simple steps to protect your information from others. One of the extremely easy ways to ensure this is to destroy any valuable documents that you won’t be keeping secure anymore due to expiration, such as your driver’s license.
Steps To Get A New ID
Shortly after destroying your old ID, or even before, you will need to get a new ID. To do this there are three steps:
Do Not Drive
While your license is expired and while you do not currently have an active license in your possession, you are not legally allowed to be on the roads driving. It is not something that authorities are lenient about at all. If your license expired yesterday, you should not be in the driver’s seat. The reasoning behind this is not just because your license is expired means you will automatically get into a car wreck, but because it is a law that keeps people on the road including yourself, safe. If you do drive with an expired license and are caught, there will be consequences which we will discuss later on.
Go To Your Local DMV To Renew Your License
If for whatever reason you cannot make it to the DMV the day of or the day after your license expires, most of the time the state will allow a grace period for you to get to the DMV to renew it, but that should not warrant postponing getting it renewed. The process you will follow once you get to the DMV varies from state to state, but these are standard steps of the process.
First, you will need to confirm your personal information such as name, date of birth, etc. You will then be handed some paperwork that will most likely be some sort of an application for a new ID. After that has been completed, the attendant will review and confirm it and then will have you pay the renewal fee. There is a fee for renewing your license, it usually varies from state to state as well. The majority of the time they will also ask for permission to take an updated photo so everything on the license is current and up to date.
Retake Driver’s Test If Needed
In some cases, if even longer than the extended grace period you aren’t able to make it to the DMV and renew your license, you will have to retake the driver’s test when you go in to renew the license. The length of the grace period as well as if after that time is up it is necessary or not to retake the driving test is dependent on what state you live in. Some states have longer grace periods than others and some states require you to take the driving test after that period is up and some states do not. It is important that you are aware of these requirements in your respective area.
Penalties For Neglecting To Renew Your ID
We already discussed that driving with an expired license has consequences associated with it. One of those consequences includes having the vehicle that was being illegally driven, impounded. Another consequence is receiving a citation for driving with an expired license.
There are also fines that are associated with neglecting to renew your ID. Depending on the state and the length of how long the license has been expired, the amount of the fine could range anywhere from $50 to up to $25,000. Most of the time if it is a first-time offense, they will just give you a minor citation and strongly encourage you to get the license renewed as soon as possible. The amount and severity of past offenses and citations also play a part in how much the fine would be as well as whether or not the license would be suspended or not.
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