Life With an Expired Driver's License
#1
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Life With an Expired Driver's License
Mine (Florida) is due to expire on my birthday, at the end of January. The last time it needed to be renewed, I was able to do so online; but now it requires an in-person visit. I've been car-free (this time) since returning to Florida, late-May 2012. I've had to rent a car twice, the last time was May 2016, and haven't driven since then (hell, I haven't even ridden in a car!). So, here's my question:
Q: Given that places tend to request photo-ID in order to do many things, do you find it easy, difficult, or impossible to do so with an expired driver's license?
It's not that I can't afford the $52 fee, or the $32 fee for a "walking-around" photo-ID card; it's that even if the DL is expired, I'm still me, and that's still my photo and my address -- nothing's changed. I'm not going to buy a car (can't afford one, even if I wanted to), and nobody's going to give me one; and, even if I had one, I couldn't afford the registration, insurance, and "care-and-feeding".
Should I bite the bullet, or let it expire in peace?
Q: Given that places tend to request photo-ID in order to do many things, do you find it easy, difficult, or impossible to do so with an expired driver's license?
It's not that I can't afford the $52 fee, or the $32 fee for a "walking-around" photo-ID card; it's that even if the DL is expired, I'm still me, and that's still my photo and my address -- nothing's changed. I'm not going to buy a car (can't afford one, even if I wanted to), and nobody's going to give me one; and, even if I had one, I couldn't afford the registration, insurance, and "care-and-feeding".
Should I bite the bullet, or let it expire in peace?
#2
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The problem is that modern society treats the drivers license as a domestic passport. This function is now being formalized as a RealID(™). If you can get away with not having to have that to fly, get legal documents notarized, etc., then let it expire in peace.
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Mine (Florida) is due to expire on my birthday, at the end of January. The last time it needed to be renewed, I was able to do so online; but now it requires an in-person visit. I've been car-free (this time) since returning to Florida, late-May 2012. I've had to rent a car twice, the last time was May 2016, and haven't driven since then (hell, I haven't even ridden in a car!). So, here's my question:
Q: Given that places tend to request photo-ID in order to do many things, do you find it easy, difficult, or impossible to do so with an expired driver's license?
It's not that I can't afford the $52 fee, or the $32 fee for a "walking-around" photo-ID card; it's that even if the DL is expired, I'm still me, and that's still my photo and my address -- nothing's changed. I'm not going to buy a car (can't afford one, even if I wanted to), and nobody's going to give me one; and, even if I had one, I couldn't afford the registration, insurance, and "care-and-feeding".
Should I bite the bullet, or let it expire in peace?
Q: Given that places tend to request photo-ID in order to do many things, do you find it easy, difficult, or impossible to do so with an expired driver's license?
It's not that I can't afford the $52 fee, or the $32 fee for a "walking-around" photo-ID card; it's that even if the DL is expired, I'm still me, and that's still my photo and my address -- nothing's changed. I'm not going to buy a car (can't afford one, even if I wanted to), and nobody's going to give me one; and, even if I had one, I couldn't afford the registration, insurance, and "care-and-feeding".
Should I bite the bullet, or let it expire in peace?
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You can always get a non-driver government issued photo ID which can also meet (I believe) the RealID requirements.
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My wife's driver license expired in July 2020 and it took almost two months to get it renewed through appointments. Here in Nevada, there were 60 day extension letters, and now senior drivers licenses are extended past expiration from a year (starting July 28 2020).
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My license expired on the first of the month, but with the COVID delays, the DMV didn't get my renewal back to me before that. I stopped at the store a couple days later to get some beer and was told that they could not sell to me because of my expired ID.
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I have a state I.d. I don't drive anymore so I didn't see the point when the very same issue arose for me. @ 41 I don't get carded for the unhealthy purchases that "require" such documents anymore, and that doesn't depress me. Just means I can start my 12 oz. Carboloading and billow smoke clouds while keeping cadence sooner. I don't compete but commute so personal habits are of no (other) detriment.
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As others have noted, you are going to need Real ID for a number of official purposes. Including voting. Since you have to go through the same process whether you get the State ID or the DL, you might as well get the DL in case you ever need it. You need to renew in person because of the Real ID requirement. Once you've satisfied that you can go back to mail in or online renewals.
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Steve B beat me to it, but a valid passport must be accepted as legal identification for all purposes. If you don't want a drivers license or a state ID, this is probably much more worthy of your time and money, and is potentially less invasive. It has a minor side benefit in that it shames morons that ask for ID when there is no compelling need.
The need for an ID for voting is at best controversial.
In FLA:
The need for an ID for voting is at best controversial.
In FLA:
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For example, to dump yard waste in my county's land fill I must provide documentation, such as a current utility bill with my address printed on it to be accepted as a valid user of county services.
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