Have you got your driver’s license suspended and do you want to learn how to check if license is suspended online? If this is the case, then you are at the right place because there will be a lot to cover on this topic. Here you will learn how you can perform this work easily.
Nobody wants his driver’s license to be suspended. But sometimes it happens and we have to deal with it. It is relatively hard to cope with losing your driver’s license because the driver’s license is your freedom.
Although it sounds funny, in the US, the driver’s license is a crucial thing since everything is located miles away and your only resort, if you are living in a remote place, would be to go on foot.
That’s why you need to focus on never losing your driver’s license. Because the consequences of this action are terrible and will make you sorry for everything have you done after they take your license away from you. So, you need to think in advance and avoid such situations to happen. You need to understand the consequences and avoid actions that will result in suspension.
But if you are already suspended and looking how to check if license is suspended online. Then you are at the right place because we are going to cover everything you need to know about it. We will learn the types of licenses, and reasons why they can get suspended. So, if you want to learn more, follow along.
What Is A Driver’s License? – How To Check If License Is Suspended Online
Before we talk about complex topics like how to check if license is suspended online. Let’s first focus on the basics and learn what is a driver’s license and why it is so important. Later we are also going to cover the types of driver’s licenses that are out there so you have a clearer perspective of what are the different levels when it comes to driver’s licenses.
Nevertheless, a driver’s license is a legal document that shows that you are capable of driving a motor vehicle. It doesn’t matter that the vehicle is internal combustion or an EV. The driver’s license gives you a permit to drive any road-legal vehicle that is in your class.
Unlike previous driving licenses that were made out of paper, modern ones are made out of plastic as we mentioned making them extra durable and also really convenient because you can store them in your wallet. The important thing is to never leave your home without a driving license if you plan to drive.
Because if you are stopped by the police, you will get fined and you will pay a hefty fee to sort things out and resume your driving activities because probably your driving license will get suspended.
But how to check if license is suspended online? More on that in a bit after we cover the types of driving licenses.
Another thing that is important though is the expiration date. Every driver’s license has one and on average, the driver’s licenses last about 6 to 8 years. The important thing is to renew the driver’s license on time if you want to avoid getting some hefty fines. Nevertheless, let’s talk about the types of driving licenses in the following chapters.
Types Of Driving Licenses – How To Check If License Is Suspended Online
When discussing how to check if license is suspended online. It is worth discussing more on the different types of driving licenses. As you know, you cannot drive any vehicle that you want with a certain driver’s license. Your driver’s license is limited to the vehicles that you did your driving test for.
Let’s say that you got a driver’s license for a moped which is M class, this means that you are not able to drive a car. You will need to do some extra tests for you to get that specific driver’s license. And that’s how these driver’s licenses are separated. Specifically, in classes, each class gives you the ability to maneuver a certain vehicle.
What is important though is that there are non-commercial and commercial driver’s licenses that we are going to discuss next.
Non Commercial
So, what does a non-commercial driver’s license means? The term non-commercial means that you can only drive vehicles intended for personal use. You cannot drive commercial applications like semi-trucks, taxis, and other types of vehicles.
What is good to know is that both of these types of licenses have different classes that we are going to discuss now and then we will take a good look at how to check if license is suspended online. But for now, what are these types of driving license classes?
M Class – M class driver’s license is purely intended for motorcycles and you can only drive a moped or a motorcycle with it.
C Class – This class is intended for regular cars.
B Class – The B class is intended for RVs and small buses up to 15 passengers including the driver.
A Class – All of the above, with class A, you can drive all of the vehicles listed above with a weight of up to 26,000 lbs.
Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDL)
We learned what are non-commercial driver’s licenses. Now let’s see what are the commercial driver’s licenses or CDL as they are known. CDL driver’s licenses are intended for commercial use. Let’s say that you drive an 18 wheeler truck or a bus for commercial purposes, or even a cab, you are required to have a CDL.
Similar to the non-commercial, the CDL driver’s licenses are separated into different classes. So, which are these classes? Let’s find out.
Class C CDL – With this class, you are allowed to drive any commercial vehicle that is below 26,000 lbs.
Class B CDL – With class B CDL you are allowed to operate a vehicle that isn’t hitched to a trailer, for example, a dump truck or similar truck. You can also operate large buses or box trucks.
Class A CDL – Class A is the top of the line when it comes to CDL driver’s licenses. With this driver’s license, you can drive big semi-trucks. Tractor plus a trailer.
Overall, that’s everything you need to know when it comes to driver’s licenses. But how to check if license is suspended online? We will cover that after we learn what is license suspension and the reasons why a license can be suspended.
What Is A Driver’s License Suspension?
A driver’s license suspension means that your rights to operate a motor vehicle are taken away from you for a definite or indefinite time. But what does definite and indefinite mean, will I lose my license forever? Well, not quite.
Definite means that you have lost your driver’s license for a definite time. Let’s say that you have lost your license for drunk driving and your license got suspended. You got a 3 or 6 months suspension from driving. At the end of the suspension period, you can resume driving again.
While on the other hand if the driver’s license is suspended indefinitely, it means that you need to take further action that the authorities require from you. Normally, you will have to do this if you want your driver’s license back and your driving rights as well in the process.
So, if you got your driver’s license suspended. You need to learn how to check if license is suspended online and learn if you are eligible to drive or not. Also, you will get information about the following actions that you will need to take if there is something that is required for you to do if you want your driver’s license back.
So, learning how to check if license is suspended is key if you want to get your right to drive once again. But more on that later. Now, let’s discuss the possible reasons why a driver’s license can get suspended. This information will be extra useful if you want to avoid getting your license suspended in the future.
Two Types Of How Driver’s Licenses Might Be Suspended?
So, we learned what is a driver’s license suspension and we learned that there are two types of suspension. Definite and indefinite, respectively. Now let’s discuss the reasons why a driver’s license might be suspended. Knowing the reasons for suspension will make your life easier and you will avoid possible infractions that can make to get your license suspended.
Driver’s License Suspended Definitely
So, what could cause you to lose your driver’s license definitely? What are the infractions that you need to make to do so? Let’s find out.
The number one reason why you can get a license suspension is by driving without an insured car. Automotive liability insurance is a must and you have to comply if you don’t want to get suspended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNt5oJA02VU
Another reason is if you are convicted for driving under influence by drugs or alcohol. In addition to this, you can get a suspension for too many tickets at a small time frame. Lastly, you can get suspended if you are a junior driver and don’t follow the rules for junior drivers.
Whenever you get suspended you need to learn how to check if license is suspended online. More on that a bit later.
Driver’s License Suspended Indefinitely
As we were saying, there are also indefinite driver’s license suspensions. This means that your driver’s license is suspended for an indefinite time. You need to take some action that will be required from the authorities if you want to get your driver’s license back. So, what are these infractions that can make you get suspended indefinitely? Let’s see.
Not answering on traffic tickets will for sure make the authorities question your ability to pay for the ticket and will suspend your license to make sure that you don’t get more tickets until you pay for the ones that you did.
In addition to this, not paying for Driver Responsibility Assessment and not filling a damage report in case of an accident will also make you lose your driver’s license indefinitely.
And lastly, if you fail to pay your taxes in NY or you don’t pay child support can also make you lose your license. So, pay attention to these.
If your driver’s license was already suspended, you need to learn how to check if license is suspended online. But more on that a bit later.
Difference Between Driver’s License Suspension And Revocation
As we know, there are two types of suspension, definite and indefinite. But there is still another term called driver’s license revocation. What does this driver’s license revocation mean? It is the same with driver’s license suspension? Well, not quite.
When it comes to losing your license because of some kind of infraction, getting your driver’s license revoked is something that you don’t want.
Having your license revoked means that you lost your right to drive until the driver’s license is reinstated by the authorities. And when will be reinstated? That depends on how big an infraction you have made. Just to put things into perspective, if suspension lasts for a couple of months, if your driver’s license is revoked, there could be years until you get your driver’s license back.
Sometimes these revocations are even permanent. But to get there, you will have to repeatedly get into trouble. But what types of offenses can cause someone to get his license revoked?
Well, drunk driving is one of the most common reasons that can get your license revoked. Especially if you drive with extremely high levels of alcohol in your blood. Another thing can be drugs, if you are driving under influence you will get your license revoked in the worst-case scenario.
Other offenses include reckless driving, hit and run incidents, and also failing to pay child support. Overall, getting your license revoked is something that you don’t want. But how to check if license is suspended online? Well, we will cover that in a bit after we learn why it is important to check if the license is suspended.
Why You Need To Check Online If Your License Is Suspended?
There are a few reasons why would someone like to learn if their license is suspended. Knowing these reasons is useful since you might come across a similar situation to start looking at how to check if license is suspended online.
The first case is in the case if you got pulled over and ticketed. Or in some cases even arrested. You just need to know if your driving ability is suspended. Imagine that you drive with a suspended license. You will get fined again, not to forget that this time, you could also get your license completely revoked by the authorities.
Another case would be if your driver’s license has already been suspended and you are not sure that you can get it reinstated. You need to get the documentation right with all the tickets paid and other felonies cleared to get your driver’s license reinstated.
For this, you need to follow some steps and make sure that you sort the documentation. But you need to learn how to check if license is suspended online first. That’s how you will know that it is time to start to sort out your documents to get your driver’s license reinstated. But how you can do that? That’s what we are going to cover in the following chapter.
How To Check If License Is Suspended Online?
Now we came to the main topic and that is how to check if license is suspended online? How you can do this? It is very easy.
The only thing you need to do is open up your browser and google your town or state + “DMV”. There in the first results should be the DMV of your state. For the ones who don’t know, DMV stands for Department For Motor Vehicles. They are issuing the registrations and driver licenses in that specific state.
There when you open the website you need to create a profile and fill up your data. Then you can request a report on your driver’s license. This report is about $2, you can pay with your credit card.
Overall a relatively simple process that will help you make sure if your driver’s license is suspended or not and when the suspension ends and learn when you should submit your documents to get it properly reinstated.
There are still some other ways that you can try to see the status of your driver’s license and we are going to cover them next.
Other Ways To Check If Driver’s License Is Suspended Except Online
There are also other ways that you can try if you want to check if your driver’s license got suspended. But what are these different ways? That’s what we are going to cover next. One of them is very convenient while with the other you will have to wait to get a response. Either way, these are the ways you can check.
Go To The DMV Office
The simplest way in addition to how to check if license is suspended online is to go directly to the DMV. You need to go to your closest DMV and file a request that you want to see the status of your driver’s license. For this, you will also have to pay a certain fee. Similarly to checking it online.
The form that you need to fill in is the INF 1125 (if you live in California). In this form, you have to check that you want to get your driver’s license record as well as provide the driver’s license number and other information.
The price for this would be about $5, depending on where you file this request. Since every state has its own laws when it comes to dealing with these things.
Send A Request Via Mail
Another way to deal with this problem and get information on the status of your driver’s license is to send the form via mail filled with your personal information and the fee that is required for this procedure which is about $5.
It might take a while until you get a response from the DMV. That’s why learning how to check if license is suspended online is your best bet when it comes to getting this information really quickly without waiting time.
What If I Drive With A Suspended License?
Many people are doing this, but you shouldn’t do it because you are risking even further suspension or license revocation. Imagine that your license is suspended and you end up stopped by the highway patrol.
You will instantly get another ticket for driving like this and your license could be revoked in the worst case. Sometimes based on the reasons why these people got their license suspended can end up in jail. So, don’t do that if you don’t want to be further prosecuted.
How To Avoid Getting My License Suspended?
The easiest way to avoid getting your license suspended is to stay out of trouble. You need to play it smart and don’t drink when you drive or drive under the influence of drugs.
Obey the laws on the road and read the signs carefully. Drive with caution and not recklessly. And not to forget, pay your child support if you have a child. If you follow these rules, your license will never be suspended again and you will not look for how to check if license is suspended online.
What You Need to Know About Checking and Reinstating a Suspended License
- Driving with a suspended license is a serious crime and can lead to strict penalties, including fines and imprisonment.
- Drivers can check if their license is suspended by doing a driver’s license check, which can be done online.
- To check if your license is suspended online, you need to visit the DMV website of the state where you have that license issued and verify your identity.
- Having a suspended license is temporary, and you can have the suspension removed, but you should not drive with a suspended license.
- To reinstate a suspended license, you may need to create an account online by providing personal information like your date of birth, social security number, and driver’s license number.
- The cost to see your driver’s record online varies by state, and you may need to pay specific fees before getting your license reinstated.
- Some states require you to get insurance before having your license reinstated, and you may need to attend a DUI program or a defensive driving course program.
- The consequences of driving with a suspended license include jail time and fines up to $2,500 or more, with harsher penalties for repeat offenders.
- Each state has different laws regarding the reinstatement of a suspended license, and it depends on the type of infraction you’ve had.
- It’s crucial to know the status of your driver’s license to avoid the legal and financial consequences of driving with a suspended license.
Conclusion To How To Check If License Is Suspended Online
In this article, we covered quite a bit when it comes to driver’s licenses. We learned the basics of what these licenses are and why are they so important. Then we learned the different types of driver’s licenses and as we concluded there are two types, non-commercial and commercial also known as CDL.
Then we covered why would someone need the information about the status of the driver’s license. Later, we answered the question of how to check if license is suspended online and the other ways you can perform this task. As we can recall, you can still go to the DMV and check in person or ask for this information by mail.
