Is There a Fine for Renewing an Expired Driver's License?
2 Answers
If your driver's license has been expired for less than one year, you can renew it without paying a fine. However, if it has been expired for more than one year, the license will be revoked. Below are the methods and rules for checking demerit points on your driver's license: Methods for Checking Demerit Points on a Driver's License: There are five ways to check traffic violations for motor vehicles: terminal inquiry at traffic branch offices, service website inquiry, phone inquiry, SMS inquiry, and tool inquiry. Rules for Demerit Points on a Driver's License: If the demerit points accumulated within a scoring cycle do not reach 12, and all fines are paid before the end of the cycle, the system will automatically reset the points at the start of the next cycle. If there are unpaid fines, the demerit points will not be reset in the next cycle, and new points will be added on top of the existing ones, and so on.
Renewing an expired driver's license depends on the situation. If it has been expired for less than a year, you can directly go to the DMV to complete the renewal procedures without paying a fine. However, there's a crucial point: driving with an expired license is considered unlicensed driving. If caught, you could be fined between 200 to 2000 yuan and possibly detained for 15 days. I once heard a friend say he didn't take it seriously and drove with an expired license, only to be stopped by traffic police and fined 1000 yuan—definitely not worth it. In my opinion, the safest approach is to renew it 90 days in advance. Bring your ID card, medical examination form, and a one-inch white background photo, and the DMV will handle it in half an hour. Never wait until it expires to deal with it—it's both troublesome and dangerous.
