I don’t know if it matters how many times you move, I feel like there are always a few things that you forget to change your address on. But I feel like I have more of these forgotten things because it has been so long since I moved. One thing that I did remember to change before I moved was the address on my driver’s license. That was a very simple change to make and I was able to do it online. But they said they wouldn’t be sending me a new license at that time. I didn’t think too much about that at the time because I don’t think they actually need your address on your license for much, and if someone official needed to look things up, I feel like it would be noted in a system that it was changed and they didn’t send me a new license.
But maybe the reason why they didn’t send me a new license was because mine was going to expire this year. I didn’t realize that until I got the renewal notice mailed to me (fortunately, mailed to the new address), but it made sense when I thought about it. And because you will need a Real ID soon to fly domestically (or bring a passport), I figured I might as well get the Real ID when I was renewing anyway.
It’s been a while since I’ve had to do anything with my license, but it was easy enough to do most of the work online and I made an appointment. The only downside is that all of the hours are during work hours, so I had to arrange to take some time off. But I was hoping that it wouldn’t take too long.
I got to the DMV and had to wait a bit for my number to be called up. I know it would have been longer without an appointment, but it was still about 30 minutes from the time I checked in until I was called. I gave all my paperwork to the woman behind the counter and she asked me if I had already taken the written driving test again. I was so confused because I had no clue I would need to do that again and I was not prepared at all. She stepped away and had to get some more information about my renewal.
I guess the policy is that if you get a Real ID within 60 days of your license expiring, you don’t have to retake the test. If it’s more than 60 days before the expiration date, you do have to take it. I submitted my paperwork and set up my appointment 62 days before but my appointment was within 60 days. So I guess there was some debate about which date they had to go by. Fortunately, it was decided that they should use my appointment date so I was saved from having to retake the test. Honestly, if I had to take it again, I have no idea if I would pass. The questions they ask are really specific like how many feet away from a stop sign can you park and then the choices are all similar answers. But I don’t know if many people would know if it’s 25 feet or 30 feet since most people just park so far away.
After that was settled, I had to pay for the ID and get a new photo. I have no clue how it turned out because it’s not on my paperwork and I won’t get my license in the mail for about a month. Then I had to get a paper temporary license to take with me and that line was in the testing area. There were so many people taking the test and looking so stressed out, so I think a bunch of them were people who didn’t know they would need to take it that day. I’m glad I was able to escape that, but I think that in the future I might review the written tests online before going in just in case I have to take it again.
Even though I had to wait for my appointment and there was a bit of a delay with figuring out if I needed to retake the test or not, I was out of the DMV within an hour, so I didn’t have to take extra time off and was able to just use my lunch break early. And I know the appointment could have been much longer if I needed to take the test. So I was probably pretty lucky.
Hopefully, whenever the next time I have to renew comes up, either I don’t have to take the test then or I will be notified enough in advance so that I can really feel prepared for it.
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