How To Renew Your Driver’s Licence
Renewing your licence might not seem like an important task, but it’s useful to understand how to do – especially because you’re probably going to be driving all the way into old age and you’re going to need to renew your licence at some point. As well as this, if you ever drive unlicensed, you can be heavily punished.
Driving unlicensed
If you haven’t been manually staring at the expiry date of your driver’s licence being paranoid that it’s going to expire soon like most people, you’re going to receive a renewal notice six weeks before it expires. That is, you haven’t renewed your licence yet. Though if you didn’t receive any notice, it’s still your responsibility to make sure that you’re not driving with an expired licence.
If you do need to renew your licence, there are special conditions if you’re not on an unrestricted licence yet.
Learner licences
While other P1, P2 and unrestricted licence holders are permitted to renew their licence online, learner licence holders must attend a service centre or registry in person. Furthermore, learner licence holders must pass the knowledge test (the same test they passed to get their licence in the first place) to renew their licence.
Furthermore, drivers must pay the learner licence fee again. Despite this, it’s rare for someone to renew their learner licence as learner licences are valid for five years. This means that most people either progress to become P1 drivers or if they have chosen not to drive, simply use a photo card as a form of identification.
P1 and P2 licences
The amazing thing about a P1 and P2 licence is that there’s no time limit for moving through to the next stage of your licence and you’re able to renew your P1 and P2 licences as many times as you want.
P1 licences last 18 months before expiry and P2 licences last double that – 36 months. Furthermore, every renewal requires a fee.
P1 and P2 licence holders are able to renew their licences online.
Renewing online or in person
If you want to renew your licence online click here.
If you want to renew your licence in person, you can visit any service centre or registry and follow the steps given to you there. Typically this will involve filling out a form, providing your current licence and paying the required licence fee.
When you can renew
Remember that you’re able renew your licence up to 6 months before it expires. This means that there’s a half a year gap between being able to renew your licence and having your licence expire – plenty of time to make sure that you don’t drive around with an expired licence.
If you renew your licence within 6 months after the expiry date, your new licence’s expiry date will be calculated based on your previous licence. However, if you renew it more than 6 months after the expiry date, your licence will be reissued.
Cancelled licences
If your licence has been cancelled, suspended or disqualified – depending on the severity of the cause there are special steps you must take in order to renew your licence. To find out further information, call or visit a service centre and explain your situation.
Check out our other blogs
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What You Must Check For Before Your Driving Test
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