There may be a number of reasons why someone may be driving without a valid license in Florida including something as simple as forgetting to renew your driver’s license before it expired, or something more serious such as willfully driving without a valid driver’s license because it has been suspended or revoked because of a driving under the influence charge. Florida residents may also experience a license suspension for reasons other than a driving offense, such as failure to pay child support.
If you happen to get stopped by an officer in Florida and are found to be driving with an expired license you may get lucky and be let off with a warning that you need to get your license renewed, more than likely though, you will receive a ticket assessing 2 points to your driving record and a minimum fine amount of $63. Depending on how expired your license was at the time the Florida DMV may require you to take another vision test, possibly a written test, and you may have to take another driving test before the DMV will issue new another license.
If you are stopped by an officer and found to be driving without a license in Florida due to the fact that your license is currently under suspension for driving under the influence, you will be facing a minimum fine of $500 and could face up to 60 days in jail. Not to mention that the original suspension period will begin all over again. So if you were 6 months into a 1-year license suspension period, the 1-year period will begin all over again.
Willfully driving on a suspended license in Florida for an offense such as DUI can also result in the impoundment of your vehicle for a certain number of days. You will of course be responsible for paying any towing charges and daily impoundment fees.
Driving without a valid license in Florida can also affect one’s insurance rates. Every year your insurance provider will review your driving record prior to establishing your premiums for the coming year. Since you will have received at least a 2 point violation for driving without a valid license in the state of Florida, most insurance companies will adjust your rates upward based solely on the points and not because your license had been expired for a mere 2 weeks.
If your license is valid but you fail to pay your insurance premiums on-time your insurance provider will inform the DMV of such a lapse in your insurance coverage. If this happens the DMV will suspend your driver’s license for failure to maintain insurance. You will receive a Notice of Suspension letter in the mail stating that your license has been suspended. If this occurs you will be required to maintain a Florida SR22 insurance filing with the DMV.
The Florida DMV sends out a driver’s license renewal notice to every licensed driver in the state roughly 45 days prior to the license expiration date as a friendly reminder. The only problem with this is that if a person has moved to a different address since their last renewal the Florida DMV will send the renewal notice to the old address and the chances of it actually getting to the correct person are slim at that point.
