[Original date: June 1996] Subject: DMV license renewal (a tale of mirth and woe) My wife and I decided to take a dry run to DIA, since we had previously never been to the new airport. Because she wanted to drive, I had to find things to do like ... cleaning out my wallet. To my great horror, I discovered that my driver's license had expired (in fact, 2+ months ago). Silly me; I thought that the DMV, a division of the Colorado Department of Revenue, would want my money ASAP and would send me some sort of renewal notice. Ha Ha. * The DMV does not send any renewal notices, ever. You might notice that your license is expired by trying to pay with a check, for example, but there is no formal notification. In addition, according to the nice person at DMV, this is not documented anywhere. [This is no longer true. See below.] * You have up to 90 days after the expiration of the license to get it renewed (pretty much) without hassle. You will have to take an eye test and pay $15 to get your name in good standing again. * If you don't renew your license within 90 days, when you go to renew it, you will have to retake the written exam (thereby firmly establishing the correlation between knowing when to renew your license and knowing the rules of the road). * If you don't renew your license within 1 year, you will have to retake both the written and road tests (thereby firmly establishing ... you get the idea). * If you accumulate 8 points during the life of your license, you will have to retake the written exam anyway. * The Colorado Department of Revenue is located in the building with the clock tower, across from Foleys and the movie theater near the mall. The hours are 8-5 M-F, 9-1 Sat. Best time to go is 8am on weekdays. ******************** Addendum: February 3, 2000 With my renewal coming up in a little over two months, I was pleasantly surprised to find a renewal notice from the DMV in the mail today. With all the complaining I did several years ago, I hoped to come back to this page and write that the DMV has changed its ways and now dealing with the Colorado Department of Revenue is nothing short of a sheer delight. No. I will admit that it was nice to be informed regarding my upcoming renewal. For that, the DMV gets a gold star. However, It is immediately removed and replaced with a big orange and green frowny face for teasing me. Silly me. I thought that something called a "Driver License Renewal Application" mailed to my home would allow me to renew my driver's license from the comfort of my home. What was I thinking? You see, the first section is called "Vision Screening" and it reads: "If you have had a vision examination since your last driver license renewal, your license professional optometrist, ophthalmologist, or medical doctor may be able to complete this portion of the application without further examination. If you have not had a vision exam since your last renewal, an examination by a licensed professional optometrist, ophthalmologist, or medical doctor will be required. You are responsible for any doctor's fees." So if I don't want to go down to the DMV, I can instead pay for an eye exam, get the doctor to fill out the form, come home, fill out the rest of the form, write my check to the DMV and then send both check and form in. That's so much easier and cheaper to boot. Thanks DMV. It's interesting that the DMV requires independent confirmation that I can see. It does not, however, require any independent confirmation of the following: 1) Is my driving privilege under suspension, revocation or denial in CO or any other state? 2) Do I have a driver license from any other state? 3) [this kills me] During the past two years, have I had heart problems, diabetes, paralysis, epilepsy, seizures, lapses of consciousness, dizziness, or any other physical, mental or emotional condition that would interfere with my ability to safely operate a motor vehicle? All DMV requires is that I answer the questions above truthfully. So if my morality is a bit weak or perhaps I feel that the DMV are a bunch of morons *and* I've been paralyzed from the neck down in the past two years *but* I can get a doctor to confirm that my eyes are good, that license is mine. But if I'm an honest person with good eyes who wishes for an egress from standing in line like cattle, forget it. It's yet another logical and logistical triumph for the CDR. I'll be back in four years to see if the glacier has moved another inch. ******************** Addendum: June 7, 2002 The DMV is now on Prospect west of Shields. And on a personal note, never tell your spouse about the existence of your web page, especially if s/he was an English major and/or is a weisenheimer. No good can ever come of it. ******************** Addendum: Feb 21, 2005 They finally got it. I was able to renew my license, via mail, for 10 years and the only things I had to do were: 1) truthfully answer the same questions noted above 2) correct my height and weight on the form (they were both *way* off; they were significantly different from the figures listed on my current drivers license; perhaps this was a sanity check?) 3) send them a check Total time to get it right: nearly 9 years. But I'm grateful. Anything that keeps me from having to go to the DMV is a good thing. ******************** Apr 3, 2015 Remember folks: anything that is good will eventually be changed so as to make it less good. This will be almost always in the name of greed or power or both. It's 10 years since my last renewal. Would it be as easy as last time? Shouldn't it be even easier by now? Of course not, don't be silly. Oh, the renewal is online, so it should be a dottle, but when I put in my info, I was not able to renew because I have a 10-year license. Which makes perfect sense. So I'll be off to the DMV again. I'm sure that will be fun.