Reinstating a Driver's License in North Carolina

Check your license status and points through your MyDMV account. Fees (from July 1, 2024): $83.50 restoration fee (not required if the license was taken for medical reasons), a $50 service fee unless the license was surrendered to the court or mailed to NCDMV before the suspension took effect, and a DWI reinstatement fee when a DWI suspension ends. Pay online through PayIt ($3 per transaction plus a 1.85% card fee), by check or money order payable to "N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles" (Fiscal Unit, 1514 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1514), or in person at a driver license office by appointment. Status updates to "Inactive" or "Eligible for Reinstatement" within about 24 hours; you then reapply for a license in person, or online if the suspension was only for failure to appear or failure to pay and you are eligible.

Grounds include 12 points in three years, excessive speeding (see speeding points), failure to appear or resolve a ticket (indefinite suspension after 20 days), impaired driving convictions (one-year revocation for a first conviction), a 30-day civil revocation upon a DWI charge with a test of 0.08 or more or a refusal, and chemical test refusal (12 months).

A court may grant a limited driving privilege, for good cause, allowing a person with a revoked license to drive for essential purposes such as employment, household maintenance, education, court-ordered treatment or community service. For an impaired driving conviction, eligibility requires a valid license (or one expired less than a year) at the time, no impaired driving conviction in the preceding seven years, a Level Three, Four or Five punishment, no new impaired driving charges, and a substance abuse assessment.