What you need to know about an expired driver's license and its replacement

Every driver must have a license. This is a document that confirms completion of training and passing an exam, and, accordingly, the presence of the necessary knowledge and skills for safe driving. If you ignore this requirement, you can get a fine, and if you are also a bad driver, it can also be dangerous for others. But today we will discuss a slightly different issue, which is related to replacing a driver’s license.

A driver's license has a certain validity period, after which it will be necessary to restore its validity. By the way, you will also have to replace your license for other reasons, including a change of name or damage to the document. Where to replace the rights and what is the procedure, what is their validity period, what documents are needed? You can find answers to all these questions in our article.

Validity of rights and their replacement

A driving license is issued for 10 years, after which they lose their validity and must be replaced. There may be exceptions. If a person is on the territory of the Russian Federation temporarily and does not have a national license, then a driver’s license can be issued for less than 10 years. This is justified by the fact that registration documents have a shorter validity period, since stay on the territory of the state is limited.

International driver's licenses are also an exception. They are issued for a period of 3 years, after which they must be replaced. It is also important that they cannot be valid longer than national rights.

So, if your rights are expired, then they will be restored. In order to do this, you will need to contact the nearest traffic police department. According to the current legislation, a driver’s license is replaced in the department that is responsible for the driver’s region of residence. That is, expired licenses must be replaced at the place of registration.

If the driver’s registration does not correspond to his actual place of residence, then the procedure is slightly different. In this case, the replacement of rights is carried out at the place of residence. In general, any option involves contacting the traffic police department either at the place of registration or at the place of residence.

How much will a replacement cost?

Replacing a license requires paying a state fee of 2,000 rubles. When using the services of the single portal of State Services until December 31, 2018, a coefficient of 0.7, or a 30% discount, is applied.

In addition to paying the state fee, exchanging a driver's license after expiration requires monetary costs for a medical examination (tests, examination by doctors, etc.). On average, the amount can range from one and a half to three thousand rubles (this depends on the region).

Even more money will be needed if the driver, for some reason, has not driven a car for a long time, for example, when replacing a driver’s license that has expired for more than 5-10 years. Then it is necessary to pass a theoretical and two practical exams (at the training ground and in urban conditions). In monetary terms, this will require payment of a fee - 1000 rubles. for theory and 3500 for the practical part of the exam.

Find out more about how much it costs to replace a driver's license.

Procedure for replacing rights

Expired rights do not need to be renewed immediately. You can do this even after a few years, but you will be prohibited from driving a vehicle. Many will also be pleased that they can replace their driver’s license without passing exams, and this greatly simplifies the whole process.

So, in order to restore your rights, you need to collect certain documents, the list of which includes:

Identity card (usually a passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation).
Certificate from the place of registration at a specific address or from the place of actual stay.
A certificate from a medical institution confirming that you have passed an examination to determine your fitness to drive a vehicle.
Driver card (if training was carried out individually before 2013, then you can do without this document).
National rights.
A set of photographs in 3*4 format.
Receipts of payment of the state fee for a driver's license.
Standard application form.

What is the validity period of a driver's license?

When purchasing a vehicle, every car owner plans to use it without violating the legislative norms of the Russian Federation. The first step to implement your plans is to learn to drive and acquire a driving license.

In the Russian Federation, since 2011, the driver’s license model has changed, having received additional subcategories. On April 4, 2018, Government Decree No. 326 was issued, regulating the procedure for issuing and exchanging driving documents.

The essence of this regulatory document is as follows:

First change

From the moment of approval of the government decree, rights can be purchased at multifunctional government centers.
In truth, since February 1, 2018, this could have been done anyway, but this was done on an experimental basis and only by some MFCs.
And finally, from April 4, 2018, all MFCs officially began issuing and exchanging temporary documents. In this case, cards, as before, are made at the State Traffic Inspectorate, with subsequent transfer to the MFC for delivery to the applicant. Therefore, if a driver wants to exchange his license at the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, this will be done in a couple of hours, and at the MFC, the driver’s license will be changed only after 5 days after the request. You will need to visit the MFC twice, the first time to submit an application, the second time to obtain a permit.
The documents required to replace the driver's license are the same - a passport and a medical certificate of the driver. If the MFC refuses to replace or extend the driver's license, he will have to deal with the reason - the traffic police.

The second amendment is the timing of replacement.

Previously, the State Traffic Inspectorate really didn’t like it when the driver came to change his driver’s license in advance. Let’s say the validity period of the driver’s license ends on May 30, and the driver arrives in April. Previously, he would have been told to arrive to exchange the temporary residence permit on the expiration date - May 30, and the temporary residence permit would have been extended for another 10 years from this date. Today, you can apply to exchange or extend your driver’s license at any time convenient for the driver, and the period of validity of the license – 10 years – will be counted from the date of delivery of the document.
Changes have also been adopted in the exchange of foreign tertiary education for Russian ones. If a person from a foreign country changes his national ID to a Russian one, then all entries displayed on his foreign ID are recorded in the Russian ID.

In addition, the following amenities have been established for exchanging temporary residence permits in 2021:

The car owner has the right to submit a request to the department of the traffic police or the MFC that is more convenient for him, and not by registering his place of residence. The restriction applies to the region in which the settlement shown in the driver’s passport is located.
A request to replace the VU can also be submitted through the State Services resource online, located at: gosuslugi.ru . The advantage of this replacement method is that the request and transfer of state duty can be done via the Internet, while at home. An additional benefit is that you actually save money. The resource will put forward an offer to transfer money for the service with a 30% discount. However, to obtain a driving license you will still need to arrive at the traffic police when called.

To extend the validity of the driver's license, the car owner will need to provide the following documents:

Civil passport of the Russian Federation with a photocopy of all completed pages.
Former VU.
Certificate from the medical board.
Driving school completion card.
Receipt for transfer of state duty.
3 matte photographs 3x4.

When purchasing international rights, you must provide another receipt for the transfer of 2,000 rubles or 500 rubles, depending on the form of the driver's license (Article 333.33, clause 43 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). Before replacing the driver's license, you must pay off all debts collected by the traffic police.

The period of validity issued by the VU in 2021 is 10 years from the date of its acquisition; the international VU is issued for 3 years (Article 25, Clause 6 of Federal Law No. 196-FZ).

Extension of the validity of a driving license is carried out without passing exams on the basis of clause 35 of the “Rules ...” (Government Decree No. 1097 of October 24, 2014 “On admission to management ...”).

The VU is considered invalid and subject to exchange in the following cases:

The expiration date of the VA.
Changes in the personal information of the car owner, which are displayed in the VU (for example, when changing the last name).
Rendering the device unusable as a result of damage.
Purchasing a driver's license on the basis of fictitious materials or non-compliance with the issuance procedure.
Loss or theft of driving license.
Identification of medical contraindications for driving a vehicle in the driver.

You can exchange a temporary residence permit without waiting for the expiration date of its validity, but not earlier than six months before the expiration of its validity.

Solve your problem right now!

Free legal consultation by hotline:

Moscow (ext. 173)

St. Petersburg/Leningrad region: +7 (ext. 173)

Federal number: 8 800 350-84-13 (ext. 173)

What is the penalty for driving with an expired license?

The law does not stipulate that a person is obliged to change his rights as soon as their validity period has expired. He can do without a license and not drive, and for this he will not suffer any punishment. The most important thing is not to drive.

The right to drive a car is given to a person once and forever. To do this, you need to unlearn and pass exams. Naturally, in case of serious violations, the license may be withdrawn and then the violator will have to take the exam again.

Note: If the established period for using a driver’s license (driver’s license) has expired, the person needs to undergo a medical examination and a medical examination and pay a state fee. The document is exchanged without passing the theoretical part of the exam. The expiration date of the certificate does not matter.

Responsibility for expired rights

As mentioned earlier, it is not necessary to replace rights immediately after their expiration. However, this only applies to those drivers who do not continue to drive the car. If you drive a car without a valid driver's license and are stopped by an inspector, then you will be punished.

Article 25 of the Law “On Road Traffic Safety” states that if the license has expired, then driving a car will be regarded as driving without a license. For such a violation, a fine of 5,000 to 15,000 rubles is provided. In addition, there may be a more serious punishment, including the confiscation of the car and its delivery to the impound area. All costs associated with this event will be your responsibility.

If you decide to continue driving with an expired driver's license, you are putting yourself at serious risk. If you are stopped by a police officer, problems cannot be avoided. Of course, you can ask the inspector not to take the car, but to drive it to a garage or parking lot with the help of a friend, but this is a dubious option. The fact is that if the inspector turns out to be principled, he will still take away the vehicle. You can try to intimidate him if he somehow violated the procedure, but this is also unreliable.

In general, do everything on time and if you see that your driver’s license will soon be expired, then take care of replacing it in advance. Moreover, it is quite simple to do and does not require a significant investment of time and money. You just need to collect a package of documents, come to the traffic police department and fill out an application form. Within a few hours you will already become the owner of new rights.

From time to time, every driver is faced with the need to replace his license. The reasons for this need may be the following factors:

The validity period of the rights has expired (this period is ten years);

The licenses were washed, dented, torn;

Last name change. Although in this case you make the decision on the advisability of exchanging rights yourself.

Since the need to perform such a procedure arises quite rarely, drivers have many questions. And it’s better to know the algorithm of actions in such a case in advance, so as not to waste a lot of time later.

Where should a driver's license be replaced?

Firstly, you can make a replacement at your place of registration. To do this, you should come to the regional traffic police office. This method is considered the simplest and most hassle-free. Secondly, you can exchange documents where the driver is temporarily registered.

For example, you are assigned in Moscow, but temporarily registered in Krasnodar. In such a situation, you can take the application to the traffic police department, not only at registration, but also in the city of Moscow. But check whether the branch you choose has the right to issue a driver’s license. In addition, it will be useful to find out in advance the reception time of your traffic police department specifically on the issue of replacing your license. You can find out this information on the official website. On the same site you can easily download a sample application and a receipt form. Well, the amount of the state duty will be told to you at the Sberbank branch.

Validity period of rights

A driver's license is valid for ten years. The exact date when the driver's license expires is always indicated on the license itself. Upon reaching this period, the rights cease to be valid and must be replaced. Experienced drivers strongly recommend changing your license in advance - at least a month before it becomes invalid.

If you are late in renewing your driver's license, you will have to pay a fine. And, of course, as soon as your license expires, you can’t get behind the wheel - the law provides for administrative liability and, accordingly, punishment for this. And one more important nuance that deserves attention is that when you change your license, no one will require you to take theoretical exams.

However, there is a caveat - if the driver has not driven a car in the last 12 months, he will have to pass not only a theoretical, but also a practical exam for the full picture. Of course, no one can reliably check the last time you sat behind the wheel. But if your license is expired for a period exceeding 12 months, then it is quite logical that you could not drive the car. After all, you can’t drive without a license!

For persons who stay in the state temporarily, rights are issued for the duration of the registration. And every time you extend your temporary registration, you will need to change your temporary license. This, of course, causes some inconvenience, but the law is the law. International licenses are issued for only three years.

List of required documents

The exchange procedure will be as simple as possible only if you collect the necessary package of documents in advance - this is the best way to save time and nerves.

An application that must be submitted in writing only.

Passport or document that confirms identity.

A document that reliably confirms your registration of temporary actual stay.

Evidence that the driver actually graduated from a driving school - except in cases of individual training.

Driver card.

Medical certificate confirming passing a driver's examination.

Previous driver's license.

Photos. Although now more and more traffic police departments take photographs of the driver on the spot, it would not be superfluous to have a photo.

A receipt confirming the fact of payment of the state fee for issuing a new driver's license.

It is not necessary to provide documents confirming your training, although it is on the list of required documents. This can be explained simply - until 2013, it was possible to obtain a license externally, without undergoing training. But the fewer documents you provide, the longer the process of obtaining a new driver's license will take.

Immediately after the full package of necessary documents has been submitted, you can get behind the wheel. You will be ceremonially presented with a temporary permit allowing you to drive a car. It has full legal force, like ordinary rights, with one exception - you cannot travel with it outside our vast Motherland.

True, you will have to pay a state fee for a temporary certificate, but its amount is small. But its registration is a purely voluntary matter. And if you can do without a car for the period of obtaining your license - from one to two months - then you don’t have to issue a temporary permit.

Every driver sooner or later needs to replace his driver's license. The reason for this may be expiration, loss, and so on. At the same time, every car owner should remember that for driving a vehicle without a valid license, our country provides for administrative liability in the form of a fine.

Adverse consequences apply only to those road users who did not replace their driver's licenses on time, but nevertheless continue to drive a car. If the driver does not operate the vehicle until the actual moment of license exchange, then the competent authority has no grounds to fine.

What determines the size of the fine?

There are several nuances to this issue. How severe the punishment will be depends on 2 factors:

When your license has expired. If this happened a few days ago or yesterday, the inspector may not even punish, he will only issue a warning. But this depends on how the offender himself behaves.
Driving history. The inspector will look at how the offender relates to driving the vehicle. If he does not have unpaid fines or a malicious violation of the rules, if he was not previously deprived of his rights, then the inspector may also limit himself to a warning or impose a minimum punishment.

The final amount of the fine will depend on whether there are mitigating or aggravating circumstances. Among the mitigating factors are the remorse experienced by the offender, the degree of possible harm received (for example, if an accident occurred), as well as the condition of the driver (pregnancy or disability) and his age (retirements are usually given to pensioners).

And vice versa. When the driver is intoxicated (drugs, alcohol, toxic), his punishment is increased. Inspectors also act if this is not the first similar traffic violation.

Apart from a fine, no other types of punishment are provided. But the inspector may behave differently if the driver does not repent of his behavior, and place the offender’s car in a special parking lot until the driver’s license is renewed. This is realistic in accordance with Article 27.13 and its 1st part of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. This measure is usually considered as an additional punishment if the driver has been stopped repeatedly and does nothing to correct the situation.

Tinkoff Black Metal debit card from Tinkoff Bank - 5% on card balance

Apply now

Cases of mandatory replacement of driver's licenses

Expiration of the document.
Change of personal data due to marriage or for other reasons.
Loss of information on the ID due to wear or other mechanical damage.
Rights lost or theft occurred
Changes in the driver’s health indicators that resulted in the inability to drive a vehicle of a certain category.
If a fact is revealed, licenses are issued on the basis of forged documents.

Thus, the application of punishment in the form of a fine is possible if two conditions are met simultaneously:

Availability of legal grounds for replacing rights.
Driving a car.

A driver's license that requires an exchange can be left the same, however, in order to avoid prosecution in the form of a fine, it is strongly recommended not to drive. You can change your license a year after the specified grounds arise, and no fine will be imposed if you do not drive a car.

Many, after changing their last name (first name, patronymic), naively believe that for some time they still have the right to drive with their old license, taking with them only an updated passport. However, this is a big misconception, since in this case the certificate is equated to expired rights and, accordingly, is invalidated. Therefore, you should not be surprised that you will be fined and your car will be sent to a parking lot until the reasons that served as the basis for the detention are completely eliminated, in other words, until you replace your license.

The application of administrative punishment in the form of a fine is regulated by the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.

In addition, the loss of the right to drive a car in the event of the expiration of the license is provided for in Article 28 of the Road Safety Law. This prohibition is valid until the certificate is replaced.

A driver's license in Russia is valid for 10 years. Towards the end of this period, you should consider applying for a replacement driver's license to prevent it from becoming expired.

If a driver is overdue for a driver's license replacement in 2021, he will need to pay a fine in a certain amount. After all, an expired certificate is not considered valid.

And if the owner of an expired license ignores this and gets behind the wheel, then an administrative penalty will be imposed on him. What to do if the rights are expired, how to change them?

The license is considered expired if 10 years have passed since it was issued to the driver. In addition, the last day of rights activity does not count. If the driver began driving a car even the next day after the expiration of the license, he will still have to pay a fine for late replacement.

The law does not provide for a monetary penalty from a motorist if he did not drive a car with an expired license:

Thus, when a driver drives with an invalid driver's license, he will be punished.
And if he does not use them for their intended purpose, then he is entitled to legally make a replacement without penalty.

But there are motorists for whom the law is not written, and they continue to drive a car with an invalid license. When

stopped by a traffic police officer, he pays a fine, and in the future bears more serious responsibility.

But there are also citizens who, as a matter of principle, do not drive, so as not to answer to the law, but keep their license for 5 or more years.

It will be more profitable and safer to immediately replace your driver’s license than to repeatedly pay receipts for fines.

In addition, it may even go so far that the car will be withdrawn from use if the driver is stopped for a second time with an expired license. After all, replacing an expired driver’s license with a person does not require much effort, and besides, the driver will not be seriously fined.

When a motorist forgets that the license is valid for a year, then if he comes across a traffic police officer, he will issue him a fine, the amount of which varies from 5,000 to 15,000 rubles.

If for some reason the car owner did not resort to driving a vehicle with an invalid license or he was simply lucky because no one stopped him, then he will not be fined.

If at the time of stopping and identifying a violation on the part of the driver, a citizen was sitting next to him in the car with his license in hand, the car will not be placed in the impound lot.

Otherwise, the vehicle will be sent to a paid impound lot. Therefore, you should not take risks and play with the law, so as not to incur even greater losses and get yourself into trouble. Restoring rights is much easier than having to explain yourself to the court for your violations.

The same fate awaits the violator if he does not renew his driver's license 6 years after the expiration of its statute of limitations. But, as in the previous situation, he will not be administratively liable if he has not driven a vehicle for all these years.

But this is a long time to forget your driving skills; do you need to retake the exams at a driving school again?

Russian legislation does not provide for re-taking the test for knowledge of traffic rules, even if the driver has overstayed his driving license for such a period.

You cannot go unpunished - a fine is imposed on the violator in any case if he does not have a written refutation of the words of the traffic police officer. Motorists resort to using a copy of the application to replace their driver's license.

An expired license will not be subject to an administrative sanction if the driver was not stopped at the time the license was invalid. It is worth checking out the permissible options for driving a car with an expired license if the driver was registered as an employee in any company and he physically did not have the opportunity to change documents.

It is extremely important to leave an application to the traffic police as soon as possible so that a driver’s license that is considered expired can be replaced.

To do this you will need:

bring past driving documents;
pay the state fee.

It will be necessary to issue a certificate for a specific period of time so that the state traffic inspector can be convinced that the document replacement process is active. This is relevant in big cities, because there is a large queue for issuing licenses.

The validity period of temporary rights is 2 months. Approximately this amount will be required to issue a new certificate. Then the driver will have the right to drive a car with an invalid license, but with a temporary one to confirm that a new document is expected to be issued.

It is also worth noting that any car owner can request a temporary driver’s license if he has reasons for doing so.

The driver has the right to renew a temporary license if the issuance of a new license is delayed through no fault of the citizen. But an extension is possible for a maximum of one month.

It will be important for any car enthusiast to know how to change an expired license and what is required for this process. Traffic cops can be sarcastic and demand such certificates and other papers of a legal nature that are not required by law to be presented at all.

So, there are traffic police officers who demand to see a document confirming that the citizen has passed exams at a driving school. In this case, the citizen must refer to the laws and categorically refuse such manipulations.

A card confirming the successful completion of traffic rules tests will be required only in cases where the law requires passing exams for the exchange of rights. Passing a medical examination and submitting a certificate to the traffic police department is considered a mandatory condition.

This requires a lot of time and nerves, respectively. Since you will have to visit doctors, wait for the certificate to be issued and then begin collecting basic documents.

The entire package of documents must be compiled along with their copies. But an identity document is now required to be photocopied in its entirety, including even blank pages.

So, below is a complete list of all the necessary documents to replace a driver’s license:

If any personal information is changed or the license is lost, the driver's license must also be changed. Foreign citizens are issued licenses only for the period that they will legally reside in Russia.

When the period of stay in the Russian Federation comes to an end, the rights of foreigners also end. Then you have to replace your ID.

The 2021 law provides for the mandatory replacement of national rights with Russian ones in the case when a foreign person enters Russia.

This requirement applies exclusively to foreign citizens coming to the Russian Federation in order to earn income from the profession of a taxi driver or to travel by car for personal purposes.

From the above it follows that proof of passing exams and other driving tests at a driving school is not needed. An interesting coincidence may occur in which, almost at the same time, your license was taken away for a gross violation of traffic rules, and at the same time, the period of its validity is coming to an end.

Innovations in automobile laws indicate the need to retake exams at the traffic police if a driver’s driver’s license was taken away when it was about to expire.

There are no difficulties in this process, however, you need to know it:

First, the driver submits an application, attaching to it the entire package of documents that are required for this, including a past license.
Then you need to pay the state fee receipt.
Present the paid receipt.
Come to the nearest traffic police department or MFC, sign for a new driving license and pick it up.

There is no specific traffic police department where every driver should go. This means that it is not necessary to come to the traffic police station at your place of residence.

It is not uncommon for the process of obtaining new rights to be suspended or stopped altogether due to the fact that the package of documents is missing a specific paper from the list or the medical examination certificate is invalid.

There are no clearly stated deadlines for obtaining new driving documents for foreigners.

If there is no queue, the procedure will end in one day. But this happens infrequently, so you should wait a long time, up to two weeks. But the maximum time it will take to issue a certificate is 2 months.

It is known how to restore an expired driver's license at the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, but what to do if there is no way to contact the traffic police department or the MFC? There is an alternative option for submitting an application online using the electronic government service portal.

This procedure requires registration on the portal. There is no need to know any high skills; the process proceeds in the usual way. If a citizen is already in the system, then you should go to the Personal Account and go to the page with the provision of services for replacing rights.

After clicking on the “Get service” button, a window with an agreement will appear in which you need to check the box. Next, a list will open with the region and district where you want to obtain the document, as well as for what purpose it needs to be done.

Obviously, you need to select the item that says the end of the validity period of the certificate. After this, the main tab will open, in which you will need to fill out fields with information about the driver, as well as his place of permanent or temporary residence. After entering information about your passport and data on your previous license, you need to enter the traffic police department where the new license will be issued.

Payment of the state fee is also provided on the government services portal. Upon completion of filling out the information, you will receive a notification in your personal account about when the new certificate will arrive at the previously specified traffic police department.

Obviously, this method of obtaining a new driver’s license is the simplest and least time-consuming. After all, there is no need to collect a package of documents and then submit them to the department.

In addition, this will not only save the citizen’s nerves, but he will also not have to wait in a long line while the license is issued.

In conclusion, it is worth saying that issues related to legal issues should be approached extremely responsibly, so as not to get involved in a lot of troubles with the law in the future.

After all, no one is exempt from liability, which means that you need to promptly check the validity period of any document that has one. Otherwise, violators will face not only administrative sanctions, but also loss of funds, as well as nerves and reputation in front of authorized persons.

How to change an expired driver's license in 2021, and what punishment the current legislation provides for in this case - we will consider in more detail in the material presented.

What is the penalty if you are late?

A driver's license is considered expired if more than 10 years have passed. This does not take into account the last day of validity of the rights.

But if the document is overdue by at least 1 day, the driver is already liable to bear responsibility in the form of repayment of a fine.

According to the law, there is no fine for an expired motorist license if no one used such a document for its intended purpose after the end of its validity period.

It turns out that if a driver drives with an expired document, he will definitely be given a fine, and if he does not drive, then he will be able to change the document without paying a fine.

However, there are some motorists who continue to drive with a license that has expired for 1 year. At the same time, they have to pay a fine every time they are stopped by the road patrol, and then bear other responsibilities.

Or they don’t drive a car, but keep their driver’s license expired for 5 years or even more.

Experts believe that when the deadline for replacing a driver’s license has expired, it is best to immediately renew it because it is cheaper than constantly paying fines for driving without a license.

Moreover, they can also confiscate the car for repeated driving without a driver’s license.

For 1 year

If the license has expired for 1 year, and the driver continues to drive a vehicle with it, then when he is stopped by a traffic police officer, he will be given a fine in the amount of 5,000 to 15,000 rubles

If the driver has not driven for the entire year (or has not been caught driving without a license), then he will not face a fine.

When there was another driver in the car next to the offender, who also has a license, the car will not be towed to the impound lot.

In the absence of such a person, the car is subject to arrest and forced towing to a paid parking lot of the traffic police. And this is in addition to paying the fine! Therefore, driving a car with an expired license is not profitable in any case.

For 6 years

The situation with fines is similar in the case where the driver has expired his license for as much as 6 years. Here, too, he will not face fines if he has not been driving his car all this time.

But in this case, the question may arise as to whether it is necessary to take driving tests and knowledge of traffic rules after such a long period of time, when the motorist did not have the opportunity to practice all this time.

It turns out that in such cases, the legislation of the Russian Federation does not provide for any tests for knowledge of traffic rules or passing driving practice.

Therefore, in the event that a traffic police officer begins to demand from you documentary evidence of passing the exams, you will have every right to insist on receiving a written explanation from him on what basis he requires this.

Is it possible to drive with an expired license?

Many legally significant documents have a number of mandatory characteristics, and they also include a deadline for the validity of the official form. Legislative acts regulate that a driver’s license has a ten-year validity period, after which the previously issued driver’s license loses its legal significance and must be replaced.

Let's consider what the Federal Law of the Russian Federation of December 10, 1995 No. 196-FZ “On Road Safety” says ( hereinafter

— Law No. 196-FZ) on expired rights. First of all, the right to drive any vehicle is considered lost when the following circumstances occur:

termination of the validity period of the form certifying the specified right;
the onset of medical factors leading to a ban on driving;
deprivation of the right to drive in accordance with the established procedure (for example, for a gross violation of traffic rules, the specified administrative liability may occur).

Expiration of the main driver's document does not mean that its owner loses his previously assigned driving privileges. However, failure to timely request a replacement form will result in adverse consequences in the form of established administrative sanctions.

As a rule, restoration of an expired license is an application procedure, i.e. Traffic police officials are required to replace the no longer valid form for each citizen who applies. To do this, you need to confirm that there are no grounds for loss of the right to drive a car - undergo a medical examination and submit the appropriate form along with the application, and also not have judicial acts on deprivation.

Since the completion of the regulated validity period entails the termination of the legal force of the document, the presence of an expired form during a possible check will be equated to its absence. This means that every driver has an obligation to contact the traffic police or MFC in advance to obtain a new driver’s license.

Transfer of control to a person with an expired license

A citizen who did not drive a car with an expired license, but gave a power of attorney to drive the vehicle to a person whose driving license has been terminated, can also receive a large fine.

In this rule, it is necessary to take into account the knowledge of the person writing the power of attorney.

For example, if a document transferring the rights to drive a car was signed at a time when the certificate of the recipient of the power of attorney was valid, then it will not be possible to fine the person who transferred the right, even if, after the expiration of the certificate, trips under the power of attorney continued.

However, a citizen who, when signing a power of attorney, did not even look at the rights of the authorized person may face a fine.

The fine for transferring the right to drive a car to a person with an expired license is 30,000 rubles.

Fine

What punishment does the law provide for an expired license in 2017? Such driving is an unconditional illegal act, for which very significant penalties are threatened within the framework of administrative liability. This is due to the direct requirement of Art. 12.3 Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which establishes a warning or fine for driving a car without a mandatory list of documents.

An administrative offense will only include driving with an expired license. If the license has expired, but the driver does not drive the vehicle, he cannot be held liable.

Driving with an expired license in 2021 is punishable by a fine of 500 rubles. The basis for bringing to administrative responsibility will be a check of documents by an authorized traffic police official carried out while driving a vehicle. Revealing this fact in the absence of a mandatory feature in the form of driving a car will not have any legal consequences.

In addition to the specified offense, driving with an expired license will entail punishment under Art. 12.7 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation - driving a car by a person who does not have the right to do so. In this case, the culprit will face a fine in the amount of 5,000 to 15,000 rubles. Responsibility may arise for each detected fact of driving a car with an expired license form.

What to do if your driver's license is expired? It is necessary to contact the authorized traffic police service in advance to exchange the license, and during the period of replacement, if the validity of the document has actually expired, it is advisable to refrain from driving.

Evading Punishment

It is very difficult to evade a fine for driving with an unreplaced license .

If your license expired just the other day and you simply forgot about it, there is a minimal chance that a traffic inspector will meet you , and you will be able to either limit yourself to a warning or a very small fine.

Such an argument as “I didn’t have time, I was on a business trip” will in no way soften your fate. After all, in this case, you should not have traveled by your own car , but by taxi or public transport.

People who changed their last name and did not have time to change their license have a chance to - in practice, there are many cases of cases won by motorists. But between these punishments and fines are not commensurate - after all, even 5,000 rubles (the minimum amount) is much more than five hundred .

Therefore, if you are absolutely sure that you are not guilty and are ready to enter into a dispute with justice, we remind you that you have 10 days from the date the punishment comes into force to appeal it.

In some situations, it would be better to seek help from lawyers who will help resolve conflict and controversial situations. However, do not forget that sometimes challenging fines leads to greater expenses than if they were paid.

How to change expired licenses?

Replacement of an expired driver's license will be carried out in the application mode; for this, the driver must contact the territorial division of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate or the local MFC office. Replacement is carried out on the basis of the following set of documents:

a completed application form submitted to the traffic police or MFC;
the driver's general passport, as well as its copy;
an official form of a medical certificate issued by an authorized medical institution (it must be taken into account that the contents of the certificate may vary depending on the category of vehicle);
driver's card (if the citizen passed the driving test after 2013);
an expired driver's license form;
certificate confirming the absence of deprivation of the right to drive;
payment order confirming the transfer of state duty.

Currently, for replacement, it is not necessary to provide the traffic police officers or the MFC with personal photographs of the driver. The new sample forms involve photographing citizens directly during the production of the document.

What happens if the driver's license is expired and the driver does not apply for a replacement? If the vehicle is not actually driven, the driver may request a replacement at any time without incurring any liability.

Replacement period

In 2021, the replacement does not involve a long document review period of weeks or months. If the applicant has a complete set of documents in his hands, all necessary actions will be performed directly upon his application, i.e. The citizen will receive the updated form within one day.

It should be taken into account that the procedure for collecting documents will inevitably be delayed, primarily due to the medical examination. To avoid unpleasant situations on the road when checking documents, you must complete all steps to replace your driver’s license as early as possible.

How to replace an expired driver's license

The rights do not have to be changed directly on the specified date; they can be expired for 6 years, and no additional fines will be imposed on you when replacing them. Plus, you won't have to re-study or take exams, regardless of whether you drive the car or not.

So how do you reinstate your expired driver's license? First you need to collect the necessary package of documents:

Application for a replacement driver’s license (you can write it on the spot, i.e. at the traffic police department);
Russian passport or other identification document, as well as a copy thereof;
A document confirming registration at the place of residence or place of stay;
A medical certificate confirming the driver’s suitability to drive a vehicle of the appropriate category, as well as a photocopy of it;
Driver's card (except for those persons who underwent individual training before 2013);
Driver's license (if previously issued);
A certificate from the traffic police stating that you have not previously been deprived of the right to drive a vehicle (if you contacted the REO);
Receipt of payment of the state duty for the new certificate;
3 matte photographs of size 3x4 (except for cases of automated production of driver's licenses);

Then we go to the traffic police, where we hand over all the above documents. Replacement is made within a day. No one specifies the exact time, but, as a rule, it takes no more than 3 hours. We wrote in the article about how to replace a driver’s license at the traffic police in the article.

Do I need to take an exam when replacing?

When applying to the traffic police for a replacement driver's license, a check will be carried out against the federal database to determine the availability of a valid driving permit. Previously passed exams (theoretical and practical parts) retain their legal force for registration of a new form. If the license exams were taken after 2013, the citizen must have a driver’s card form in hand.

Thus, with the standard procedure for replacing a form with a new certificate, there is no need to take any additional courses, and the obligation to pass the exam does not arise. Refusal to replace the specified document can only be caused by official deprivation of the right to drive for violating traffic rules (for this there must be a court ruling), or by a corresponding diagnosis confirmed by a medical authority.

If you have any questions regarding the replacement of expired licenses, we advise you to seek advice from our qualified auto lawyers.