How long does it take to get a drivers license in your state?

21 comments

1. As long as you’re of age, can pass the written, eye, and driving test, like an hour depending on the size of the town and DMV.

2. When I was 15 I took a multi-day class. Then some parking lot practices for about a day. Then a drove with my parents for something like 50 or 60 hours? Then a road test. Then got my license when I turned 16.

3. When you’re under 18 there are a lot of restrictions, classes you have to take, certain amounts of driving time logged, etc. When you’re an adult, as long as you can get an appointment and pass the test it is very quick.

4. Depends on what you mean.

   I had to renew my license last year and I renewed via website and they mailed me my new license with a week or so. Last time I renewed at the DMV took 30 minutes or so.

   If you’re talking about the first time I got my license, that was many, many years ago. I took drivers ed in high school and it took an hour or so at the DMV.

   What takes so long in Denmark. 3 to 5 months seems like a very long time.

5. If you are talking about your first license it can take some time.

   https://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/licenses/age.html#fifteen

   Those are the Maine rules. If you are under 21 there’s a whole process that involves logging driving hours and whatnot (I’m not families with it because when I was a kid you just got a license at 16 if you wanted it). I took a drivers education class which was once a week of classroom instruction and then actual driving with an instructor for I think 8 total hours if I remember right. The actual license I got in a couple hours with a written test and then a driving test.

6. so what I think some people aren’t mentioning is that it usually depends on whether you’re 18 or not.

   If you’re 18, you can usually just go take the tests, if you pass them you have a license.

   If you’re younger, you usually have to do a driver’s ed course with classes and driving lessons and all that in order to get a learner’s permit (to drive with a parent in the car), and then eventually a license.

   I actually did both — I did the driver’s ed course, but I never finished the hours with my parents, so when I turned 18 I just went and took the test.

7. The minimum amount of time between getting a drivers permit and license at least in NYC is 6 months

   I guess if you get a permit at 17 and a half you can have an interim license the day of your 18th birthday in NYC.

   The law is a bit different for New York State vs New York City but I got my license in the city so those are the laws I know

   Edit: You can’t drive alone with a drivers permit in NYC. You have to have an adult with a license over 21 in the car. Outside of NYC you can drive alone under specified hours I think

8. If your 16 you can take a written test to get a permit. Once you get that permit when you turn 18 you need to watch some 5 hour info video at etheir a driving school or the DMV but a lot of driving schools let you skip it. Most people take a couple of lessons/practice with their parents.

   Scheduling a driving test may take a couple of months and then you take like a 20 minute on the road test

9. My son is about to turn 16.
   He will have to take 8 hours of driving lessons with an instructor. He already took 20 hours? Of classroom instruction. Once he does his 8 hours he can drive with me or my wife in the car with him. When he turns 17 he will get a restricted license that limits times and who is allowed to be in a car with him. When he turns 18 he will have a completely unrestricted license. So for him it will be about 2.5 years.

10. Writen test to obtain your permit. 65 hours of adult supervised driving. Physical examination. Over the road driving test with a state Examiner.

    So it depends on how long it takes go to get the 65 hours of adult supervised driving. But, around 6 months I think.

11. In Pennsylvania at least you need to get a permit if you want a license (this allows you to drive with a licensed driver in the passengers seat instructing you). If you’re a minor, you then have to wait 6 months to take your driver’s test. But f you’re a adult you don’t have to wait at all.

12. When you are under 18 the process takes between 6 months and a year depending on what state you are in. When you are over 18 it only takes as long as it takes to get an appointment for the written and driving tests. Depending on where you live that could be 1 day to a couple months.

13. The timeline completely depends on your age.

    One can get a learner’s permit at 15, which allows you do drive with a valid license holder in the car. iThe vald license holder must be a parent or guardian or somoneone at least 25 years old with a valid license. After having the permit for one year you can get a junior driver’s licence, which is a restricted license that doessn’t allow you to drive as a course of your employment for one year after issuance. (pizza delivery, Uber, etc.). A holder of a jumior license also must drive either alone or with someone holding a valid license for their first 3 months of operating. You can’t get you Jr license and go pick up only all your underage friends and and drive around. After the 3 months but for the first 6 months you can drive around other immediate family members, none of whom are licensed.

    At 18 you can get a full unrestricted driver’s license after having a valid learner’s permit, a permit that invloves an eye exam and a written test. There’s no time requirement on how long you have to have and drive with the permit before taking the driver’s test for an unrestricted license, but there is an effective timeframe as tests are scheduled well in advance and you must have the issued permit to schedule the license test.

14. Three one and a half hour sessions of driver’s education.

15. Like, your first one? I took classes for like 4 weeks and then had to have 30 hours of driving with an instructor. So I was done in about a month and a half.

    I haven’t gotten mine renewed since the pandemic. Used to you could walk in and get a new one in an hour or so. Now you have to make an appointment. Not sure how long it takes. Last time I renewed mine by mail. Got it in a couple weeks.

16. I’m confused. Are you saying it takes 3-5 months of *waiting* to get your drivers license? Or is this 3-5 months of driving school and road practice?

    In NJ as long as you have identification documents and proof of residency, you can apply for your license and take the written test right away. Then you take the road test and get your probationary license, which you have for 6 months. There are some restrictions on how many passengers you are allowed to have and driving between certain hours but once the 6 months pass you can go to the DMV and get your full license.

    As far as the license itself they print it right away the DMV and hand it to you. The only limit is scheduling, and long wait lines – never go on the last day of the month! If all goes well it takes 3 trips: the application/written test, the road test, and then 6 months later to exchange the provisional license for a full one.

17. When I did it in 1990, you had a mandatory driver’s education section in high school which was all book-learning and class instruction, no hands-on practice. Then if you wanted a learner’s permit you had to take a hands-on driving school that was run by the school system (there were private instructors that filled the same requirement but the school-run thing was a lot cheaper). The driving school started with driving shitty old cars around a closed lot, then you went out on the road with instructors in the passenger seat.

    Once you had your learner’s permit you were allowed to drive the roads, but only with a licensed driver over the age of 18 in the passenger seat. You could wait as long as you wanted to apply for a real license but most kids tried to get all the practice in with their parents that they could, in order to be able to nail the driving test as soon as they turned 16.

    With a full license you had no legal restrictions, but if you got in an accident it was much more likely that the judge would require you to do a driving school (judges can do this for drivers of any age, but for more experienced drivers, they rarely do so for minor accidents – they mostly reserve that for drivers with a lot of accidents or who have had an accident that indicated recklessness or serious ineptitude).

18. Here, you get a learners permit first. You can drive with a licensed adult in the car.

    Then you take a written test and a driving test at 16. If you pass, you can drive alone, with a licensed adult, or with one other person as long as that person is over 18. You can’t drive with anyone else under 18 until you are 18.

19. Under 18 in my state you have to take an 8 hour class, 20 hours of driving with an instructor, and then a driving test both hands on and written. Over 18 you just have to take the written test.

20. It takes however long the wait is at the DMV. Sometimes they can be Zootopia style sloth slow.

21. Well, technically about 16 years as that’s the minimum age to drive in my state.