Enhanced Drivers license = enhanced REVENUE

[BC38]

My driver's license is up for renewal in a couple of weeks so I went down the DMV to get a new one yesterday.

Since I have to fly a couple of times a year I decided to go ahead with getting the "enhanced" license.

In addition to the "regular" license I also have a motorcycle endorsement, but no CDL or anything like that.

All said and done the fees for the renewal, the endorsement, and the "enhanced" added up to ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT BUCKS!

That's about three times what it cost last time around. But unless you want to show a passport every time you fly (even domestically) you will pretty much have to get the enhanced license in the near future.

What a scam!

 

[bigchuck83]

They have to take more of your money somehow. Yes it is a scam.


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[CAJUNLAWYER]

Well duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......of course it's for the money. Jeeze you think you'd a figured out that by now.

 

[Ozark Marine]

I flew commercial back when flying was a classy thing. Men in suits or sports jackets, women in dresses and skirts, kids well behaved and not wearing jeans or tee shirts.
Even military standby back then we wore class A uniforms home on leave or reporting to a new duty station.
I will never get the enhanced DL just to ride on a flying Greyhound bus and waste time going thru TSA crapolla.

 

[Tom S.]

Michigan is $45, which I thought was high until I read this thread.

 

[Doug M.]

My CDL renewal was $250 IIRC, and I have to spend $85/yearly for a DOT physical, too.

 

[Tom S.]

My CDL renewal was $250 IIRC, and I have to spend $85/yearly for a DOT physical, too.

But it's tax deductible....

 

[Kodiakco]

Fortunately NC dosen't charge extra for the enhanced drivers license.

Getting an N.C. REAL ID driver license or ID card costs the same as any other license or ID

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[DWalt]

The Texas DL fee is $25 for 6 years, plus $16 for the motorcycle endorsement if you need it. And it meets the federal requirement for boarding airplanes.

 

[DaBiger2na]

When they first started the Enhanced Drivers license I was living in WV.and they send a notice that it's time to renew and a list of what to bring,
Proof of citizenship ,your birth certificate or passport,2 proof of residents issued by a government entity. (I used my carry permit and voters registration card) and DOT physical card since I had CDL.
So after all that and 105.00 I had my new license.
Then I'm within three months of needing to renew Were going to move to Ga. but It would be expired by the time we get there so I have to renew in WV. But since it was a Enhanced Drivers license it was in and out except I for medical reasons had to drop the CDL.
So two weeks later closed on the house in Ga. so we settle in and go to get Tag's and licenses
Even though I had a Enhanced Drivers license in WV. now I have to bring all those documents again for Ga. and had Veteran on my WV license,to get that on a GA. license you now have to get a form from the Ga.Dept.of Veterans Affairs. PAIN IN THE %&/=+ . But with that form my wife and I get our licenses and Tags for Free forever in Ga.
Have to say they know how to treat a Veteran, my truck has "Desert Storm" Tags my wife's say"US Army Retired "Tags.
All but a handful of State's have the new licenses now

 

[brigham33]

Well living in Spokane, you could move to Idaho, its pretty close and then your drivers license would be $30 for 4 years. That would save you a nice $70 or so. Of course you'd pick up a 7.9% state income tax, that might eat up some of your savings on the DL. Washington being one of those state with no income tax, that might not be a good move if your income is over $1000 per year.

In my years its been my observations that most states provide some services, schools, prisons, road repairs, fire departments, etc. Most of those do not run for free, the $ has got to come from some place.

 

[StakeOut]

Put the Mobile Passport app on your cell phone and breeze through TSA,US Customs and Border Protection..

 

[Walkingwolf]

My CDL renewal was $250 IIRC, and I have to spend $85/yearly for a DOT physical, too.

My last CDL IIRC was $150, the exam was only $25 copay. For some reason health insurance covered the CDL exam.

 

[GaryS]

MA will start issuing Real ID compliant licenses next spring. There is no information, as of yet, if there is going to be an additional charge. Even though I have a passport, I'll likely get one of the enhanced licenses since I travel by air enough to not want to carry a passport every time I fly.

 

[GKC]

The Texas DL fee is $25 for 6 years, plus $16 for the motorcycle endorsement if you need it. And it meets the federal requirement for boarding airplanes.

Plus, in Texas, you can take your DD214 to the DPS, and they will put "Veteran" on your DL. That's come in handy on several occasions.

 

[Grayfox]

Having had a CDL for over 40 years, I'm familiar with the hassle of renewal. But this is the first I've heard of an enhanced license. Exactly what is enhanced about it and why do you need one to get on a plane? BTW: I rarely fly, just curious.

 

[BC38]

My CDL renewal was $250 IIRC, and I have to spend $85/yearly for a DOT physical, too.

I get that for a COMMERCIAL driver's license. I paid nearly half that for a REGULAR license - I can only imagine what the CDL costs...

Well living in Spokane, you could move to Idaho, its pretty close and then your drivers license would be $30 for 4 years. That would save you a nice $70 or so. Of course you'd pick up a 7.9% state income tax, that might eat up some of your savings on the DL. Washington being one of those state with no income tax, that might not be a good move if your income is over $1000 per year.

In my years its been my observations that most states provide some services, schools, prisons, road repairs, fire departments, etc. Most of those do not run for free, the $ has got to come from some place.

Yeah, but with the Idaho income tax there are exemptions and deductions. In WA we are paying right at 9% sales tax on EVERYTHING except food AND we have property taxes and license tabs that are about four times higher than Idaho. We have B&O taxes, and nearly double the tax on fuel. If I didn't have kids in school I'd have bought a place in N. Idaho. Unfortunately I do and their schools are pretty poor.

They are bleeding us working stiffs dry and still they can't pass a balanced budget. It's sickening.

 

[BC38]

Having had a CDL for over 40 years, I'm familiar with the hassle of renewal. But this is the first I've heard of an enhanced license. Exactly what is enhanced about it and why do you need one to get on a plane? BTW: I rarely fly, just curious.

You have to present additional proof of identity documents to get one so supposedly it is more difficult to get. Also the license itself has an RFID hip so it is harder to forge.

The idea is supposedly to "enhance" security by being a more positive proof of identity.

FWIW I wouldn't fly either if my family weren't scattered all over the country and if I didn't have to fly a couple of times a year for my job.

 

[Doug M.]

The idea is that non-enhanced DLs are too easy to fake (and they are; seen some really good ones over the years used just for underage drinkers to get booze) and facilitate criminal/terrorist activities. And I can't deduct it since I only keep it to use on vacation.

 

[D Brown]

When my drivers license came up for renewal in 2012, I was informed I would need to provide all the new documentation in order to get a new license. I had to get my parents to mail my naturalization certificate to me from San Antonio, I had always used a copy, but that's not acceptable for the license renewal process.

Anyway, I showed up with all the required papers at my local tax office to get my license renewed and they refused to renew my license. Why not? My naturalization certificate doesn't have a "bar code" and even though it's clearly a government issued document from 1961, long before "bar codes" were ever thought of, according to the state of Florida, it isn't a valid document. The tax office said they would have to send my information to Tallahassee to have them investigate my naturalization certificate via Washington D.C. before they would issue a permanent license.

I did get a temporary license good for thirty days.

Such is government.