Driver's license lost in the mail??

[Christi85 86]

So, surprisingly this isn't about me - the immigrant - but about my husband (who is the USC).

His driver's license was about to expire (and has expired by now), so he made an appointment with the California DMV and applied for a renewal. They took a picture and his fingerprints, he paid the fee and than told him it would be about 2 weeks.

We also had a recent address change, but that was reported to the DMV much earlier than his appointment and he also filled out and returned the change of address slip on the day of his appointment. The temporary license they issued him has our new address on it.

Fast forward 4 weeks, he still hasn't received anything. He calls them this morning to follow up and they tell him the new license was mailed on March 5 But we don't have it. It never got here and it's now 2.5 weeks from March 5. Even with snail mail, it should have been here several days ago. The DMV officer my husband spoke with has said that it hasn't been returned to them as undeliverable either. My husband double-checked the address with her and they seemed to have it right.

I'm a bit reluctant to believe that it got lost in the mail. We have never had any trouble getting mail in our new address, including letters where our address (building number on one occasion and zip code on another) was written down wrong, and they still got to us no problem. We've had checks mailed to us, again no problem. We also had an instance when one of our letters was accidentally put in the wrong mailbox in our building and our neighbor slipped it under our door, and whenever a letter gets misplaced in the wrong mailbox, people just leave it out on top of the real recipient's box for them to collect. Nothing like that happened with this one. So of all the possible letters that could have gotten lost, to lose this one coming from the DMV, somehow doesn't add up.

My point being: could the DMV have messed up somehow? Is it possible that they did not mail it when they said they did and it's still sitting on some desk waiting to be mailed? Or could it have been misplaced and marked as mailed when it wasn't?

I was wondering if anyone else had a similar experience and what ended up happening in their case.

The Officer told my husband that he should make a new appointment and go through the process again and apply (and pay for) a replacement license. This is very annoying because it's not the easiest thing for him to take time off work. It's also annoying because, depending on how long everything takes, it could interfere with a trip we're planning for May. The trip is domestic, but if his driver's license is still processing, he'd have to use his passport as photo ID. Problem is, his passport will also be expired by then, but we had planned on renewing it later in the year since we don't plan any international trips in the following months. Now we may have to renew the passport earlier than planned and even do the expedited service to be sure that he will have it before the trip, since regular passport renewals seem to take 4-6 weeks, and our trip is planned for the first weekend in May. So cutting it very close if we don't do the expedited service. All this, because the DMV claims they mailed a driver's license that somehow never arrived

Just needed to vent. If anyone has any thoughts, advice, insights on the DMV and/or driver's licenses getting lost in the mail, or the DMV saying they did something when they really didn't, I'd like to hear them. I'm pretty sure they don't send driver's licenses by registered mail, so would it even do any good to try and check with the Post Office? (who, like I said before, have always been great at delivering our mail, so I don't think it's them).

Thank you!

I should also add: my mother in law still lives in our previous address, so any mail going there for us wouldn't get lost.

She hasn't gotten anything from the DMV either.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

We were just away on vacation for two weeks and I had the post office hold my mail and then bulk-deliver upon our return. It all worked out well but among my accumulated mail I also found a couple of pieces of mail that were for some completely different address. I had that mail picked back up next day by the postal service but if there was a DL in these envelopes then I suppose someone would be waiting just as you are. Long story short, shyt happens.

Do you guys really have to go into the DMV for a replacement license? I had to renew mine and my wife's license last month and I just did that online. Same as for car registrations. I haven't seen the inside of the DMV in ages. And no, I am not missing it.

[Christi85 86]

We were just away on vacation for two weeks and I had the post office hold my mail and then bulk-deliver upon our return. It all worked out well but among my accumulated mail I also found a couple of pieces of mail that were for some completely different address. I had that mail picked back up next day by the postal service but if there was a DL in these envelopes then I suppose someone would be waiting just as you are. Long story short, shyt happens.

Do you guys really have to go into the DMV for a replacement license? I had to renew mine and my wife's license last month and I just did that online. Same as for car registrations. I haven't seen the inside of the DMV in ages. And no, I am not missing it.

Thanks, let's hope it turns up soon. It wasn't in today's mail I think we might wait another week or two and if it doesn't arrive, he'll go in again.

Not sure he's able to do it online. He was specifically told to go in again because he will have to fill out a form saying he never received his card. The renewal notice the DMV sent him for the original license renewal required him to go in to have his photo and fingerprints taken.

[Dave&Roza 748]

You state yourself that mail is left in the wrong box and people put it on top of the box it belongs to. Not everyone is so nice. Some people grab their mail and go thru it when insdie their residence and if a letter is not addressed to them, they put it in the round file because they are too lazy to go back out to the mail box. Or it could have been placed on top only to be knocked off and then someone threw it into the trash. If it has not been returned and has not shown up, chances of it showing up now are slim. A vacation hold can be a maximum of 30 days so if that is the case you do have a few days to wait.

I looked at the TSA website about IDs and it states DL, US passport, ect, but is does not say whether the ID needs to be unexpired or not. Your Identy does not expire even if the photo ID you carry does and having a recently expired accepted ID or two might still get you thru the TSA's screening. They do mention that if you do not have an ID there are ways to verify your identy. I would think an expired US passport would go a long way to that end. Let us hope you get the whole DL issue resolved before the trip, but if not show up with the old DL if he still has it, the replacement paper DL, and his expired US passport and expect to answer questions to verify his identy--so go a bit early just in case.

Good luck,

Dave

Edited March 23, 2013 by Dave&Roza

[Moomin 292]

I know my state offers an online service when logging in where you can see renewals, car/title and such. They also provide you with current status of the renewal (temp. dr. lic. issued - pending print - printed - issued - mailed). Does Cali offer any of that sort? The last time I had to check, it took them a little less than a month to get it to my address because it apparently was pending print for longer than usual.

Me as an LPR can't renew driver's license online but my husband can + get a replacement that way.

Here's a link for you; http://www.dmv.ca.gov/online/dlrbi/dl_top2.htm - there's a link on the right side with the faq.

Edited March 23, 2013 by moomin

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Someone could have stolen it to use as their ID. Report it as stolen and keep and eye on your credit report.

[Christi85 86]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

My husband mentioned it to his sister (also lives in LA) and she had the exact same thing happen to her when she had to renew her license. DL took a long time to arrive, so she called them to follow up, they gave her a "mailing date" that was over 2 weeks past, only for her new DL to show up in the mail 3 or 4 weeks after the date they supposedly mailed it. So I sense a pattern here and if that's the case, it may just be super slow to arrive.

So my husband booked a new appointment with the DMV for April 15, just in case. He wanted to allow sufficient time for the DL to show up if it does show up in the mail. If it does, he is going to cancel his appointment. If not, he will go as normal and report that he didn't receive the DL on the day of his appointment (he will have to fill out a form). The actual CA DMV website actually says that new licenses are issued within 60 days, so I suppose they don't even consider it lost before that time frame.

So fingers crossed that it will show up in the next week or two. Meanwhile, he will be renewing his passport asap just so that we can have peace of mind for our trip.

Moomin - yes, you can file for renewal online with the Cali DMV. At least that's what the website says. Problem is, in his case it would be considered a lost DL and not just a regular renewal case, so he would have to go in anyway. It was in the FAQs somewhere.

Vanessa & Tony - the thought has crossed our mind that it might have been stolen. We think other explanations are more likely, but we're definitely keeping an eye out for anything weird on credit reports etc.

[Pitaya 2,577]

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