JBHoren

Mine (Florida) is due to expire on my birthday, at the end of January. The last time it needed to be renewed, I was able to do so online; but now it requires an in-person visit. I've been car-free (this time) since returning to Florida, late-May 2012. I've had to rent a car twice, the last time was May 2016, and haven't driven since then (hell, I haven't even ridden in a car!). So, here's my question:

Q: Given that places tend to request photo-ID in order to do many things, do you find it easy, difficult, or impossible to do so with an expired driver's license?

It's not that I can't afford the $52 fee, or the $32 fee for a "walking-around" photo-ID card; it's that even if the DL is expired, I'm still me, and that's still my photo and my address -- nothing's changed. I'm not going to buy a car (can't afford one, even if I wanted to), and nobody's going to give me one; and, even if I had one, I couldn't afford the registration, insurance, and "care-and-feeding".

Should I bite the bullet, or let it expire in peace?

wgscott

The problem is that modern society treats the drivers license as a domestic passport. This function is now being formalized as a RealID(™). If you can get away with not having to have that to fly, get legal documents notarized, etc., then let it expire in peace.

LesterOfPuppets

Being officially old (over 50), I only need an ID once in a blue moon. I held only a passport for ID for years, but now in PHX Arizona, I need to flee the heat and head up north for bike rides in the summer and there are no buses with bike racks that head up that way that I know of, so I have had a DL for a couple years now. I got by fine with just a passport, though.

skier

You can always get a non-driver government issued photo ID which can also meet (I believe) the RealID requirements.

gios

My wife's driver license expired in July 2020 and it took almost two months to get it renewed through appointments. Here in Nevada, there were 60 day extension letters, and now senior drivers licenses are extended past expiration from a year (starting July 28 2020).

tyrion

You can't fly on commercial flights without an up-to-date ID.

cb400bill

My license expired on the first of the month, but with the COVID delays, the DMV didn't get my renewal back to me before that. I stopped at the store a couple days later to get some beer and was told that they could not sell to me because of my expired ID.

Steve B.

One version of a flight ready ID is a passport. Since my passport is valid, I will not pay the absurd fee NY State charges for a flight valid license.

notthe1freeman

I have a state I.d. I don't drive anymore so I didn't see the point when the very same issue arose for me. @ 41 I don't get carded for the unhealthy purchases that "require" such documents anymore, and that doesn't depress me. Just means I can start my 12 oz. Carboloading and billow smoke clouds while keeping cadence sooner. I don't compete but commute so personal habits are of no (other) detriment.

jon c. 

As others have noted, you are going to need Real ID for a number of official purposes. Including voting. Since you have to go through the same process whether you get the State ID or the DL, you might as well get the DL in case you ever need it. You need to renew in person because of the Real ID requirement. Once you've satisfied that you can go back to mail in or online renewals.

wgscott

Steve B beat me to it, but a valid passport must be accepted as legal identification for all purposes. If you don't want a drivers license or a state ID, this is probably much more worthy of your time and money, and is potentially less invasive. It has a minor side benefit in that it shames morons that ask for ID when there is no compelling need.

The need for an ID for voting is at best controversial.

In FLA:

I-Like-To-Bike

Not exactly; passports are proof of identity and citizenship, but not of residence and by themselves do not provide any documentation of an individual's current (or past) address/residence.
For example, to dump yard waste in my county's land fill I must provide documentation, such as a current utility bill with my address printed on it to be accepted as a valid user of county services.