You can renew your driver’s license 3 months before it expires, rarely earlier

Q. Dear Honk: My driver’s license expires in about a year, and I must take an eye exam and get a new photo taken at the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew due to my age. I understand that the Laguna Hills DMV office will be closing soon, on Oct 18. If I’m able to get an appointment at that DMV location prior to closure, can I take the eye exam and renew my license a year early? I understand that all South Orange County residents will need to use the San Clemente DMV next year and dread the long lines and lack of available parking there.

– Pat Kenner, Laguna Niguel

A. You will likely need to wait, Pat.

If you go online to get the process rolling – which the DMV encourages – the computer system typically will let you do so within 90 days of when the license will expire; then wait 24 hours for the fee to clear and you can head into an office. Appointments can be made online.

If you want to do everything in person, you typically can go within 60 days.

Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis, said Chris Orrock, a DMV spokesman. Perhaps a driver is going on a very, very long cruise.

Remember, you can go to any DMV office that renews licenses in our grand state. Honk didn’t become a sage on his own – the readers have greatly helped him: Years ago, one told him about going on a trip to see friends or relatives and used that time to drop into a less-hectic DMV office.

You likely heard this week’s big DMV news, Pat: If your driving record is pretty clean, you no longer need to take the knowledge test or the eLearning session when renewing after turning 70. That requirement was scrapped.

Q. Do all California Highway Patrol cars have automated license-plate readers?

– Mike Hoblinski, Sun Valley

A. No.

Across California, only 55 of the agency’s 2,100 or so patrol vehicles have them (The CHP also has about 400 motorcycles in its fleet).

But, boy, are they successful.

In 2023 alone, 736 stolen vehicles were recovered with the aid of the devices, and 233 suspects arrested, the CHP’s Lt. Matt Gutierrez said.

The CHP’s program with the license-plate readers began in 2005. Many other police agencies and cities use them, too. Some are placed on patrol or other government vehicles and some on poles.

Here is how the CHP’s work:

The patrol car has several cameras that continually scan plates on freeways and streets, running the plate numbers through a database. Officers are told, via a computer screen and a sound, when there is a hit.

The officer checks to see if the number picked up by the reader is indeed accurate – sometimes license-plate frames cover part of a number or a letter.

If so, the officer calls dispatch to double-check that the vehicle is wanted.

Different agencies can set up the reader to alert them to different things. The CHP, Gutierrez says, uses the system to find stolen vehicles, suspects of violent crimes and missing persons.

Now, there are a lot of the readers in Los Angeles. The Police Department has 1,500 of them on squad cars, said Roger Quintanilla, a spokesman for Councilman John Lee, who got the city to add another 100 readers in the northwest San Fernando Valley, mostly on poles.

“It was prompted by crime stats,” said Quintanilla, adding that the agency has a lot of vacant officer positions. “He was looking for ways to help the department.”

To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk