Your license can be suspended for reasons beyond traffic tickets, and the RMV can refuse to renew it until you clear old debts. Knowing how suspensions and reinstatement work keeps you from driving illegally.
The RMV may also suspend or revoke your license for:
- An immediate threat to public safety (it can suspend a permit or license immediately)
- Improper operation of a motor vehicle
- Fake ID offenses: six months even without a conviction, or one year after a conviction
By law, your license will also be suspended if you:
- Fail to pay required child support
- Fail to register as a sex offender
- Are convicted of certain drug trafficking offenses
- Fail to pay Massachusetts income tax
- Make a bad payment to the RMV (a rejected check or a canceled card payment)
Know the rule
After a bad-payment suspension, you pay the original fee, a reinstatement fee and a $15 bad-payment fee, in cash or by certified bank check payable to MassDOT.
Handbook p. 73 ↗Criminal convictions and suspensions
| Conviction | Suspension |
|---|---|
| Driving with a suspended or revoked license | 60 days–1 year |
| Using a vehicle without owner's authority / larceny | 1–3 years |
| Leaving the scene of a crash with a person injured | 1–2 years |
| Leaving the scene of a crash with property damage | 60 days–1 year |
| Operating to endanger | 60 days–1 year |
| Motor vehicle homicide or vehicular manslaughter | 15 years–lifetime |
| Drag racing (drivers over 18) | 30–180 days |
Know the rule
Reinstatement after most criminal convictions costs $500. Drug trafficking (except Class D substances) brings a one-to-five-year suspension, and graffiti or defacing property one year, even without driving a vehicle.
Handbook p. 74 ↗Know the rule
An out-of-state suspension suspends your Massachusetts license until it's cleared. Then bring the other state's reinstatement letter or driving record, no more than 30 days old, to an RMV Full Service Center.
Handbook p. 75 ↗Know the rule
Out-of-state offenses count as Massachusetts "like" offenses based on what the other state's law prohibits, and Massachusetts suspension rules apply even if the other state didn't suspend you.
Handbook p. 75 ↗Know the rule
When your license is suspended or revoked, stop driving immediately: it isn't valid in Massachusetts or anywhere else. Driving anyway is a criminal violation with possible large fines, jail and more penalties.
Handbook p. 75 ↗Know the rule
You have the right to a hearing, by phone, with an RMV Hearings Officer, who may take up to ten business days to decide. Most suspensions are mandatory; the hearing only checks that the law was applied correctly.
Handbook p. 76 ↗Know the rule
Most reinstatement fees are $100, but serious offenses can cost up to $1,200. For suspensions of two years or more, you must also pass a learner's permit exam and road test to reinstate.
Handbook p. 76 ↗The RMV will refuse to renew your license if you have:
- Unpaid fines for parking violations
- Citations for abandoned vehicles
- Unpaid excise tax due to your local community
- Outstanding court warrants
- Unpaid Massachusetts, Maine or New Hampshire E-ZPass/Fast Lane toll violations
- Unpaid Tobin Bridge violations
Know the rule
Before renewing, show official release forms proving fines and taxes are paid; for a court warrant, only a recall notice from the court is accepted. You also can't renew a suspended or revoked license.
Handbook p. 84 ↗Put it into practice
Your license was suspended for two years. When the suspension ends, paying the reinstatement fee isn't enough: because it lasted two years or more, you must also pass the learner's permit exam and a road test.