Driving License Renewal Online

Now no more sweating in long queues and no more crying for getting out of your comfort zone to renew your driving licence. Bringing the driving licence renewal online has put a lot of people out of their misery, especially the ones who kind of have an enormous appetite for the comforts of home. This initiative to bring the driving licence renewal online was taken by the transport department of India to make this procedure to renew your driving licence a lot less cumbersome. Driving licence renewal online is also a significant step forward towards transforming India into a digitalised one. No matter where you are, whether in your office with a lot of work piled up, or at a restaurant having dinner with your family, it will just take a few minutes of your time to apply for driving licence renewal online. Also have car insurance with you as it protects you from financial losses. You are going to come across some steps and procedures in this article later, which is going to make your online experience even smoother. So buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Why renew my driving licence?

Well, the answer to this is already in your driving licence. Your driving licence comes with an expiration date. The validity of a driving licence is 20 years which is why most of the people don't keep track of when to schedule their next appointment for driving licence renewal. It is only in the nick of time that they realise they should have done the driving licence renewal sooner. According to the Motor Vehicles Act implemented in 1988, it is a must to have a valid driving licence for every motor vehicle rider. Driving licence is an official document issued by the Indian government that certifies an individual to drive on Indian roads. The driving licence confirms that the individual is aware of all the traffic rules and knows how to drive the vehicle that he or she has a driving licence for. Not having a valid driving licence might lead to hefty fines or even imprisonment in some cases. You get 30 days, post the date of expiration to renew your driving licence without any penalty levied on it. You can apply for the driving licence renewal after the 30-day mark, but this time, it comes with a fine. If you fail to renew your driving licence in the next five years post the expiry date, you have to apply for a new driving licence and go through the driving test again that you went through the first time to get your driving licence. Fill the licence renewal form online in no time, using your phone or laptop or any other digital gizmo you possess at the moment and most importantly, from the comfort of your home. All that you have to do is to go to the driving licence renewal online portal, fill a licence renewal form, upload some documents for verification, and your job is done. Just sit back, relax and wait for your renewed driving licence to arrive at your doorstep.

Rising need to bring the system online

The traditional offline procedure to renew your driving licence is quite hectic. You have to make at least two visits to your nearest RTO (Regional Transport Office) to get your driving licence . It might not be convenient for most people, especially those who live in big cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi etc. because of the amount of traffic they get to see daily. The first visit that you have to make would be to get a hold of the licence renewal form required to get your driving licence. The second one would be for the fee payments and to get your documents verified. If there is something wrong with the papers, you might even have to go for a third visit. If everything goes right, you can get your driving licence smart card in a couple of days, or you might take up to 30 days to get it via post. Besides that, if you have ever been inside an RTO, you might be familiar with the struggles inside. Standing in long queues for hours, the involvement of third-party agents and a lot more. In most of the RTOs, you can find third party agents taking kickbacks to get your driving licence quicker than others. Most of the times, people fall for it because they don't want to go through the trouble of standing in a queue for hours and waiting for their turn to come to get their driving licence. This raises the scope of corruption which no one wants in the system. Since most folks are quite busy with their work on weekdays, they would prefer going on weekends instead, to renew their driving licence, giving away a good chunk of quality time, that they could have spent with their family, or doing other stuff they can not do on workdays. So, all these reasons make it quite evident, why it was high time to bring the driving licence renewal online.

The modern procedure for modern people

Now coming to how you can renew your driving licence online. There is no rocket science in applying for the driving licence renewal online. There are a few simple steps which, if followed, would leave no ambiguity in the online process of getting your driving licence. Well, the first thing that you have to do is to be ready with all the necessary documents needed to apply to get your driving licence which includes

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED TO RENEW YOUR DRIVING licence:-

FOR PRIVATE DRIVING LICENCE

1. Download form no.9 from your state's transport department portal.

2. Two copies of your recent passport size photograph need to be provided.

3. Original Driving licence possessed by the individual whose driving licence needs to be renewed.

4. Self-Attested copies of Valid Proof of age and residence need to be submitted.

5. Form No.1 self-declaration of physical fitness.

6. Prescribed fee need to be paid.

7. Valid Medical Certificate in form No.1 A needs to be provided in case the applicant is above 40 years old.

FOR COMMERCIAL DRIVING licence:

1. The above documents are required for private driving licence moreover a valid medical certificate of the individual needs to be attested in form no. 9.

2. Driver refreshing Training certificate in case of HMV(Heavy Motor Vehicle).

3. One day/short period Training course for all other categories of Commercial vehicles.

You can find the required licence renewal form and applications in the transport department portal, which is https://parivahan.gov.in/. After you go online, you have to select the state in which you are residing right now on the mentioned website, and it is going to guide you through the rest. You need to fill the online licence renewal form and upload the said documents. Fill the driving licence renewal form, meticulously. Make sure that, the information that you provide in the driving licence renewal form, is correct at the time of uploading online, so that, no problem occurs at the time of verification by the authority. After you are done with the procedure mentioned above, you are going to get your renewed driving licence via post. Well, the maximum time required to get your driving licence as declared by the transport department is 30 days, but usually, it takes less than that. In a situation where you had to change your state and need to renew your driving licence, you're going to have to submit a no-objection certificate issued by RTO/RTA where your driving licence was first published. Renewal of the driving licence of a non-transport vehicle is valid for the next five years, whereas the renewal of the driving licence of a transport vehicle is valid for the next three yea₹

Fees involved

• Application fees depend on the form of the driving licence.

For book form:

• Application form filed within the grace period - ₹200
• Application form submitted after the grace period ₹1000 fine + applicable fees

For the smart card:

• Application form filed within the grace period - ₹400
• Application form submitted after the grace period ₹1000 fine + applicable fees

In case you like to stick to the traditional fashion and want to renew your driving licence physically, you can collect form no.9 from your nearest RTO. Fill the driving licence renewal form meticulously and submit the required documents mentioned. The application will be verified by the concerned authority of RTO to understand the specifics of the applicant’s current driving licence. You can collect the renewed driving licence from the RTO itself, or if you want, you can download it online.

Perks of bringing the driving licence renewal online

The operations became more transparent after the driving licence renewal online came into effect. It has proved to be helpful, especially for globetrotte₹ Now they do not have to be physically present at the RTO and can apply for driving licence renewal online, no matter where they are. All they have to do is to fill the driving licence renewal form online and upload a few documents. There is no scope for intervention of any third-party agent, thus ensuring no corruption of any kind in the system. Apart from that, people can now track their application online without being present physically at the RTO to get information about their application’s proceedings. They can now sit in the comfort of their homes, login to the transport department’s portal online and track their use, hence, keeping the hassles to a minimum.  There is no need to submit hard copies of the documents in the RTO anymore. You can upload a scanned, soft copy of the required documents and fill the driving licence renewal form in the portal itself. Unfortunately, there are people who still do not know about this facility and become prey of fraud schemes by the third-party agents. This system of applying for driving licence renewal online can work at its full potential, once all the citizens become aware of this provision facilitated by the transport department of India. For those who do not have any experience working with uploading, downloading or filling of driving licence renewal form online and still prefer the traditional procedure, should at least experiment going online once under the guidance of someone aware of all these online procedures or refer to this article and feel the difference themselves. The next time, they can do it on their own without relying on anyone else. For those who are well accustomed to the driving licence online renewal procedure, should try to help create awareness about the same and help others in learning it. They should try to persuade others by sharing their own experiences of driving licence renewal online and make them realise how it made their lives easier.