Have a birthday coming up… or a driver license that’s ready to expire? You better take a look and double check.
The state of Florida is warning people not to wait until the last minute, especially if your license doesn’t yet have the gold star in the upper right hand corner, indicating that it is not yet Real ID compliant.
Those licenses have to be renewed in-person, and in some places the wait time can be over a month.
Unfortunately, many people procrastinate and wait until the last minute to renew their ID. And while that might not be a problem most years, when it comes to renewing your driver license, as with many other things, 2020 is no ordinary year.
“We hear that from a lot of people unfortunately, where they cannot get that appointment and they’re very concerned that they’re going to be driving with a expired driver license,” said Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano.
The problems started when many driver license offices across the state were forced to shut down due to COVID concerns this Spring. That created huge backups.
And while many ID’s can be renewed on-line, those who still need to update to a compliant Real ID, are required to show up in-person with a series of documents to prove their identities.
That’s left many counties overwhelmed and only taking customers by appointment. Most also require you live within their same county for service.
“It’s a struggle for many, many people who have their driver license coming up for renewal,” said Fasano. “That’s why we encourage everyone don’t wait a week ahead of time.”
Pasco County is one of the few that’s opened up their offices to anyone statewide and without an appointment. They’ve also managed to keep wait times low by opening up additional offices to keep up with growing demand.
“We have people coming from as Miami, Sarasota and Jacksonville,” said Fasano. “People come into our tax collector office because, one, where they’re coming from they can’t make an appointment, and two, they don’t have that time to wait before that appointment is available to them because their driver license is ready to expire.”
Hillsborough County also accepts statewide customers but requires an appointment in most cases. Wait times there can vary, especially after the tax collector lost their main downtown office where social distancing is difficult.
“Right now we’re at 63% capacity in our offices because we have to maintain social distancing,” said Hillsborough Tax Collector Doug Belden.
He reminds people licenses that already have the gold star can be renewed on-line along with registrations and many other services.
He’s urging people who aren’t required to come in, to take advantage of those on-line options.
“I’d like to move that needle up from about 45% online to 60 or 70,” said Belden. “That’s huge for us and that reduces the number of people coming into our office. They can get the thing done online. That will reduce wait times."
RELATED: Lost wallet leads to man's arrest
What other people are reading right now:
►Breaking news and weather alerts: Get the free 10 Tampa Bay app
►Stay In the Know! Sign up now for the Brightside Blend Newsletter