Ten days from the notice to keep a hearing before the suspension
The DMV DUI hearing deadline is 10 days from the day the driver receives the notice of suspension or revocation. A request made inside that window lets the driver have a hearing before the order takes effect. That clock runs on its own track, apart from the criminal court date.
Vehicle Code section 13558(b) sets the rule. It says that a person who wants a hearing “before the effective date of the order” must ask “within 10 days of the receipt of the notice.” The DMV DUI page gives drivers the same 10 day window.
Because the DMV case and the court case are separate, a court date weeks away does not extend the DMV DUI hearing deadline. The reasons the two cases split appear in DUI court versus DMV.
Which notices carry the 10 day window
Section 13558(a) lists the notices that come with a hearing right. They include an order under section 13353 for a chemical test refusal and an order under section 13353.2 for driving at 0.08 percent or more. The list also covers orders served under sections 13382, 13388 and 23612.
In practice, most drivers see one of two kinds of orders. The first is an administrative per se suspension based on a test result, explained in California APS suspension. The second is a refusal suspension or revocation, covered in California DUI test refusal.
Under 21 drivers can receive an order under section 13388 after a screening test at 0.01 percent or more. For those cases, see California underage DUI.
What starts the DMV DUI hearing deadline
Receipt of the notice starts the clock, not the arrest itself. For many drivers those are the same day. Under Vehicle Code section 13382(a), the officer serves the order personally when a chemical test shows 0.08 percent or more.
Other drivers get the notice later. Vehicle Code section 13353.2(b) covers that gap. If the officer did not serve the order, the DMV mails written notice once it receives the officer’s report. It sends the notice to the address on its records and, when the report lists a different address, to that one as well.
So for a mailed notice, the date of receipt may come days or weeks after the arrest. Write the date down the day the letter arrives, and keep the envelope.
What the notice must tell the driver
Section 13353.2(c) lists what the notice must state clearly. It must give the reason and statutory grounds for the suspension and its effective date. It must also explain the right to a hearing, how to ask for one and the last day to ask and still get a decision before the effective date.
Vehicle Code section 14100(c) adds that the 10 day rule must be “prominent on the notice.” In addition, section 14100(d) requires the DMV to make notices available in non-English languages spoken by a substantial number of the people it serves. Section 13353(c) also lets the officer or the DMV hand a driver the right non-English notice in a refusal case.
For help reading the rest of the forms from the arrest, see DUI arrest paperwork.
Postmark or receipt
Section 13558(d) answers a common timing question. The DMV must hold the hearing before the effective date if the request is “postmarked or received” on or before 10 days after the driver received the notice. That subdivision applies to notices served under sections 13353.2, 13388, 23612 and 13382.
Because people sometimes dispute the date later, a dated record of the request helps. Keep a mailing receipt, an online confirmation or a note of each call. The date, the office and the name of the person who answered all help if a question comes up.
The statute says “within 10 days” and does not add a separate rule for weekends in its text. So the safest course is to treat the window as short and make the request well before the last day.
How to request the hearing
The DMV gives drivers two routes. Its DUI page says a driver may request a hearing within 10 days of receipt “by contacting a local Driver Safety Office.” The DMV also runs an online Driver Safety case management system, which requires a MyDMV account.
The DMV’s Driver Get Started Guide walks through the online request. For an Admin Per Se or Chemical Refusal case, it asks for the date and city of the arrest and the name of the law enforcement agency. It also asks the driver to upload the law enforcement documents.
The guide points out a few details worth knowing.
- A driver who reaches the scheduling step sees up to six available hearing dates in the system.
- Choosing a date less than 10 days away waives notice under section 14100, so the DMV sends no confirming notice.
- The guide says the appointment counts as confirmed only once the driver gets notice that the DMV has the request.
- When a lawyer files the request, the case number comes back first, and the representative then contacts Driver Safety to schedule the hearing.
The guide lists Driver Safety at (833) 543-7703 for help. A lawyer can also make the request and track the DMV DUI hearing deadline for the driver.
The automatic review comes first
A hearing request is not the only check on the order. Vehicle Code section 13557 requires the DMV to review the officer’s sworn report and any evidence with it. According to the DMV DUI page, the DMV writes to the driver only if the review sets the action aside.
Waiting for that review can cost time, though. Section 13557(e) lets a driver request and receive a hearing without first getting the review result. After a hearing request, the DMV does not have to complete a separate review of the same matter.
A request does not allow driving
Section 13558(e) says a hearing request “does not stay the suspension or revocation.” So a pending request is not permission to drive past the order’s effective date.
There is one narrow exception in the same subdivision. If the DMV does not hold the hearing and decide within the time limit in subdivision (d), it must stay the effective date pending the decision. When the officer took the license, the DMV must also notify an otherwise eligible driver before the temporary permit expires. That notice must let the driver show a peace officer that the privilege is not suspended.
For refusal orders, section 13558(c)(1) also bars a stay of the effective date pending review at the hearing. In either type of case, see DUI temporary license.
How the deadline fits with the effective date
The 10 day window is much shorter than the time before most orders take effect. Under section 13382(b), the temporary license an officer issues with an APS order is valid for 30 days from the date of arrest. Similarly, section 13353(a) says a refusal suspension does not take effect until 30 days after written notice, unless a stay under section 13558 applies.
That gap leaves room for a hearing before the order starts. Under section 13558(d), a request made inside the DMV DUI hearing deadline requires the DMV to hold the hearing before the effective date.
After the DMV DUI hearing deadline passes
Missing the window has real consequences. Vehicle Code section 14101(b) takes away the right to a hearing when a person had proper notice and did not ask “within the time specified by law.”
The DMV’s online form does flag timing. Its guide says two additional questions appear when the arrest date is more than 10 days before the request. However, the guide does not say what those questions are. No statute promises a hearing after a missed deadline either, so a driver in that spot should ask Driver Safety directly.
The DMV DUI page also notes that a hearing is optional. A driver who does not want one does not have to request it.
A renewed hearing right after a charging decision
Section 13353.2(e) creates a second window in APS cases. If the district attorney does not file charges under section 23140, 23152 or 23153 because of a lack of evidence, the driver has a renewed right to request a hearing. The same is true when the court dismisses those charges for insufficient evidence.
The driver must make that renewed request within one year from the date of arrest. Section 13353.2(f) then has the hearing officer consider the reasons for the failure to prosecute or the dismissal. For how case outcomes connect to the license, see DUI dismissal and license suspension.
Other deadlines after the hearing
The clock does not stop with the hearing. Under section 13558(f), if the DMV sustains the order after a hearing, it revokes any temporary permit. The suspension or revocation then takes effect five days after the DMV gives notice.
Court review has its own limit. Vehicle Code section 13559(a) allows a petition for review within 30 days of the notice sustaining the order, and filing it does not stay the order. For options after a decision, see DMV DUI hearing appeal.
For drivers under 21, section 13557(b)(4) adds another short window. The DMV’s review determination in those cases becomes final unless the driver requests a hearing within 10 days of that determination.
An invented timeline example
Consider a situation invented for illustration only. Police arrest a 34 year old Sacramento driver with no prior record on a Saturday night, and the driver gives a blood sample. The officer does not serve a suspension order that night.
Weeks later, the DMV mails an order of suspension, and the driver receives it on a Tuesday. In that setting, the 10 days would run from that Tuesday, not from the arrest. The driver would write down the receipt date, submit the request online that week and save the confirmation.
The example shows only how the start date can shift. It says nothing about how any hearing would turn out.
Getting ready once the request is in
Once the request is in, the work shifts to the record. Section 13558(c) limits the hearing issues to the facts listed in section 13557(b), such as reasonable cause, arrest and the test result or refusal. The DMV DUI hearing process page explains what happens at the hearing.
Gathering the police report, test records and any video takes time. Tips on that step are in DMV DUI hearing evidence.
The DMV DUI page also says the hearing cannot consider a restricted license request. For those options, see California DUI restricted license.
Frequently asked questions about the DMV DUI hearing deadline
Is the deadline 10 days from the arrest?
Not always. Section 13558(b) counts from receipt of the notice. When the officer serves it at arrest, the dates match. When the DMV mails it, the window runs from the day the driver receives it.
Does the court case pause the DMV deadline?
No. In APS cases, section 13353.2(e) calls the DMV determination “a civil matter” that is independent of guilt or innocence. Its deadline runs on its own, whatever the court schedule says.
Can I drive while waiting for the hearing?
Only as the temporary license and the order allow. Section 13558(e) says a request does not stay the order, except when the DMV fails to decide in time for an eligible driver.
What if the notice arrived in a language I do not read?
Section 14100(d) requires the DMV to make notices available in non-English languages spoken by a substantial number of the public it serves. A driver can ask Driver Safety for one.
The information here is general information about California DUI law, not legal advice. Laws change, and each situation depends on its own facts.