Renew your driver's license in South Carolina

By · checked

Renew a South Carolina driver's license online, by mail or at an SCDMV branch: who qualifies for each, the $25 eight-year fee and the required vision check.

Your situation

Are you a U.S. citizen with a regular license (not a CDL), unexpired or expired under 9 months, with no more than 5 points in 2 years and not renewed by mail or online last time?
Online or in person
Yes, if you meet the requirements · Not required if you renew online or by mailOnline renewal also needs a vision exam result sent electronically by an SC-licensed eye care professional. You can also renew by mail. A branch visit is required if the license has been expired for nine months or more.
Cost
$25, eight-year licenseThe SCDMV says all eight-year licenses are $25.
You leave with
Card by mailOnline: up to 15 business days after processing. At a branch you get a temporary certificate valid up to 30 days; the card arrives in 7 to 15 business days.

Your plan

  1. Gather your documents

  2. Pick the one that fits you:

    1. Option 1: Renew online

      Log in with your identifying information and pay $25. The SCDMV uses your current photograph and signature and mails the new card to the address on file. An SC-licensed eye care professional must first submit your vision exam electronically.

      Renewals on dmv.sc.gov ↗

    2. Option 2: Renew by mail

      Complete the Renew a Driver's License by Mail application (Form 447-NC) and have your eyes examined by a licensed eye care professional. Mail the form with a $25 check or money order made out to the SCDMV (not cash) to SCDMV, Alternative Media, PO Box 1498, Blythewood, SC 29016-0035, at least three weeks before your expiration date.

      Mail renewal requirements ↗

  3. If your license expired

    Expired less than nine months: you may renew as if it had not expired. Expired nine months or more: visit a branch with the correct identity documents and pass a vision, knowledge and skills test. Do not drive with an expired license.

  4. Retaking the knowledge test? Practice first

    If your renewal turns out to need the knowledge test again, try our South Carolina Permit Practice Test: 30 questions like the real exam, based on the official handbook, with every answer explained.

    Start the South Carolina practice test

  5. Identification cards

    You can renew an eight-year ID card online if it is within 12 months of expiration (or expired under nine months), you are a U.S. citizen and you did not renew by mail or online last time. ID card renewals are free for people 17 or older and $15 for ages five to 16.

    Identification cards on dmv.sc.gov ↗

Common reasons people get turned away

  • Online or mail renewal is not available if you renewed by mail or online last time, are not a U.S. citizen, hold a conditional or special restricted license, or have more than five points in the last two years.
  • If you renew online, the vision result must come from an SC-licensed eye care professional through the SCDMV portal; results from an out-of-state professional must be handled at a branch.
  • If you renew by mail without the required REAL ID documents on file, you can only get a standard license marked "Not for Federal Identification".
  • A license expired for nine months or more cannot be renewed online or by mail.

Offices that renew driver's licenses

You can renew online or by mail, or in person at an SCDMV branch. The agency's page says branches offer the vision screening and in-person renewal. Agency source.

65 offices where you can renew your licenseSee them on a map, search by county or show the ones open now

Largest cities with them: Charleston (1) · Columbia (2) · North Charleston (1)

Results show offices where you can renew your license or may be able to, nearest first, each labelled.

Read more

Did it work on your first visit?

Tell us after you've been. One anonymous answer, no account, nothing else saved.


Sources · checked October 30, 2026

We wrote this plan ourselves from the official pages above on the date shown. Agencies change rules without notice: the official page always wins. DMV Decoded is independent and not a government agency; we don't book appointments or take payments.