Getting an SC driver's license

Steps for a first SC driver's license

The order is the same at any age, with extra steps for teens:

1. Study the SC Driver's Manual, then pass the vision and knowledge tests at an SCDMV branch to get a beginner's permit. Under 18, a qualified adult signs your consent.
2. Practice with a licensed driver 21 or older who has a year of experience. At 15 or 16, log at least 40 hours, 10 of them at night, and finish driver's education.
3. Hold the permit for at least 180 days if you're under 18, or 30 days if you're 18 or older.
4. Pass the road test at a branch or with a third-party tester, in a safe, insured car.
5. Pay for the license. The SCDMV fee for an eight-year license is $25.

What are the SC driver's license requirements for teens?

If you're 15 or 16 and applying for your first license, all of these must be true:

• You've held your beginner's permit for more than 180 days
• You've finished a driver's education course: eight hours in the classroom and six hours of driving
• You're enrolled in school, not suspended or expelled, with satisfactory attendance. Homeschooling counts
• You've practiced for at least 40 hours, including 10 hours at night, with a parent, guardian or another person the law allows
• You bring form PDLA, which certifies your school attendance, driver's education and practice

Your driver's education program or high school gives you the PDLA form. SCDMV says not to use copies downloaded online, because it only accepts forms from authorized issuers.

Conditional, special restricted and full licenses

On a conditional or special restricted license you can't carry more than two passengers under 21 unless a licensed adult 21 or older is with you. Family members, and students on the way to or from school, don't count toward that limit. If you're under 17 and get six or more points in your first year, the license is suspended for six months.

When you earn full privileges you don't need to visit a branch. SCDMV mails you a sleeve to keep your license in, and you must carry the license in it.

What is the driving age in South Carolina?

You can drive with supervision from 15, on a beginner's permit. You can drive alone during the day from 15 and a half on a conditional license, or from 16 on a special restricted license, and without the teen limits from 17. Larger Class E and F vehicles need you to be 18, and a commercial license is 18 within South Carolina and 21 across state lines.

The tests for an SC driver's license

An original license takes a vision, knowledge and road test. Only a moped license skips the road test.

Moving to South Carolina with a license

If you move here permanently, apply for an SC license within 45 days and hand in your out-of-state license. You pass a vision test and pay the fees, $25 for an eight-year license. If your old license has been expired for nine months or more, you also take the knowledge and road tests. Active-duty military members and U.S. government employees are exempt from the 45-day rule.

REAL ID or not

You choose. A REAL ID has a star. A card without one says Not for Federal Identification and can't be used as ID to board a domestic commercial flight. For a REAL ID you bring two proofs of address instead of one, and every identity document must be an original or a government-issued copy, never a scan or photocopy. If your name has changed, bring the papers that link your birth certificate name to your name today.

Renewing an SC driver's license

U.S. citizens who meet SCDMV's conditions can renew online or by mail for an eight-year license, for $25. Online renewal needs an SC-licensed eye care professional to send a vision certificate dated within the past 36 months, and it isn't open to conditional or special restricted license holders, among others. In person, you pass a vision test at the branch and pay $25. A license expired more than nine months means retaking the vision, knowledge and road tests.