As DMV deepens its scrutiny of your identity and your background (Road Worrier: "ID rules make getting a license tougher"), the odds increase that you'll be delayed -- for days or weeks, or worse -- in your simple quest to renew your license.
Maybe you'll be sent to the Social Security Administration to correct your birthdate or update your name change. Maybe you'll be told to settle accounts with, say, the state of Florida, which declined to renew your license in 1996 because of a 1977 DWI in Connecticut. (Or worse: Click the comment link below to share your DMV horror story.)
You probably can't avoid these bureaucratic surprises, but you can avoid letting your license expire while you resolve the underlying issues.
Take DMV's advice: Don't wait. Renew your license early, before it expires. If yours runs out on your next birthday, state law allows you to renew it up to 6 months before your birthday.
Bruce Siceloff reports on traffic and transportation. A News & Observer reporter and editor since 1976, he took over the 
