We have been receiving many calls and emails about various needs our clients and the general public have in taking care of vehicle-related licensing, registration, and DUI issues.
There are many such questions that we can answer. Or, one may go directly to the Palm Desert DMV website to search for answers to non-DUI or court-related questions. Go to https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/field-office/palm-desert/
Let’s look at what exactly we can answer for you.
If you have been arrested for an alcohol-related DUI, the arresting officer problem took and kept your driver’s license card at the time of your arrest. The privilege to drive has been temporarily suspended.
In California, at the time your driver’s license is snatched, the officer should give you a temporary paper license that advises you of the Administrative Per Se (APS) proceedings that the DMV will conduct to determine if your privilege to drive should be suspended or revoked. The paper license will or should be pink in color and in small print will advise you that you have 10 days from the date of your arrest to contact DMV to request an Administrative Per Se hearing. This hearing is to contest the suspension of your driver’s license.
This 10 days is a strict requirement and is counted by calendar days…NOT business days. If you fail to request that hearing within those 10 days, your license could be suspended for at least 4 months or even up to a year, depending on the circumstances of your arrest as stated by the arresting officer. This suspension may take place even before you go to court to contest the arrest.
This pink temporary license will list a number to call that is NOT the phone number of your local Palm Desert or Indio DMV office. It is a phone number in Sacramento that is not usually answered on your first (or second or third) attempt.
You should understand that these APS proceedings are of no concern to your local DMV office and the employees in Palm Desert DMV know little, if anything, about the law and the requirements of these APS proceedings.
So if you go down to your local Indio or Palm Desert DMV office, you will be wasting your time and will be unnecessarily frustrated by their seemingly callous and disinterested attitudes. In fact, the various DMV offices throughout the state, such as our local Palm Desert, Indio, and Palm Springs DMV offices are not involved in any way in the whole APS license suspension process.
These offices are set up to handle other driver’s license issues such as applying and testing for a first one, replacing a lost one, or renewing an expired one. The local DMV can also replace a lost or stolen license plate and renew the registration on your vehicle.
The local DMV offices handle non-DUI and non-criminal case-related vehicle matters only. And many of the matters can be handled online. And as you can see from their website noted above, there are even kiosks at the local Palm Desert and at two commercial businesses for your use so that you do not have to stand in line or potentially get exposed to any contagious diseases.
Of course, if you have a matter that we can handle for you, we will be happy to represent you in your dealings with DMV. We know how to quickly and easily request that APS hearing for you and we will represent you in the APS hearing so that you may not even have to attend the hearing. We will do everything possible to keep your privilege to drive for you.
So please call us if you have any questions about what the Palm Desert DMV office can do for you and, more importantly, what we can do for you.
