Understanding Montana Driving Points and Your Record

Start here: how points get assigned

Each conviction reported to the Department of Justice gets a point value under Section 61-11-203, and the running total is how the state tells whether someone is a habitual offender. Tickets from outside Montana are scored identically and appear on the Montana record.

One stop or crash that ends in several convictions is scored once, using the charge worth the most. Unlicensed driving scores 2, except that nobody is charged with it in the first 180 days after their license runs out.

The point chart

Section 61-11-203 is a short list. Whatever it does not name at a higher value falls into a catch-all of 2 points per moving violation. From heaviest to lightest:

• 15: killing someone deliberately with a vehicle
• 12: negligent homicide, negligent vehicular assault, or any felony committed with a vehicle
• 10: driving under the influence
• 8: fleeing a crash where someone was hurt or killed
• 6: driving on a suspended or revoked license
• 5 each: reckless driving; drag racing or speed contests; offenses under the mandatory liability insurance law
• 4: leaving a crash with $1,000 in property damage, or failing to report a crash
• 3: speeding
• 2: driving with no license, and every moving violation not listed above

Doing the math on your own record

Take a worked example. A driver convicted of speeding three times and of reckless driving once in the last three years has 3 + 3 + 3 + 5, or 14 points. That is under half the line, but the next DUI conviction alone would add 10.

Points older than three years drop out of the count, so the date of each conviction matters as much as the charge. Read the dates on your record, not the dates of the stops.

If you cross 30

Reach 30 or more in a three year span and the law labels you a habitual traffic offender. Section 61-11-204 then leaves the department no choice: it makes the declaration, revokes the license, and mails you a letter naming the convictions involved and explaining how to appeal.

The MVD sets that revocation at three years. Revocation ends the license outright rather than pausing it, so afterward you start over as a brand new applicant, paying fees and passing the knowledge and driving tests again.

How long the record follows you

Per the MVD, each conviction's points count for three years after the conviction date, but the conviction stays on your history permanently. The MVD specifically warns that three clean years do not equal a clean record.

On insurance, the MVD points to 33-18-210 and 61-5-208: generally, a conviction more than three years old should not affect your rate, though a repeat DUI can be looked at for longer. Your insurer can tell you how it applies those rules.

Why you cannot take a class to fix it

Montana does not offer point reduction. The point schedule has no credit for coursework, and the MVD tells drivers directly that a defensive driving class will not take points away.

Your real tools are time and care. Let old convictions age past three years without adding new ones, challenge any ticket you think is wrong, and ask the court whether a deferred sentence is possible. Drivers 55 and over can still take an approved course, but what it earns is the required three year insurance discount, not a lower total.

Speeding that never scores

Section 61-8-725 keeps small overages off the record entirely: on a basic limit, 10 mph or less over in daylight or 5 mph or less over at night earns no points. That shelter disappears above 90 mph, in special speed zones, for a Montana driver's out of state ticket, and for anyone with a CDL.

Suspensions that ignore the point total

Plenty of suspensions follow one conviction, with no point count involved. The MVD's list: a first DUI or 0.08 BAC conviction costs six months, and a second inside 10 years costs a year. A driver under 21 convicted for the first time at 0.02 BAC or higher loses 90 days. A third reckless driving conviction within a 12 month span means a year.

Fail to pay a fine or to answer a notice to appear and the suspension runs with no end date until the court is satisfied. And a teen on the first year restricted license who breaks the curfew or passenger rules a second time is suspended for six months.

If you read about a 15 point rule

You may see older guides claim a six month suspension at 15 points over 36 months. The current MVD page on suspensions and revocations mentions only the 30 point revocation, so be skeptical of any lower figure, and if your own total is rising, phone the MVD's Records and Driver Control unit.

Checking your record

The quickest way is the MVD's online services: pay by card and the record comes up on screen. Print it right then, because nothing is mailed or kept for you. To order by post, mail form 34-0100 (Release of Driving Records), the fee and a self addressed stamped envelope to Motor Vehicle Division, P.O. Box 201430, Helena, MT 59602-1430.

Those online services also show your license status and let you pay reinstatement fees and upload the documents reinstatement requires.