Reducing Demerit Points on a Virginia Record

Start with your tickets: how many points each one carries

Points come in three sizes, and each offense also has its own record life. Speeding is graded by how far over you were; once you pass 85 mph, or the limit plus 20, Code of Virginia 46.2-862 calls it reckless driving.

Out-of-state convictions are assigned points too, so a ticket on a weekend trip to Maryland or North Carolina can still show up on your Virginia record.

• Six points, kept 11 years: reckless driving (including 20 or more over, or above 85 mph), DUI, and driving on a suspended license
• Four points: 10 to 19 over and aggressive driving (kept 5 years); tailgating, failing to yield, passing a stopped school bus without recklessness, and ignoring a traffic signal (kept 3 years)
• Three points: 1 to 9 over (kept 5 years); a bad turn or U-turn, ignoring a highway sign, handheld device use, and teen curfew or passenger violations (kept 3 years)

As points add up: the levels for drivers 18 and older

The first stage is an advisory letter, sent at 8 points within 12 months or 12 within 24. Next is a mandatory clinic, due within 90 days, at 12 in 12 months or 18 in 24. Then comes a 90 day suspension lasting until you complete a clinic, at 18 in 12 months or 24 in 24.

Reaching the top level no longer has to mean losing the license. Thanks to 2025 changes in 46.2-506, DMV can let you choose a speed-limiting technology program (Intelligent Speed Assistance) for nine months, plus the clinic. You have 30 days to reply to the letter; silence means the suspension. Enrollment details vary, so ask DMV.

Separately, a demerit conviction for any offense committed at 18 or 19 requires a clinic no matter what your total is.

After a clinic or suspension: probation and control

Being sent to a clinic, or finishing a points suspension, starts six months of probation under 46.2-499. Commit a point offense during probation and you lose the license again: 90 days for a 6 point offense, 60 for 4, 45 for 3, then another six months of probation.

Probation is not the end. Next comes driver control, a year and a half long (46.2-500). Any point offense while under control restarts both: six more months of probation, then 18 more of control. A single careless ticket can keep you in the system for years.

During a first probation suspension, DMV can issue a restricted license if you are otherwise eligible and bring written proof of work, school or medical travel. A restricted license never covers commercial vehicles.

If the driver is a teen

Teens follow a three-step ladder: clinic (due within 90 days) after the first point conviction or belt or car seat ticket, a 90 day suspension after the second, and revocation after the third, lasting a year or until 18, whichever runs longer.

Where those provisional rules do not reach, 46.2-498 still uses a lower bar for young drivers: a clinic and probation at 9 points inside a year or 12 inside two. Required clinics earn teens no safe driving points; a voluntary clinic does.

How safe driving points actually lower the count

Under 46.2-494, a calendar year with no conviction, no suspension and no revocation earns a point, to a maximum of five. Each April DMV posts last year's point and uses it against your oldest live demerits before newer ones.

A clinic adds five more, but the overall cap is still five. If DMV later learns of a conviction for something that happened during a year that earned you a point, that point is taken back. Remember that safe driving points only change the count; the conviction and its retention period stay.

A worked example: you have 0 safe points and 10 demerits after a 6 point and a 4 point ticket within a year. That is past the advisory level. A voluntary clinic adds 5, bringing your net to 5, comfortably under it.

Getting the most from a clinic

Budget one long day (eight hours) and no more than $100, in person or with a licensed online provider. Section 46.2-498 lets you receive points or an insurance reduction from a clinic only once in two years, though you can take another one year later for the benefit you did not get.

Time it for when you are carrying demerits that the five safe points will cancel, or ahead of a conviction you expect. If a court ordered the clinic, points come only if the court says so in writing.

Reading your record, and what insurers see

The personal use transcript goes back as far as 11 years. Insurers receive a five year summary, and the employment, school and military versions cover seven. A driving record costs $8 on DMV's October 2026 fee chart.

Once a case closes, pull the record and compare: the conviction listed should match your plea or the verdict, and the points should match the offense. Report mistakes to DMV and the court clerk right away.