# What can I do with my old driver's license? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 2, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256 "2015-12-02T21:51:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/1 "2015-12-02T21:51:07Z")
I just got my driver’s license renewed and they gave me back my old, now invalid, license. I suppose I could throw it out or hack it to bits, but thrown away and hacked to bits so many things that it seems too boring. I want to something interesting, but I’m drawing a blank. Anybody got any good ideas? Anything fun, interesting, or just weird I could do with my old driver’s license? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/2 "2015-12-02T22:02:37Z")
Why, you could make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl… ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/3 "2015-12-03T01:42:28Z")
The DMV punched a hole in mine before they gave it back. I keep it in my glove compartment along with copies of my registration and insurance card. If I’m somehow caught without my license and get pulled over, I figure it’s better to be able to at least give the cop something that has my license number and address on it. It certainly couldn’t hurt. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/4 "2015-12-03T02:48:37Z")
Unless it’s got sentimental value, just ditch it. I’ve still got my **first** , just because it’s hilarious (it was forty years ago), but I’ve tossed the rest of them. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/5 "2015-12-03T03:49:43Z")
About 10 years ago I had to get my license replaced because I thought I had lost it. Sure enough, as soon as I’d gotten the new one, the old one showed up. I was getting ready to cut up the old one and throw it out when my younger son said “hey, give me that. I’ve always liked that picture of you.” My jaw hit the floor as I’m certain to the core of my being that no one ever has said that about a DMV photo before. But I cut out the picture and gave it to him. No idea what he ended up doing with it. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/6 "2015-12-03T04:06:49Z")
Hang onto it. You might actually need it some day. A friend of mine went to college in Iowa, where he got a driver’s license. He then moved to Minnesota and lived there for a while, and tossed his Iowa license. He then moved back to Iowa and tried to get a license there and found that he no longer qualified. Valid forms of ID for an Iowa driver’s license are: A previous Iowa’s license (oops) A passport (nope) Birth certificate (nope: he was a foundling; they no longer accepted baptismal certificates as birth certificates, which is what he had used before when he moved there from Missouri) Military driver’s license A couple other things he didn’t have He finally had to go back home to Missouri, take his 80-year-old mom down to the courthouse so she could wave her cane at a judge and give him a piece of her mind. That got him a birth certificate. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/7 "2015-12-03T09:32:02Z")
What **Ethilrist** said. I’m in a dispute with the State of Maryland right now (or rather with the debt collector they gave the debt to) because MD claims I owe them income tax for 2008 and 2009. As I did not then, nor have I ever, lived in Maryland, I am not going to pay, but I have to have the debt cleared. I was told that one way I could prove I wasn’t a resident of Maryland then was by submitting government docs like a driver’s license. While a DL is not a viable solution in my case (I’ve sent other documentation; hopefully it will work), it is an example of how you just never know when a government document of some sort will come in handy. ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/8 "2015-12-03T11:29:31Z")
keep it for posterity? I’ve got a few from my life, the first one for sure. Its neat to see what you looked like thru the years ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/9 "2015-12-03T11:30:43Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Hang onto it. You might actually need it some day. > > A friend of mine went to college in Iowa, where he got a driver’s license. He then moved to Minnesota and lived there for a while, and tossed his Iowa license. He then moved back to Iowa and tried to get a license there and found that he no longer qualified. Valid forms of ID for an Iowa driver’s license are: > > A previous Iowa’s license (oops) > A passport (nope) > Birth certificate (nope: he was a foundling; they no longer accepted baptismal certificates as birth certificates, which is what he had used before when he moved there from Missouri) > Military driver’s license > A couple other things he didn’t have > > He finally had to go back home to Missouri, take his 80-year-old mom down to the courthouse so she could wave her cane at a judge and give him a piece of her mind. That got him a birth certificate. I still have my passport from the mid 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/10 "2015-12-03T11:58:06Z")
You could donate it to any number of worthy individuals who are in need of ID. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/11 "2015-12-03T12:42:13Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > You could donate it to any number of worthy individuals who are in need of ID. 😉 When my son was little I gave him mine along with his first wallet. He _loved_ it. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/12 "2015-12-03T12:47:20Z")
I stick them in my photo album. They’re hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/13 "2015-12-03T13:34:13Z")
I keep all of mine as I’m planning on going back in time and it would attract attention if, in the year 1985, I presented an ID issued in 2015. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/14 "2015-12-03T19:18:20Z")
A long time ago I got a new one and for some reason kept the old one in my wallet. I was on a United flight somewhere where they had a contest where the person with the most expired license won a bottle of wine. So I pulled it out… and someone had one even more expired. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/15 "2015-12-04T01:05:05Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#): > > I just got my driver’s license renewed and they gave me back my old, now invalid, license. I suppose I could throw it out or hack it to bits, but thrown away and hacked to bits so many things that it seems too boring. I want to something interesting, but I’m drawing a blank. > > Anybody got any good ideas? Anything fun, interesting, or just weird I could do with my old driver’s license? Heh, I just renewed mine yesterday. I’ll still need the old one with the temporary permit stapled to it until the new one arrives in the mail in the next few weeks, though. > [@Green\_Bean](#): > > The DMV punched a hole in mine before they gave it back. The Secretary of State slices off a corner of ours, when you go in person anyway. When you renew by mail (every other time you can renew by mail instead of in person) they obviously can’t do that. Used to be they just sent stickers to put on the back of your old license, but now it’s a whole new card. ---
**Author:** ![Orange\_Skinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Orange\_Skinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orange_Skinner)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/16 "2015-12-04T02:22:50Z")
If you or someone you know plays bass or guitar, you can turn it into a pick with a [pick punch](http://www.amazon.com/Pick-a-Palooza/pages/default?pageId=TO2WOL054HJVLZT). My dad and brother both play guitar, and I got them a pick punch for Christmas a few years ago. Bad photo ID portraits have since become some of their most beloved picks. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/17 "2015-12-04T05:17:06Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I keep it in my glove compartment along with copies of my registration and insurance card. If I’m somehow caught without my license and get pulled over, I figure it’s better to be able to at least give the cop something that has my license number and address on it. It certainly couldn’t hurt. It can hurt. [ul] [li]Possible identity theft if your car is stolen or broken into and ransacked.[/li][li]Worse if you are seen leaving your vehicle to attend an event with a known time frame. Someone may break in specifically to look for the registration paper to find your address (Oh, a bonus! A driver’s license!) Since they know how long you will be gone, and they have your address, they go over to your place, and if no one is home, rob it.[/li][/ul] Both above scenarios I’ve confirmed with my local police. I now only have a photocopy of of my car registration in the vehicle. My address is covered up in the photocopying. My insurance card does not have my address listed because my insurance company confirms the police opinion as well and issues all of their insurance cards with minimal information and no addresses. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/18 "2015-12-04T06:12:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When my son was little I gave him mine along with his first wallet. He _loved_ it. I’ve kept all my assorted laminated IDs and credit and debit and bank cards from over the years. I’m going to will them to my eldest guestling with the directive that he can only claim his inheritance after he has cut them all up into various shapes and tiled an entire in-ground swimming pool (a la Martha Stewart) with them and created a self portrait on the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Tread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Tread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tread)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/19 "2015-12-04T15:54:32Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Why, you could make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl… Surely, you can’t be serious ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256/20 "2015-12-04T18:30:24Z")
> [@Tread](#): > > Surely, you can’t be serious I once papered an entire wall of my den with old business cards. In the 80’s and 90’s fancy cards were REALLY important in this area, so I had boxes and boxes of leftovers deep in a desk drawer. It actually looked pretty cool. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-with-my-old-drivers-license/739256.md?page=2)