Many people who are dealing with a license suspension in Florida inquire about a Florida hardship license. Sometimes they don’t understand that when they look up information on a hardship license in Florida they end up reading about a business purpose only license. Why is that? The answer is simple. They are the same thing.
There are many reasons your license could be suspended. Licenses are suspended for DUI in Florida or if you have accumulated points on your license from too many traffic tickets in Florida. The reason your license is suspended will have a direct impact on your ability to get a business purposes only license or a hardship license as most people call it. The first thing you need to do is schedule a hearing with the Bureau of Administrative Review (BAR). This is a special division of the Department of Highway and Motor Vehicle Safety.
The purpose of the BAR is to conduct administrative hearings. Those hearings are for the purpose of deciding whether or not to restore driving privileges. Except for formal review hearings, those are the type following a DUI arrest lawyers are not able to speak to the BAR for their client. Since these are just administrative hearings, there is no right to an attorney.
The hearing officer begins by running your driving record. At that point they will decide if they feel if you are a candidate for a hardship license. You will also be asked some questions. These are aimed to further help the hearing officer determine whether or not to grant a hardship license. They will ask you why you need the business purpose only license, what you learned from your DUI school or advanced driver improvement class, how did you get to the BAR hearing (trying to find out if you drove there yourself), what kind of assurances they can have that you will not get into further trouble and if anyone else in your house drives.
After that a determination will be made if you are granted a hardship license. If you are, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is violating the restrictions that come with a business purpose only license. If for any reason you violate those hardship license restrictions, call us immediately at 1-800-344-4848.
