How long does a DUI stay on your record? It depends which record
The question has three answers because there are three archives, kept by different bodies under different rules. People ask about one and get told about another, then discover the difference at the worst moment — usually while applying for something.
What each record holds, and who holds it
The driving record
Convictions, suspensions and reinstatements. Insurers pull it, and an officer sees it at every stop. Retention is set by the state — ten years in California, far longer for commercial licenses.
The criminal record
The conviction itself. It does not expire on a schedule; it stays until something removes it, and in states that forbid withholding adjudication for DUI there may be nothing available to remove it.
What a background check sees
Depends entirely on which check was ordered. A criminal check and a motor vehicle report are different products; employers hiring drivers usually pull both, and one can show what the other does not.
How long it is reported
Retention is set state by state, and the gap between an ordinary license and a commercial one is the part that surprises people most.
| Where | On the driving record | What the agency says |
|---|---|---|
| Missouri | 10 years for the conviction; points come off sooner | The ten years is not a waiting period that runs by itself. The Department of Revenue keeps its own record so that it can tell whether you have already used the single expungement available to you, and the court will not grant it if any alcohol-related matter is pending at the hearing. Missouri Revised Statutes § 610.130 · checked 2026-09-06 |
| Texas | Permanent on the driving record | The eligibility rules are narrower than the marketing suggests. Nondisclosure is available only for a Class B misdemeanor DWI under § 49.04 — a Class A conviction is excluded — only for a first-time offender with no other conviction or deferred adjudication beyond a fine-only traffic offence, and not at all if the prosecutor proves the offence involved an accident with another person, including a passenger in your own car. The waiting period runs two or five years after supervision ends, or three or five years after a sentence. Texas Government Code § 411.0731 · checked 2026-09-06 |
| Michigan | Permanent — a set-aside does not touch it | This is the rule that surprises people most: even when a court grants the set-aside, the statute says the order must not require the conviction to be removed from the driving record the Secretary of State maintains. The criminal record can close while the driving record keeps the OWI in plain view, which is what an employer pulling an MVR will see. Michigan Compiled Laws § 780.621c · checked 2026-09-06 |
| Ohio | The conviction stays on the BMV abstract indefinitely | People conflate the points with the conviction. Six BMV points from an OVI stop counting toward the twelve-point suspension threshold after two years, and it is easy to read that as the record clearing. It does not: the conviction notation stays on the abstract, which is exactly what an employer in trucking, delivery or public fleet work pulls. Supreme Court of Ohio, Adult Rights Restoration and Record Sealing · checked 2026-09-06 |
| Arizona | Set-aside does not affect the ADOT driving record | A set-aside is not an erasure, and the statute says so twice over: the Department of Public Safety must annotate the criminal history rather than redact it, and no law enforcement agency can be required to remove anything. A set-aside conviction still counts as a prior if you are arrested again inside the 84 months. Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-905 · checked 2026-09-06 |
| North Carolina | Held by DMV; an expunction of the charge does not reach a conviction | A DWI conviction no longer blocks other relief. The 2021 amendment moved the exclusion into its own subsection, so a DWI conviction cannot itself be expunged but no longer disqualifies you from expunging other convictions — a distinction that changes the answer for people with more than one thing on their record. North Carolina General Statutes § 15A-145.5 · checked 2026-09-06 |
| Virginia | 11 years on the DMV record; demerit points clear after two | Sealing is not the back door people expect. Where a court orders an offence sealed, the DMV is expressly barred from sealing a conviction if doing so would breach federal record-retention rules or federal programme requirements tied to a suspension — so the driving record can stay open after the criminal record closes. Code of Virginia § 19.2-392.2 · checked 2026-09-06 |
| Kansas | Kept by the Division of Vehicles; the conviction drives later enhancements | The clock does not start at conviction. It starts when you finished — the sentence served, the diversion terms fulfilled, or the discharge from probation, community corrections, parole, post-release supervision, conditional release or a suspended sentence, whichever applies. A long probation pushes the eligibility date out by exactly that much. Kansas Statutes § 21-6614(d) · checked 2026-09-06 |
| Georgia | Permanent on the driving record | The arrest and the conviction are different records. If the charge was dismissed, nolle prossed, reduced to a non-DUI offence or ended in acquittal, the arrest can be restricted. If the DUI was reduced to reckless driving, the arrest can be restricted but the reckless driving conviction stays — reckless driving is in the same excluded article. Official Code of Georgia § 35-3-37 · checked 2026-09-06 |
| Iowa | Held by the Department of Transportation and counted for twelve years | A deferred judgment is not a clean slate here. Deferred judgments for OWI are counted as previous offences for enhancement, as are convictions and their equivalents from other states — and the court cannot defer judgment at all if the reading was above .15, if there was a refusal, if there is a prior OWI or prior deferral, or if someone other than the driver was injured. Iowa Code § 901C.3 · checked 2026-09-06 |
| New York | 15 years for DWI; 10 years for DWAI | Sealing does not clear the driving record, and it does not stop the DMV from taking the conviction into account. In Matter of Boyle (Third Department, 2022) the court held that the Commissioner is permitted by statute to consider a sealed alcohol-related conviction during the lifetime review that decides relicensing after multiple offences. New York DMV, Get my own driving record (abstract) · checked 2026-09-06 |
| New Jersey | Stays on the MVC driver history; no criminal record is created | The step-down can be used more than once. In State v. Revie (2014) the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that a repeat offender may invoke it a second time, provided the current and previous offences are separated by more than ten years — and that the step-down can apply to the term of imprisonment while the administrative penalties are still imposed at the higher tier. New Jersey Revised Statutes § 39:4-50 · checked 2026-09-06 |
| California | 10 years | Clearing the criminal record and clearing the driving record are separate errands in California, and only the first one is available. The DMV reports the conviction for ten years and the prior counts for enhancement over that period. California Driver Handbook, Alcohol and Drugs · checked 2026-08-30 |
| CA (commercial) | 55 years | Holders of a commercial license are in a different world: the DMV reports a DUI conviction on a commercial record for fifty-five years from the effective date. For a career driver that is not a record, it is a biography. California DMV, Driver record reporting periods (CVC §§1807, 1808) · checked 2026-08-30 |
| Florida | 75 years for a DUI conviction on the driving record | The seventy-five years is not a typo and not a euphemism for “permanent”: it is the retention period the state applies to alcohol-related convictions on the driving record, against three to ten years for ordinary violations. FLHSMV, Questions About Driving Records · checked 2026-09-06 |
Other states publish their own periods, and some do not publish one at all. Where we have not read the agency’s own wording, we do not print a number — a wrong figure here is worse than none, because people plan around it.
Expungement: when there is nothing to expunge
Florida prohibits judges from accepting a plea to a lesser included offense, from withholding adjudication in DUI cases, and from reducing the charge at all when the reading was 0.15 or higher. The hope that a first offense quietly becomes reckless driving is, in that state, written out of the law.
That is the part worth understanding before paying anyone for a promise. Where the law removes the mechanism, no attorney can restore it; where the mechanism exists, eligibility turns on how the case ended rather than on how much time has passed.
Source: FLHSMV, Florida DUI and Administrative Suspension Laws, checked 2026-08-30
What is the highest BAC ever recorded?
Numbers circulate, and none of them trace back to a source worth citing, so we will not add another repetition. What is documented is what happens at extremes: An alcohol overdose happens when there is so much alcohol in the bloodstream that the parts of the brain running breathing, heart rate and temperature start shutting down. NIAAA states plainly that what tips the balance from impairment to danger varies between people — age, tolerance, sex, speed of drinking, medication and food all move it. Anyone quoting a single fatal reading is guessing.
Source: NIAAA, Understanding the Dangers of Alcohol Overdose, checked 2026-08-30
Record and background check questions
How long does a DUI stay on your record?
It depends which record you mean. California keeps a DUI conviction on the driving record for ten years, and on a commercial record for fifty-five. The criminal record is separate and does not age out on a timetable — it stays until some legal process removes it, and in states that forbid withholding adjudication for DUI, there may be no such process available.
Does a DUI show up on a background check?
A criminal background check shows the conviction. A motor vehicle report shows the driving record. They are different products bought separately, and an employer hiring a driver usually orders both — so a case that looks quiet on one can be plainly visible on the other.
Can a DUI be expunged?
Sometimes, and it depends on both the state and how the case ended. Cases that ended without a conviction are the usual candidates. Florida is the clearest counter-example: courts there may not withhold adjudication in DUI cases at all, which removes the mechanism most other offenses rely on.
What is the highest BAC ever recorded?
The figures that circulate online cannot be traced to a source worth citing, so we will not repeat one. What is documented is the mechanism: at extreme concentrations the brain areas controlling breathing, heart rate and temperature begin shutting down, and survival at readings people quote as records is the exception rather than the rule.
Does a DUI affect getting a job?
It reaches jobs involving driving, a commercial license, professional licensing or work with vulnerable people first. Elsewhere it depends on what the employer checks and on your state’s rules about how old a record has to be before it stops being reported.
Misdemeanor or felony, and what changes it → The insurance filing that follows →
Attorney advertising. InterlockDeviceNearMe is not a law firm, does not practice law, and does not give legal advice. Nothing here creates an attorney-client relationship. Requesting a consultation connects you with an independent attorney or a legal referral service, who decide separately whether to take your case. Case outcomes depend on facts we do not know, and no result is ever promised. Deadlines in DUI cases are short and vary by state — speak to a licensed attorney in your state before relying on anything you read here.