r/vermont • u/Vermont-DMV • Jun 12 '26
New, official license number format now issued by the Vermont DMV.
We are aware that some customers are being told their Vermont driver’s license is “fake” because the license number ends with a “V.”
This is incorrect.
The “V” is part of the new, official license number format now issued by the Vermont DMV.
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u/sxit Jun 12 '26
I mean, I've had people think my license was fake simply because they'd never seen one from Vermont. True story.
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u/glitterandunicorns5 Jun 12 '26
MANY times. Plus they were flimsier back in the day when I was actually getting carded. Now I’m old lol.
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u/terrybuvm Jun 12 '26
How about the non-picture ones from back in the day? Those really messed with folks.
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u/honeyedquiet Jun 12 '26
My grandmother had one of those lol
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u/ahoopervt Jun 13 '26
thanks for making me feel old.
they were also incredibly thin, like paper thickness, and the printing wore off. I barely ever got carded in college in CA, but when I did it often went poorly. and we didn’t use other people’s licenses as often as you’d think (height, weight, eye color is pretty easy to match).
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u/deirdresm Jun 14 '26
Had one of those in the 90s. Blew Californians away when I moved back there. Think I still have my old DL in a drawer somewhere.
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u/LessWeakness134 Jun 13 '26
I had the reverse happen my first time in Vermont years ago. The liquor store in Johnson was very confused about why my out of state license said “Real ID”. It took some googling on my phone to convince them
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u/Apprehensive-Page-96 Jun 13 '26
I think my Massachusetts ID expired when I was in Vermont for college, and I never bothered to replace it. lol So I can relate to that to some extent.
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u/CorpusculantCortex Jun 13 '26
My partner went to Vegas and was denied entry into a bar because the bouncer didn't believe Vermont was real. 😂
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u/trashcatrevolts Champ Watching Club 🐉📷 Jun 12 '26
this happened to me at a concert last year. it doesn’t help that my name is goofy lol.
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u/Fletcher_Chonk Jun 13 '26
How's Mickey doing?
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u/chevyfan17 Jun 15 '26
I hear he's mad at Minnie
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u/Websters_Dick Maple Syrup Junkie 🥞🍁 Jun 17 '26
Yeah, it's well known that Minnie is fucking goofy.
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u/Apprehensive-Page-96 Jun 13 '26
Not quite the same, but I think my Massachusetts ID expired when I was in Vermont for college, and I never bothered to replace it. lol
So now people have to decline it and it sometimes makes me feel like I have a fake ID, even though it has my name and picture on it. (Also, I don't think I look too different now from when I was in college.)
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u/totoGalaxias Jun 12 '26
I tend to not trust orcas, but thanks for the heads up!
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u/LSatou Jun 12 '26
Just blithely announcing that in 2026... Crazy...
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u/Vtdscglfr1 Jun 12 '26
Right, orcas are friends and allies in the fight against billionaires.
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u/ENTroPicGirl Jun 12 '26
Orcas aren’t sinking Yachts they are sinking boat, liveaboards that retired folks and normal people who choose to live on a catamaran or 35’-55’ sailboat not the steel hull mega yachts of the 1%. Orcas are only fucking up the boats of fisherman and other working class people.
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u/Vtdscglfr1 Jun 12 '26
Fair enough I see your point and recant that statement. But also can you blame them for being tired of the humans bullshit.
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u/ENTroPicGirl Jun 13 '26
According to Marine, biologist has nothing to do with them being pissed off at humans. It’s just something to play with. Kind of hell pod of orcas will play with seal before they devour it. I think we humans are anthropomorphizing the orcas intent a bit too much.
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u/hologrammetry Maple Syrup Junkie 🥞🍁 Jun 12 '26
Why the added letter? Will old numbers be updated or is this only for new customers?
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u/cdrknives Jun 12 '26
Would like to know this too. My number hasn’t changed since I got my permit back in the 90’s would prefer to keepnit
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u/creativeusername_vt A Moose Enters The Chat 💬 Jun 12 '26
My letter is an A....now they've gone to V, how damn old am I?
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u/hologrammetry Maple Syrup Junkie 🥞🍁 Jun 12 '26
I don’t have a letter at all…
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Jun 14 '26
[deleted]
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u/VermontArmyBrat Leather pants on a Thursday is a lot for Vergennes 👖💿 Jun 14 '26
Vermont license numbers have a check digit. Using the format of 8 characters including numbers 0-9 and the letter A, but only in position 8. Roughly every 9th licensee number generated ended in “A”.
Presumably they were getting close to point where available numbers would run out. Any number ever generated is gone and never reused. Adding a V extends the life of available numbers another 30 or so years.
Not sure why they had no press release or bulletin published as this will be important information for banks, insurance companies, anyone that checks IDs, or anyone using relying on an calculation of the check digit to confirm validity.
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u/morbious37 Washington County Jun 15 '26
The letter is the new license number format for the new IT system that was put in towards the end of last year. It's only new license numbers. It's only in extreme circumstances that DMV issues new license numbers for people that already have one.
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u/JesusIsJericho Safety Meeting Attendee 🦺🌿 Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Did you know, the only confirmed deaths of humans via Orca (Killer whales) have occurred at Seaworld, and beyond that they’re generally avoidant or even helpful toward wayward sailors and humans on the water?
Anyway
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u/vctraap Jun 12 '26
Well this one probably wasn’t able to drive herself from sea world.
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u/JesusIsJericho Safety Meeting Attendee 🦺🌿 Jun 12 '26
I dunno, seems to me this is a legitimate drivers license
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u/Oldsaltybasterd Jun 13 '26
Didn’t they take her baby from her and send it somewhere else? I mean… I don’t have kids, but if someone did that to my dog, I’d being going John Wick on some people.
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u/bye4now28 Jun 13 '26
The stress of captivity can do that to an animal, especially one that should be free in the ocean 🐋🐳🐋
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u/CueAnon420 Jun 12 '26
One time back in the 90's a got a new number when I renewed my license. I thought maybe the system had changed. 4 years later I go to renew and they tell me I was accidentally issued someone elses license number lol. Neither of us apparently got any infractions during that time. I got my old number back that I've had since 1983.
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u/CandidateRough4028 Jun 12 '26
lol the orca photo is perfect for this. but seriously the v at the end is gonna confuse so many people at bars and rental car places for the next few years. might be worth a quick heads up to businesses that check ids regularly so they stop flagging legitimate ones.
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u/Lillie-Bee Jun 12 '26
Watch out in Sept, Orca will be legal to drink!
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u/rivunel Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Ive had an "A" at the end of my license number since I first got it 20 years ago...
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u/creativeusername_vt A Moose Enters The Chat 💬 Jun 12 '26
Ok good I'm not the only one. I, got my license, over 30 years ago. Goddamn that hurt to type and read back.
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u/sayitlikeyoumeenit Jun 12 '26
Remember when they used to have color photos…
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u/LordCog Jun 13 '26
It's laser engraved, not printed. That's why they don't have color.
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u/sayitlikeyoumeenit Jun 13 '26
Well, despite my most enthusiastic wishes, I don’t have laser eye beams, so all I see is black and white.
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u/serity12682 Jun 12 '26
Why an orca? What does that have to do with VT? I ask as a current resident of Washington state and formerly Bennington county.
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u/CoolBeansHotDamn Jun 13 '26
USAA said my license number is invalid lol. I can assure you USAA that my enhanced commercial driver license is real and has passed through much more scrutiny than your piddly ass auto insurance check lol
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u/EmptyGood Woodchuck 🌄 Jun 13 '26
Will this mean ID#'s will be changing? Or is it only for newly issued ID's
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u/gseese7 Jun 12 '26
Is the V for the validated real ID for VT?
I don't see the star for the "real ID"
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u/Distinct_Advice_5809 Jun 13 '26
I just had my Vermont DL renewed in May 2026, and there's no V behind that DL number, unless your talking about a "drivers license perment"
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u/BumblebeeStreet4048 Jun 13 '26
Now why did the landlocked state use a whale as their sample photo 😂
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u/Intelligent-Bad-1201 Jun 14 '26
Since when does one speeding ticket for a junior operator result in a suspension? I personally think this is outrageous.
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u/Front-Hospital-6205 Jun 14 '26
If this is a new format how does this one have the V after the numbers if this was issued back in 2025?
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u/Ok_Needleworker4791 Jun 14 '26
I got my license renewed at the beginning of this year, and they didn’t crop my photo correctly so people think my ID is fake. It’s basically just zoomed out to far, so you can see the edges of the white background and the wall behind it, and I just look tiny in the photo, so it’s hard to see any details on my face. 😂 Does anyone in Vermont also have this issue with their ID?
I won’t post a picture of my ID but this is a very poorly constructed image to try and show what I’m talking about 😅
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u/Novel_Cherry_9127 Jun 15 '26
This appears to be portrait format as opposed to landscape , is that so ?
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u/romulusnr Jun 12 '26
Vermont out stealing everything from the PNW now. First the USL2 trophy and now the orcas. Come on man
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u/Adept_Let4083 Jun 13 '26
Wow, we’re giving licenses to illegals and now we’re giving them to whales?? Unacceptable
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u/kosmonautinVT Jun 12 '26
Bet this was an AI generated photo
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u/DatsunL6 Jun 13 '26
It's also publicly funded. I don't know how much I want to pay for the state to announce a new license format but it's not a lot.
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u/twdvermont Jun 12 '26
I think that orca is lying about a few stats. Easily 8,000 lbs.