Limited Licence

What is a Limited Licence?

If you have lost your licence because of demerit points, drink driving, or any other reason, you may qualify for a Limited Licence.

If you need to drive for work or because of children, a Limited Licence allows you to drive for these purposes. It will be subject to conditions such as where you can drive, what reasons you can drive for, and which days and times you are allowed to drive.

Am I eligible?

You can't apply for a limited licence if:

• you have been disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver licence due to repeat offending involving alcohol or drugs or are required to use an alcohol interlock device (pursuant to section 65 of the Land Transport Act 1998); or

• you are currently disqualified because you were convicted of driving whilst disqualified, or driving outside the terms of your limited licence; or

• you have committed a serious driving offence, which has a minimum sentence of six (6) months disqualification within the last five (5) years; or

• you are disqualified from driving a passenger transport vehicle, such as a bus or taxi, and want a limited licence to drive that vehicle; or

• an alcohol interlock licence was ordered because your breath exceeded 800 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath or your blood exceeded 160 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

If none of the above applies then you may be able to apply for a limited licence.

You will also need to prove to the court that not being able to drive causes extreme hardship to yourself (not just inconvenience) or undue hardship to someone else (such as an employer or dependents). 

How do I apply?

You have to make an application in the District Court where you were disqualified from driving. You can do this yourself, but we recommend us. We are experts in this area so your chances of success are higher, and we can get you back driving in a shorter time period because we know the system.

The Ministry of Justice says that "Applying to the court for a limited licence can be complex. Your application needs to be in a certain format with specific information, but there’s no application form to use".

After we have met with you and gathered all of the information we require (which will include contact details for your employer because we will need to talk to them about preparation of a supporting affidavit), we will apply to the court on your behalf. Once the Limited Licence Order is granted by the court, you will need to apply to Waka Kotahi for your Limited Licence (this can take several days). You must not drive until Waka Kotahi issues your licence.

If we don't think you will be successful in getting a Limited Licence, we will tell you straight away, and we won't help with your application. In this case, you won't have to pay us anything. We don't want to waste your money.

Can I get my licence straight away?

It depends why you lost it. In some cases there is a mandatory 28 day stand down period. If there is no stand down period, it will still take a few days to get the application filed and for the court to process it.

What does it cost?

For most applications we charge a fixed fee of $915 including GST ($795.65 excl. GST). For more complex applications we may need to charge more, but this is unusual and we will tell you in our first meeting so you won't get any surprises.

If you would like us to appear for you at sentencing for drink driving as well, we will charge an extra $230 (including GST).

You will also need to pay the court filing fee ($250 for demerit points, $150 for other disqualifications). You will also need to pay $48.70 to Waka Kotahi when you apply to them for you Limited Licence.

(All prices include GST)

Ready to go?

Get in touch with us! We will be happy to help.