After a DUI arrest in California, the officer takes your driver’s license and hands you a pink piece of paper called the DS-367. For a lot of people, the first question is whether that pink slip is actually good for anything practical, including renting a car. The answer depends on where you are in the process, which rental company you approach, and a few factors that are easy to get wrong.

What the DS-367 Actually Is

The DS-367 is a California DMV form officially titled the Administrative Per Se Suspension/Revocation Order and Temporary Driver License. It is two things at once: a notice that the DMV intends to suspend your driving privilege, and a temporary license that authorizes you to drive for 30 days from the date of your arrest.

During that 30-day window, assuming your original California license was valid at the time of your arrest, the DS-367 gives you complete and unrestricted driving privileges. You are not on a restricted license. You are not limited to driving to work or to DUI school. You can drive anywhere, for any reason, just as you could before your arrest. That changes after 30 days, or sooner if you do not request a DMV hearing within 10 days and the suspension takes effect. Read Just Got a DUI: What Do I Do? for the full picture on that deadline.

One important note: if your original license was not valid at the time of your arrest, the DS-367 does not grant you any driving privileges at all.

Can You Rent a Car With the DS-367?

During the 30-day temporary license period, the legal answer is yes. You have a valid, unrestricted driving privilege. The practical answer is more complicated, because rental companies set their own policies and those policies vary.

The key factor that works in your favor during the DS-367 period is that you have not been convicted of anything. You have been arrested, but an arrest is not a conviction. Your driving record at this moment does not necessarily show a DUI conviction, and most rental companies run driving record checks rather than criminal background checks. If the check comes back showing a valid, unrestricted license with no DUI conviction on record, many companies will rent to you.

The key factor working against you is that the DS-367 is not a standard license card. It is a piece of paper. Some rental counter agents do not know what it is. Some companies have internal policies that flag it. And some companies that do conduct thorough checks may see that your license was seized and draw their own conclusions.

What the Major Rental Companies Say

Policies change and are not always applied uniformly at every location, but here is what the major companies have generally established:

  • Avis and Budget explicitly prohibit renting to drivers with a DUI in the past 48 months. However, that restriction applies to convictions. During your DS-367 period, if there is no conviction on your record yet, their system may not flag you. Their published policy also states that a temporary license is acceptable as long as it carries no restrictions during the rental period, which the DS-367 does not.
  • Enterprise, Hertz, and National do not publish explicit DUI waiting periods in the same way, but all require a valid, unrestricted license. The DS-367 satisfies that requirement on its face.
  • Smaller and independent rental companies vary widely. Some only glance at your license to confirm it exists. Others do nothing more than swipe it. A pink piece of paper from the DMV will likely prompt more questions at these locations than at a major counter.

The reality is that no rental company is required to verify your DMV record before renting to you, and not all of them do. But the ones that do run checks can and will deny you if their policy prohibits it.

Practical Tips for Renting During Your DS-367 Period

Call ahead. Before driving to the rental counter, call the company and ask about their policy on temporary licenses. Do not volunteer that it is a DUI-related document. Ask simply whether they accept California DMV temporary licenses and whether there are any restrictions on unrestricted temporary licenses. The answer tells you whether it is worth showing up.

Bring a second form of ID. Many rental companies that accept temporary licenses still require a second government-issued identification document, such as a passport, to confirm your identity since the DS-367 does not include a photograph.

Join loyalty programs in advance. Some rental company loyalty programs allow members to go directly to the car without stopping at the counter for a full license check. Enrollment takes a few minutes online and can sidestep the issue entirely at participating locations.

Book at multiple locations. If you have a trip coming up and you are not sure whether you will be approved, make reservations at two or three different companies. Most reservations can be canceled without penalty, and having a backup removes the pressure of a single point of failure.

Do not try to use the DS-367 after it expires. Once the 30 days are up, the DS-367 is no longer a valid license. Presenting it to a rental company after that point, or after your license has been suspended, is presenting an invalid license. That is a separate legal problem on top of everything else.

What Happens After the 30 Days

Once your DS-367 expires, your situation depends on what has happened with your DMV case. If your attorney requested a DMV hearing within the 10-day window, a stay is placed on your suspension while the hearing is pending, and you may receive an extension of your temporary driving privilege. If no hearing was requested or if you lost the hearing, your license will be suspended and you will not legally be able to rent or drive.

During a suspension period, rental is not an option at any reputable company. A suspended license is not a valid license, and presenting one to rent a vehicle creates legal exposure well beyond the inconvenience of finding another way around.

If you end up with a restricted license that requires an ignition interlock device, that restriction also effectively ends your ability to rent. No major rental company maintains a fleet of IID-equipped vehicles, and driving a rental car without an IID when your license requires one is a probation violation.

After a Conviction

Once a DUI conviction appears on your driving record, most major rental companies will deny your application for a period of time. The most common threshold is 48 months from the date of conviction. Some companies are stricter. A few smaller operators may not run records at all, but relying on that is not a strategy worth building around, especially since driving in violation of your license status or probation conditions can make your legal situation significantly worse.

The longer-term takeaway is that avoiding a conviction in the first place, or achieving a reduction to a lesser charge, protects far more than just your criminal record. It protects your ability to drive a rental car on a business trip, rent a vehicle on vacation, and go about your normal life without running into walls that most people never think about until they are standing at a rental counter being turned away.

Conclusion

During your 30-day DS-367 period, renting a car is legally possible and practically achievable with the right preparation. Call ahead, bring a second ID, and understand that individual counter agents have discretion. Once that window closes, your options narrow significantly depending on the outcome of your DMV case. The best thing you can do for your long-term ability to rent, drive, and move freely is to fight your case seriously from the beginning.

Citations

  1. California Vehicle Code § 13353.2 (Administrative Per Se suspension).
  2. California Vehicle Code § 13558 (temporary license and hearing rights).
  3. California DMV Form DS-367 (Administrative Per Se Suspension/Revocation Order and Temporary Driver License).
  4. Avis Rent a Car published rental eligibility policy.
  5. California Vehicle Code § 23152 (DUI offenses generally).