When you were arrested for DUI in San Diego, the officer almost certainly took your driver's license and handed you a pink piece of paper. That form is an Order of Suspension and Temporary License. It is not a courtesy notice. It is the opening move in an administrative case the DMV brings against your driving privilege, and it runs on its own schedule, entirely separate from the criminal charge filed by the District Attorney.
The deadline is the part people miss. Under Vehicle Code section 13558, you have 10 days from the date that order was served on you to request an administrative hearing. Miss it and you lose the right to a hearing altogether — the suspension simply begins when the temporary license expires, whether or not you are ever convicted of anything. Marc Kohnen has been defending DUI cases in San Diego since 2008, and the first call he makes on a new DUI is to the DMV Driver Safety Office.
Two Cases, Two Sets of Rules
This surprises most clients: you can beat the criminal charge in court and still lose your license at the DMV. The two proceedings ask different questions, apply different standards, and are decided by different people. The criminal case asks whether the People can prove a violation of Vehicle Code section 23152 beyond a reasonable doubt, in front of a judge and jury. The DMV case asks a narrower question under a much lower standard, in front of a DMV employee.
That is why the administrative case cannot be treated as an afterthought. For a lot of clients, the license matters more day to day than the criminal exposure does. Losing it means losing the commute, and sometimes the job.
The 10-Day Deadline
Ten days is calendar days, counted from the date the suspension order was served — which is normally the day of arrest, at the roadside or at the jail. There is no automatic extension because you had not hired a lawyer yet, and the DMV is not required to remind you.
Requesting the hearing in time does two things. It preserves your right to contest the suspension at all, and it lets you ask for a stay, so the suspension does not begin while the hearing is pending. In practice that often keeps a client driving for weeks or months longer than they otherwise would have. The request also opens the DMV's file to you, which is where the defense usually starts.
- Request the hearing within 10 days of service of the suspension order
- Ask for a stay of the suspension pending the hearing
- Request the DMV's complete discovery package, including the officer's sworn report
- Request an in-person hearing rather than a telephone hearing where the facts warrant it
- Subpoena the arresting officer and the breath instrument's maintenance and calibration records
What the Hearing Actually Decides
The scope is narrow, and that narrowness is a defense tool. In a standard chemical-test case, the hearing officer decides three issues, and the DMV carries the burden of proof on each by a preponderance of the evidence:
- Did the peace officer have reasonable cause to believe you were driving a motor vehicle in violation of the DUI statutes
- Were you lawfully arrested
- Was your blood alcohol concentration 0.08 percent or more at the time of driving
Where These Cases Are Won
Because the issues are narrow, the defense is technical rather than sympathetic. Nothing at a DMV hearing turns on whether you are a good person having a bad month. It turns on whether the DMV's own paperwork establishes all three elements.
The third issue — your BAC at the time of driving, not at the time of the test — is often the most productive. Alcohol absorption is not instantaneous, and a test taken well after the stop does not automatically establish what your BAC was behind the wheel. Rising-alcohol arguments live here. So do questions about the fifteen-minute observation period before a breath test, the instrument's accuracy records, whether the operator was properly trained, and whether the blood vial was drawn, sealed, and stored the way Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations requires.
The first two issues invite a different attack. If the traffic stop itself had no legal basis, or the arrest was not lawful, the DMV cannot satisfy its burden regardless of what the number was. And the officer's sworn report is a document written by a person who can be subpoenaed and questioned about it.
How Long the Suspension Lasts
If the hearing officer upholds the suspension, the length depends on your history and on whether a chemical test was taken. A first offense with a BAC of 0.08 percent or more generally carries a four-month administrative suspension. A refusal to submit to testing carries a one-year suspension under Vehicle Code section 13353, and that suspension applies even in cases where the criminal charge is later reduced or dismissed.
Separately, a DUI conviction in the criminal case triggers its own suspension through the court. The two can overlap, and coordinating them is part of the work. Many first offenders are also eligible to keep driving on a restricted license with an ignition interlock device installed, and the timing of that application matters.
If You Already Missed the 10 Days
Call anyway. There are situations where the DMV will still set a hearing — where the order was never properly served, where the officer's paperwork was defective, or where the department made an error in processing. Those arguments are narrower and harder than a timely request, but they exist, and they are worth checking before you accept a suspension as final.
There may also be relief available in the criminal case that affects the license outcome, along with restricted-license and interlock options that shorten the practical impact of a suspension already in force.
Talk to Marc Before the Clock Runs Out
The DMV hearing is the one part of a DUI case with a hard deadline measured in days rather than months, and it is the part clients most often lose by default rather than on the merits. If you were arrested for DUI anywhere in San Diego County, the request needs to go in now, whether or not you have decided who will handle the criminal case.
Marc handles the DMV case and the criminal case together, because the evidence in one shapes the strategy in the other. Call (619) 398-2500 for a free, confidential consultation — the line is answered 24 hours.
More on DUI & DWI
- First Offense DUI — VC §23536 penalties, probation terms, and where a first-offense case is actually won.
- Felony DUI — Injury, a fourth offense in ten years, or a prior felony DUI — state prison exposure under VC §23153 and §23550.
- Chemical Test Refusal — VC §23612 implied consent — a one-year suspension that outlives a dismissal, and how refusals are challenged.
- DUI of Drugs — No legal limit means the People must prove real impairment — cannabis, prescriptions and the DRE evaluation.
- Underage DUI — Zero tolerance at 0.01% under VC §23136 — a one-year suspension with no conviction required.
Back to the DUI & DWI overview.
Legally reviewed by Marc S. Kohnen, Attorney at Law — State Bar of California #255303, defending San Diego since 2008.
Free, confidential case evaluation — available 24 hours at (619) 398-2500.