How Many Points Suspend a License in Virginia?

18 demerit points in 12 months, or 24 in 24 months, is the level at which the Virginia DMV suspends a license: 90 days, and thereafter until a driver improvement clinic is completed (Va. Code § 46.2-506 B). Since the 2025 session the driver may instead choose nine months in the Intelligent Speed Assistance Program plus a clinic. Two lower rungs come first — an advisory letter at 8 points, a required clinic at 12 — and a separate rule can suspend a license at 3 points.

How many points suspend a license in Virginia

Demerit points	In 12 months	In 24 months	What the DMV does
8	✓	—	Advisory letter listing the convictions (§ 46.2-495)
12	—	✓	Advisory letter (§ 46.2-495)
12	✓	—	Directs a driver improvement clinic (§ 46.2-498 A) and six months’ probation (§ 46.2-499 A)
18	—	✓	Directs a clinic (§ 46.2-498 A) and probation
18	✓	—	90-day suspension, then until a clinic is completed — or nine months of a speed limiter plus a clinic (§ 46.2-506 B)
24	—	✓	Same as 18 in 12 months

The choice at the top rung is new and is the driver’s to make. Section 46.2-506 B, as amended in the 2025 session, requires the DMV to send written notice setting out both options; the driver “shall indicate his choice to the Department within 30 days of the receipt of such written notice,” and the DMV suspends the license of anyone who does not answer in time. Neither option allows the operation of a commercial motor vehicle.

The counting window matters as much as the number. Points are counted by the date the offense was committed, not the date of conviction, so a conviction entered months later still lands in the window of the offense.

What each violation is worth

Section 46.2-492 D caps any single conviction at six points and sorts offenses into three bands.

Points	Band	Examples named in the statute
6	Serious	Driving while intoxicated, driving under 21 after illegally consuming alcohol, reckless driving, 20 or more mph above the posted limit, racing
4	Relatively serious	Failure to yield the right of way, 10 to 19 mph above the posted limit, following too closely, failure to stop when entering a highway, aggressive driving
3	Less serious	Improper driving, 1 to 9 mph above the posted limit, improper passing, failure to obey a highway sign

Driving on a suspended or revoked license is a six-point violation and stays on the Virginia driving record for 11 years, according to the DMV’s six-point violation list. The Commissioner also assigns point values to convictions received from other states and from Canada (§ 46.2-492 B), and no points at all attach to a conviction that resulted from a vehicle being parked or stopped on the shoulder so the driver could sleep or rest (subsection C).

One rule works in a driver’s favor. Under subsection E, where a person is convicted of two or more traffic offenses committed on a single occasion, “he shall be assessed points for one offense only,” and where the point values differ, for the offense with the higher value.

Points expire; convictions do not

These are two different clocks, and conflating them is the commonest mistake on this subject.

• Demerit points are “valid for a period of two years from the date the offense was committed” (§ 46.2-493). After that they stop counting toward a suspension.
• The conviction stays on the DMV driving record for the number of years set for that violation — commonly 3, 5 or 11 years.
• One exception keeps points alive: points “used prior to the termination of the two-year period as the basis for suspension, revocation, probation, or other action which extends beyond the two-year period shall remain valid until the suspension, revocation, probationary period, or other action has terminated.”

So a driver whose points expire is not left with a clean record, and a driver already on probation does not escape it when the two years run out.

Suspensions during probation and driver control

The rung most drivers are actually suspended on is not 18 points. It is a single conviction while on DMV probation.

Section 46.2-499 A puts every driver directed to a clinic under § 46.2-498 on probation for six months. A conviction for any demerit-point offense committed during that probation brings an immediate suspension:

Points on the new conviction	Suspension
6	90 days
4	60 days
3	45 days

The driver then goes back on probation for another six months when the suspension ends. That is how a three-point speeding ticket suspends a license for 45 days.

A restricted license is available, and on the first such suspension it is close to a right: subsection B says that “upon request, the Commissioner shall grant a restricted license during the first period of suspension,” provided the driver is otherwise eligible, with written verification of employment, continuing education or medically necessary travel. On a second or subsequent suspension under the section it is available “only if the violation occurred within a probation period that was immediately preceded by a control period.” The routes to one are set out in our page on asking the DMV or a court for a restricted license.

After every probation comes an 18-month driver control period (§ 46.2-500). A points conviction during that period puts the driver back on six months’ probation and starts another 18 months of control status. And under § 46.2-506 A, an operating record showing “a continued disregard of the motor vehicle laws subsequent to being placed on probation” can bring a formal hearing at which the driver is charged as a reckless or negligent driver.

Getting points off a Virginia license

Three mechanisms exist, and only two of them are within a driver’s control.

1. Safe driving points. One point for each full calendar year with no suspension, revocation or traffic conviction on the record, up to a maximum balance of five (§ 46.2-494). The Commissioner applies them against the chronologically earliest valid demerit points. A conviction that turns up later for an offense committed during that year invalidates the point.
2. A driver improvement clinic. Satisfactory completion subtracts five demerit points, or awards safe driving points where fewer than five demerit points exist — never taking the balance above the five-point cap (§ 46.2-498 C). Either the points or an insurance premium reduction may be taken, not both, and only once in a two-year period. A driver may attend voluntarily whether or not he has any points at all (subsection D).
3. Time. Two years from the date of the offense, under § 46.2-493.

A clinic may charge no more than $100 in total, including a $10 processing fee the provider collects for the DMV (§ 46.2-502). Where the DMV has directed attendance, the notice must state that the clinic be completed within 90 days of its date (§ 46.2-501 A), and failing to finish one that was required suspends the privilege to drive “until such person satisfactorily completes the driver improvement clinic” — with no fixed end date (§ 46.2-503). That suspension expressly does not apply to voluntary attendees.

A court can also order a clinic on any traffic conviction (§ 46.2-505 A), and decides whether safe driving points are awarded for it; without that notification the DMV awards none. Subsection B bars any court from reducing, dismissing or deferring a charge on the strength of a clinic where the driver holds a commercial license or was driving a commercial vehicle.

Drivers under 18

The thresholds are lower. Under § 46.2-498 B, a driver under 18 whose record shows nine points in 12 months, or twelve in 24, is directed to a clinic and placed on probation under § 46.2-499. The DMV’s published rules for drivers under 18 go further: a first demerit-point conviction requires a clinic within 90 days, a second brings a 90-day suspension, and a third brings revocation for one year or until the driver turns 18, whichever is longer.

Out-of-state licenses, and the charge that follows a suspension

Virginia’s demerit points attach to a Virginia driving record, so they cannot be added to a license another state issued. What Virginia can suspend is the privilege to drive here: § 46.2-301 B applies to “no resident or nonresident” whose license or privilege has been suspended or revoked. A conviction reported to the home state is then dealt with under that state’s own rules — § 46.2-492 B shows Virginia doing the same in reverse, assigning point values to convictions received from other jurisdictions.

Driving during any of these suspensions is a Class 1 misdemeanor under § 46.2-301: up to 12 months in jail, a fine of up to $2,500, and a court that must re-impose the suspension. Because a points suspension under § 46.2-503 has no fixed end, that re-imposition takes the form of an additional period of up to 90 days. The full offense is set out in driving on a suspended license in Virginia, and the reinstatement sequence in the steps to getting the license back. Where a suspension turns on whether a particular conviction should have carried points at all, or on a formal hearing under § 46.2-506 A, a Virginia traffic attorney is the right person to review the record. The other grounds on which a Virginia license can be suspended are collected in our overview of Virginia license suspensions.