The date of issuance of the driving license does not correspond to the date of obtaining it. Confusing the two generates errors in administrative procedures, insurance declarations, and the calculation of the probationary period. Here we detail reliable methods to locate this date according to the format of your document, and the recourse when the physical document is no longer available.
Column 4a of the card license: locating the date of issuance in the European format
On the card format license, the date of issuance is found in section 4a on the front. This section indicates the date on which the physical document was issued or reissued by the administration. It changes with each renewal of the document, each duplicate, and each addition of category.
Section 4b, just below, mentions the administrative expiration date of the document. Do not confuse these two fields with column 10, which bears the date of obtaining each category. Column 10 remains fixed for a given category, even after a card renewal.
For those who want to know everything about the date of issuance of the license, the distinction between these sections directly affects the validity of the information transmitted to insurers and vehicle rental companies.
Old pink three-part license
On the cardboard license, the date of issuance is printed on the front, usually under the stamp of the issuing prefecture. The date format varies depending on the time of issuance. On documents issued before the year 2000, the print may be partially erased due to wear.
If the text is unreadable, the prefectural stamp sometimes contains an exploitable date. In the absence of any readable indication, the full information statement remains the only reliable source.
Full information statement: finding the date of issuance without the physical license
The full information statement (RII) is the most comprehensive document to reconstruct the history of a driving license. Issued free of charge by the prefecture or sub-prefecture, it contains the date of issuance of the valid document, the dates of obtaining by category, the points balance, and the history of infractions.
We recommend the RII in three specific situations:
- Loss or theft of the license, when the request for a duplicate is in progress and immediate proof is needed for an insurer or employer
- Old format license whose print has become unreadable, rendering the date section unusable
- Complex history with several category additions or successive renewals, where the visible date of issuance on the last document does not reflect the actual seniority of the right to drive
The request for RII is made by mail or in person at the prefecture of the residence department. Some prefectures accept requests by email with a copy of an identity document.
ANTS online service and consultation
The France Titres (ANTS) website allows you to consult certain information related to the license via the personal space. The points balance consultation is accessible there, but the date of issuance does not systematically appear in the online interface. The online service mainly displays the status of the ongoing request (production, sending) and not the complete history of the document.
To obtain an enforceable document mentioning the date of issuance, the RII remains the safest route. The ANTS space is more for tracking procedures than for consulting a detailed history.
Date of issuance and date of obtaining the license: practical consequences
The confusion between these two dates has concrete effects on the probationary period and insurance obligations. The probationary period is calculated from the date of obtaining (column 10), not from the date of issuance of the document. A driver who renews their card license after the administrative expiration does not start a probationary period.
Insurers sometimes ask for the date of obtaining, sometimes the date of issuance. The date of obtaining is used to assess driving seniority and the bonus-malus coefficient. The date of issuance is used to verify the validity of the presented document. Providing one instead of the other can lead to a refusal of coverage in the event of a claim.
In the case of duplicates and renewals
Each issuance of a new physical document generates a new date of issuance in section 4a. A license obtained twenty years ago but recently renewed will display a recent date of issuance. This does not mean that the driver is a new driver.
To prove the actual seniority of the right to drive to a vehicle rental company or an employer, the RII is valid where the physical document may mislead. We observe that most disputes with insurers arise from this confusion between the seniority of the right and the date of the document.
New European rules on the validity of the license and date of issuance
Licenses in card format have a limited administrative validity period. The renewal of the document is mandatory upon expiration indicated in section 4b. This renewal is purely administrative: it does not require a medical examination or retaking the code for category B, except in special cases.
European regulatory developments foresee the end of the unlimited duration license within a few years. The old pink or cardboard formats will need to be converted to card format. During this conversion, a new date of issuance will be assigned to the document, while the dates of obtaining by category will remain unchanged in column 10.
Keeping a copy of the old license and requesting an RII before the conversion allows for a documented trace of the entire history. Once the new document is issued, only the information reported by the administration will be valid.
The date of issuance of the driving license is a simple administrative data, but its location and interpretation depend on the format of the document and its history. The full information statement remains the reference document to clarify any ambiguity, whether in front of an insurer, a rental company, or during a roadside check.