License suspension — Virginia Permit Test
License suspension on the Virginia permit test — 7 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Suspension means your privilege to drive has been withdrawn for a time. You may pay the required fees and get your license back at the end of the suspension.
A suspension has an end date you can work toward, which is the whole difference between it and losing the license outright.
Revocation means your privilege to drive has been ended. To drive again you must reapply for a license after the revocation period has passed.
Nothing comes back on its own after a revocation, so the driver has to start the whole application again.
After a revocation you must pass the vision screening, the two-part knowledge exam and the road skills test, and pay the required fees, when you reapply.
The exams come back because the state is licensing you again from scratch rather than handing back what you had.
The court or DMV will suspend or revoke your privilege to drive if you are convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
A DUI conviction takes the license as a matter of course, so it is never only a fine.
Refusing to take a blood or breath test when charged with driving under the influence can lead the court to suspend or revoke your driving privilege.
Refusing does not avoid the penalty, it adds a separate one, so there is nothing to be gained by declining the test.
Your vehicle will be impounded for 30 days if you are caught driving after your license was suspended for an alcohol-related offense. A court can impound it for another 90 days on conviction.
Taking the car away is what stops a driver who has already ignored losing the license.
Making a false statement to DMV, or taking a driver’s license exam for another person, will suspend or revoke your privilege to drive.
The license only means anything if the person named on it is the person who passed the exam.
On the test
What does suspension of a driving privilege mean?
It is withdrawn for a period of time. A suspension has an end date you can work toward, which is the whole difference between it and losing the license outright.
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Virginia Driver’s Manual, published by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-02.
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/licenses-ids/exams/know-exam
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/forms/dmv39.pdf
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/documents/dmv39i.pdf
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/licenses-ids/learners/apply
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/licenses-ids/learners/restrictions
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-870/
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-873/
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-874/
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-862/