Michigan Driving Record: Order, Read and Fix It

By Mohamed SkhiriUpdated November 10, 2026Checked against the Michigan Secretary of State's pages

How to order your Michigan driving record

The Secretary of State's own instructions run through its online services. Sign in (or create an account) with MiLogin, open your profile, and choose the option to request your driving record; the older help pages point to the "More driver services" link under Driver's License and ID Services. The record arrives as an electronic copy, and the link to it stays live for only 7 days, so save the PDF as soon as it opens.

If you only want to see what's there for your own reference, the Secretary of State notes you may not need a certified record. Ask for certified only when a court, employer or agency says it must be certified.

Is a Michigan driving record online free?

Not that we could find. The Secretary of State's pages describe a paid record, and none of them mention a free Michigan driving record online. Sites that advertise one usually sell the same record at a markup, or a "report" that isn't the official record at all. Order it from the state.

What a Michigan driver record shows

A Michigan driver record lists your license details and status, traffic convictions with their points, and licensing actions such as suspensions, revocations and restorations. The Secretary of State publishes a guide, "How to Read the Michigan Driving Record," that decodes the abbreviations; it's worth opening alongside your copy, because entries are compressed into codes.

How long entries stay

• Points: two years from the conviction date.
• Tickets: a minimum of seven years, depending on the type of license and the type of ticket.
• Some convictions and licensing actions: at least 10 years; the state must keep driving records for 10 years.
• The most serious offenses: certain convictions, including impaired driving and offenses involving a death, stay permanently.

That split explains a common surprise: a ticket's points drop off after two years, but the conviction behind it stays visible for years after that, and an employer reading the record will see it.

What to look at before a job or insurance check

Read your copy the way the other side will. Start with the license status line: anything other than valid needs explaining before an employer finds it. Then scan the convictions for dates; most employers only weigh the last three to five years, so an old ticket matters less than a recent one. Look for open items such as a failure to appear or an unpaid ticket, which can suspend a license without you noticing, and clear them with the court first. Finally, compare each entry with your own memory. A ticket you paid should show as a conviction, not as pending; one you won should not appear as a conviction at all.

Points on a Michigan driving record

Michigan acts on points within any two-year window. At 4 points, the Secretary of State sends a letter saying you have more points than the average Michigan driver. At 8, a warning. At 12, you're called in for a driver reexamination, where your license can be suspended or restricted. Our points checker runs those numbers for you.

Requesting someone else's Michigan driving record

Federal and Michigan privacy law limit who can see another person's record. Businesses and individuals with a permissible purpose, such as an employer screening a driver or an insurer rating a policy, request it through the Secretary of State's record sales service. The Secretary of State lists $15 per record, or $16 for a certified copy. An employer using a background screening company also has the Fair Credit Reporting Act steps covered on our MVR guide.

Fixing or clearing entries

If a conviction on your record isn't yours, or the court's outcome was recorded wrong, contact the court that handled the ticket; the Secretary of State records what courts report. Michigan's Attorney General notes that some traffic convictions can be set aside, but a set-aside conviction still stays on your driving record, so it won't make an entry disappear from the copy an employer orders. If your license was suspended, the Secretary of State's Road to Restoration pages walk through reinstatement.

Michigan driving record FAQ