How To Really "Read" A Person's Drivers License

Posted by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. in Screening Tenants / Comments

I always enjoy learning information that will assist my clients and myself when screening potential new tenants.  Based on my review of the Analytics for my blog, readers also appreciate this info because my post on the Social Security Number Validator consistently ranks as one of the most viewed posts each month.

While co-presenting at the City of Milwaukee and UWM's Landlord Training Program this past October I learned that a person's drivers license has all kinds of hidden elements that allow you to verify that the person handing you the DL is the actual person who was issued the DL. 

Here's what I learned:

Assume that you are looking at a DL of a person named Jane No who has a DOB of 1937 and a DL # of N242-5323-7833-04.

1.     The first letter of the individual's last name will be the first letter of the DL #.  In this case it is the letter "N."

2.     The last number of the second grouping of numbers in the DL# and the first number of the 3rd grouping of numbers in the DL will be the individual's birth year.  In this example it is "37"

3.     If the last three numbers in the third grouping of numbers in the DL # is greater than 500 then the individual that you are looking at should be a female.  In the example provided the number is "833" which means that Jane No is a female.   Similarly if the last three numbers in the third grouping of numbers in the DL # are below 500 then the person who handed you the DL should be a male.

4.     To determine the the individual's DOB you can do the following:

For Females:  Take the last three numbers in the third grouping of numbers and subtract 500.

For Males:   Take the last three numbers in the third grouping of numbers but DO NOT subtract 500.

Applying this to our example, we note that the last three numbers of the third grouping of numbers of Jane's DL # are "833."  So we should do the following calculation:  833 - 500 = 333.

Next we take 333 and divide it by 40.  The first number of the answer is an "8."  You should take that number and add "1" to it to get the month of the individual's birthday.  So in this example 333/40 = 8.325  We take the first number of the answer which is  "8" and +1 to get "9" which corresponds with the month of September.  So Jane was born in the month of September in 1937.

Obviously this  information is most beneficial if the applicant whose ID you are looking at (and whose application you are reviewing) is using someone else's DL or has "doctored" the DOB on the DL for some reason.  I'm certainly glad that the bouncers at the bars at UW-Madison did not know this information back when I was in college or I might have had to spend more time at the movies or the library : )