FHV License Storage: Pause Your Plates for Up to 90 Days

In short: If you hold an FHV vehicle license ("TLC plates") and need a break, you can put the license in TLC's Short-Term FHV License Storage Program for up to 90 days, once in each two-year license term. There is no fee. First you surrender your plates at DMV; then, within 60 days, you request storage in TLC UP. To come back, you file a plate or vehicle transfer and pass inspection. Stay past 90 days and you face a $300 fine, suspension and possible revocation.

Storage is the only TLC-approved way to pause an FHV license. It matters more than ever because TLC issues new FHV licenses only for wheelchair accessible vehicles (see the FHV license cap explained). If you lose your license, you probably cannot get a regular one back.

What storage is, in plain words

FHV license storage means TLC marks your vehicle license "in storage" for a short time. During that time:

• the car cannot work for hire;
• TLC does not enforce its insurance and inspection requirements (Rule §59A-36(a)(1));
• the license disappears from TLC's Open Data list of active vehicles, and its status changes to "in storage" (TLC storage page).

TLC says the program is meant for licensees "traveling overseas for an extended period" or "experiencing issues with their vehicle". This is for the vehicle license only. Your TLC driver license has separate rules; see can I pause my TLC plates while abroad? for the driver-license side of a long trip.

Are you eligible?

The first, second, third and sixth items come from the rule and TLC's page; the renewal-pending block and the 48-hour note come from TLC's page.

Step by step: putting the license in storage

Do steps 2 and 4 close together. TLC requires the storage request within 60 days of the plate surrender. Separately, rule §59A-06(d) says an FHV license ends early if its plates are voluntarily surrendered, and a license that ends early cannot be renewed or reinstated. The rules do not describe what happens if you surrender plates and then never file for storage, so do not leave a gap. Check your eligibility in TLC UP before you go to DMV, and email LicensingInquiries@tlc.nyc.gov if anything is unclear.

Your storage calendar

Getting the license out of storage

You leave storage by filing a transfer in TLC UP. TLC's storage page describes two kinds:

• Plate transfer: "a process of getting new TLC plates to remove the vehicle license from storage." Use this to come back with the same car.
• Vehicle transfer: a change of car on your license. Choose it if you already registered your new car with TLC plates at DMV.

Because the exit has several steps, start well before day 90. If your new plates or inspection are delayed, keep copies of every email and receipt so you can show you acted in time.

A worked example

Say your FHV license expires on December 15, and you plan to visit family abroad from May 1 to July 20.

1. You check TLC UP in April: no suspensions, no unpaid fines, no transfers pending, no renewal pending.
2. You surrender the plates at DMV on April 25 and keep the receipt. On April 28 the surrender shows in TLC UP and you request storage. You are well inside the 60-day window.
3. Storage starts on April 28, so the 90 days run out around July 26–27. That leaves less than a week after you land. To be safe, you file the plate transfer in TLC UP from abroad around July 1, so the plate letter and inspection appointment are ready when you return.
4. Your expiration date (December 15) is after storage ends, so you do not have to renew on the way out. You still file the renewal at least 30 days before December 15.

If instead your trip ran from October to January, the storage period would pass your December 15 expiration date, and you would have to complete all renewal requirements to come out. Renewing first, then going into storage, is usually simpler.

Base affiliation and your lessee

The storage rule switches off TLC's insurance and inspection requirements. It does not mention base affiliation, and the non-use rule (§59A-08(c)) counts 60 or more days without a base as a reason for revocation. Before you leave, ask your base and TLC whether your affiliation stays in place while the license is stored. If you lease the car to another driver, the lease must say what happens when the car is unavailable: rule §59A-21(c)(4) requires lease payments to be pro-rated when the car cannot be used for a reason that is not the driver's fault.

What storage does not do

• It does not pause your renewal date. If the storage period runs past your expiration date, you must complete all renewal requirements when you come out (§59A-36(a)(3)). Renewal itself is explained in renewing TLC plates.
• It does not save an expired license. TLC's FAQ: if the license has expired, "you will not be able to renew your license and would have to apply for a wheelchair accessible vehicle license."
• It cannot be used twice. Once per two-year term, even if you came out after 30 days.
• It does not clear summonses. You must clear suspensions and pay fines before you can enter.
• It is not the same as medallion storage. Yellow taxi medallions use a separate process.

If you overstay or never come back

Rule §59A-36(a)(4) and TLC's FAQ set out the consequences:

Non-use revocation is explained in how an FHV license gets revoked for non-use.

The old COVID storage program

During the pandemic TLC ran a separate COVID-19 FHV License Storage Program. It ended on August 31, 2023. Licenses still in it on that date were not moved to the short-term program, and those that had not expired became subject to the same fines, suspension and non-use revocation (§59A-36(b)). TLC adopted the current program by a notice of promulgation dated September 13, 2023.

Related questions

• Can I rent my plates to someone while I travel? No. FHV licenses cannot be transferred to another person; see can I sell or transfer my FHV license? and can I rent TLC plates for my own car?.
• What do plates, plate letters and plate transfers involve? See TLC plates for FHVs.
• More owner topics: the vehicles hub.