Aiken County License Hearing Guide

Aiken's own SCDMV branch, on Richland Ave East, opens an hour late every Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. instead of the usual 8:30. A defendant racing over before work to file for a Temporary Alcohol License finds locked doors more often than not on that particular morning, so checking the SCDMV's online wait-time tool before driving over saves a wasted trip regardless of the day.

Refusing the breath test, or blowing 0.15% or higher, triggers an immediate license suspension on the spot. Contesting it means submitting Form ADH-001 and a $200 fee to the Office of Motor Vehicle Hearings in Columbia within exactly 30 days of the Notice of Suspension, a deadline with zero flexibility and no waiver for hardship. Mailing it certified with a return receipt well before day 28, not on day 28, is the only real insurance against a lost or delayed filing wiping out the right to a hearing entirely. The hearing itself only asks whether the arrest was lawful and whether the implied consent procedure was followed correctly, nothing about ultimate guilt.

Filing on time doesn't restore driving privileges automatically. The OMVH doesn't issue licenses at all; once it confirms the hearing request, a separate trip to the local SCDMV branch is required to actually process the Temporary Alcohol License, which then keeps someone legally driving while the administrative case works through the backlog.

South Carolina's Emma's Law expansion pushed nearly every DUI offender toward mandatory ignition interlock installation rather than the old route-restricted license. Intoxalock operates directly out of Eastside Automotive & Towing on Beaufort Street, the same facility that handles much of the Highway Patrol's rotation towing, so a vehicle already sitting there from an impound can sometimes have its interlock installed without a second trip. Smart Start services the area through Augusta ATV in North Augusta, by appointment only.