How Online Traffic School Works in California, Step by Step

Step 1 — Wait for your courtesy notice

Within roughly two to four weeks of the citation, the court mails a courtesy notice listing your bail amount, your due date, and — if you qualify — the traffic school option with its administrative fee. That notice, not the ticket, has the numbers that matter.

If nothing has arrived after about three weeks, look up your citation on your county Superior Court's website instead of waiting. A courtesy notice is exactly that: a courtesy. Missing it doesn't move your deadline.

Step 2 — Elect traffic school and pay the court

Tell the court you're electing traffic school — online, by mail, or in person, whichever your notice allows — and pay the bail plus the administrative fee by the due date. The court then sets your completion deadline, commonly 60 to 90 days out.

Step 3 — Pick a DMV-licensed school

Every school on the DMV's official traffic school list is accepted by every California court. Courts don't endorse individual schools, and no school can charge you for "court approval" — that's not a thing that exists.

Verify before you pay: search the lookup by business name or license number. Ours is #E0821. What the lookup does and doesn't tell you is covered in our guide to DMV-approved traffic schools.

Step 4 — Register and start

Enrolling with us takes about two minutes: your basic details, your court and citation information, and the $19.99 course fee. You can begin the first lesson immediately — there's no waiting period, no materials to ship, and no scheduling.

Step 5 — Work through the lessons at your own pace

Our course is 13 lessons covering California driving law and defensive driving, meeting the state's content requirement for online traffic violator school courses. Progress saves automatically, so you can do it in one sitting or across two weeks, switching between phone, tablet, and computer.

Identity-verification checks are built into the course, as the state requires for online delivery. No webcam, no proctor, no in-person visit. Budget five to six hours in total — the reasoning behind that number is in how long traffic school takes.

Step 6 — Pass the final exam

The final is 25 multiple-choice questions drawn from the course material, and 70% — 18 correct — passes. Most students pass on the first attempt. If you don't, you get a second attempt with a different set of questions, which unlocks seven days later.

More on what the exam covers: the California traffic school final exam, explained.

Step 7 — We report to the DMV; you confirm with the court

California traffic schools report completions electronically — you do not hand a certificate to anyone. Your receipt is issued the moment you pass, and we transmit your completion to the DMV the next business day.

1. Download and keep your completion receipt.
2. Give the court a few business days to process the electronic report.
3. Check your case status on the court's website — most counties show it online.
4. If it still shows as open after a week or so, call the clerk with your receipt in front of you.

Once the court closes the case, the conviction is held confidential and the point never counts. That's the whole point of the exercise — see what traffic school does to your record.