Quick answer
Most completions show up on your driver record within a few minutes. The most common reason for a delay is the routine DOL maintenance window every Wednesday between 8:30 PM and 9:00 PM Pacific Time. Completions during that window can take up to an hour to appear.
You don’t need to do anything during a delay — the platform retries automatically.
In this article
- What is the typical timing for course completions?
- What is the Wednesday maintenance window?
- What are some other reasons a completion may take a little longer?
- What happens when a delay becomes a missing completion?
What is the typical timing for course completions?
When you pass the quiz and conclusion, the course platform sends your completion to DOL’s DRIVES system right away. In most cases, your driver record is updated within a few minutes. The table below covers the most common timing patterns.
| Situation | Typical wait | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| You just finished the course | A few minutes | Refresh your DOL driver portal. Most completions appear almost immediately. |
| You finished on Wednesday between 8:30 PM and 9:00 PM Pacific Time | Up to 1 hour | This is during the routine DOL maintenance window. No action needed. |
| You finished during a peak time (for example, late June or July) | Up to 30 minutes | More learners are finishing at the same time, which can slow the queue. No action needed. |
| You see a “Submitting your completion…” spinner for more than 5 minutes | Up to 15 minutes | The platform will retry automatically. Don’t refresh the completion page yet. |
| It’s been more than 1 hour and the completion still isn’t showing | — | Treat it as a missing completion and contact support. |
What is the Wednesday maintenance window?
DOL runs routine system maintenance for the DRIVES system every Wednesday at 8:30 PM Pacific Time, for up to 30 minutes. During this window, completions are still recorded — they’re held in a queue and applied as soon as the maintenance window ends. Most queued completions appear within an hour.
What to know about the Wednesday window
- It happens every Wednesday — not a one-time event.
- It’s scheduled by DOL, not the course platform.
- Your completion is not lost. The platform will keep retrying until your record is updated.
- If you have an urgent licensing deadline, try to finish the course outside this window when possible.
What are some other reasons a completion may take a little longer?
Aside from the Wednesday maintenance window, a few other situations can add a short, expected delay:
- Peak times. Late June and July tend to be the busiest stretch of the year, because many under-25 drivers are getting their first license before fall. The platform handles high volume well, but you may see a few extra minutes of queue time.
- Automatic retries. If a network blip or short DRIVES outage interrupts the first delivery, the platform retries until the completion is accepted. You don’t see this happen — it’s designed to be invisible.
- Cached pages. If your driver record on a DOL page hasn’t refreshed yet, sign out and back into your DOL portal to see the latest version.
Behind the scenes
We operate a daily reconciliation report that compares the LMS and DRIVES records. Any completion that didn’t reach DOL on the first pass is automatically flagged for review and applied, so delays self-correct in the background.
What happens when a delay becomes a missing completion?
If it’s been more than 60 minutes since you finished the course and your completion still isn’t on your DOL record, treat it as a missing completion rather than a delay. The steps to follow are different — you’ll want to contact support so we can check the platform side and escalate to DOL if needed.
See What should I do if my completion is missing? for the next steps.
⚠ Urgent licensing deadline?
If you have a driver license appointment in the next few business days and your completion still hasn’t appeared after an hour, contact support right away rather than waiting longer. We’ll prioritize the case and, if needed, escalate to DOL’s manual lookup process so your licensing isn’t held up.