8.4 Records, Receipts, Contracts, Refunds & Retention

Records Must Reconstruct the Transaction

Part 76 §76.8 requires records that show who received service, what was delivered, by whom, when, under which contract if any, and how payment was receipted. Transactions must be posted by the close of the third business day after the transaction. The regulation allows electronic or hardcopy systems.

Student record

For each student, the record contains the complete name, address, telephone number if any, each written contract number if any, a description of services with date and time, the instructor's name, and each receipt number. Student records are maintained alphabetically and may be divided into active and inactive files. They may be removed from the file only for posting.

The regulation does not prescribe the expanded fields invented in the original guide, such as mandatory vehicle plate, instructor-certificate number, student signature, permit client ID, or exact start/end fields in every student record. A school can use additional approved operational fields, but it must distinguish them from the regulatory minimum.

MV-526 is the Driving School Instructor Termination Notice used under §76.15(f). It is not a student-record card.

Financial system and receipts

The school maintains a receipt-and-disbursement system. Receipt entries identify the date, student, receipt number, and amount. Disbursement entries identify date, payee, description, and amount. Supporting receipts and invoices are retained for at least three years.

A receipt is issued whenever money is paid for instruction, training, materials, or another licensed service. It shows the preprinted school name and address and receipt number, student name, payment date, amount, service, contract number if any, duration of each lesson, and authorized signature. Numbers are sequential and cannot repeat; the customer receives the original and the school retains the duplicate in number order.

Contracts and refunds

A written contract is optional. If used, the school may use only a form approved by the Commissioner, issue contracts in consecutive order, retain duplicates in numeric order, and place the number on the student record. Required preprinted terms include school identity, contract number, number and duration of lessons, the pre-licensing-course price exclusion when applicable, road-test vehicle provision, payment terms, signature/date fields, and the statement that the writing constitutes the agreement and verbal promises are not recognized.

Each contract—or the receipt if no contract exists—states the refund rule. With at least 24 hours' prior notice, a student who withdraws from a prepaid series, or when the school cannot or will not complete it, receives a refund except for an enrollment fee stated or receipted, capped at $10 or 10 percent of total cost whichever is greater, plus the per-lesson charge for lessons already taken. Read the veteran-contract exception separately when it applies.

Other operational rules

Before behind-the-wheel training, the instructor ascertains that the student has a learner permit or driver license. If instruction is given in groups, contracts and advertising disclose that fact, and no more than four people including the instructor may occupy the vehicle during the instruction period.

All records and contracts are retained three years and are open to inspection by DMV during regular stated hours or upon request. Loss, mutilation, or destruction of required records must be reported by affidavit with the information §76.8 specifies. Accurate records protect the student and the school; backdating or reconstructing unsupported details defeats their purpose.

Transaction example

If a student prepays for six lessons under an approved contract, the payment receives a sequential receipt, the contract number appears on the student record, and each service entry identifies date, time, and instructor. If the student withdraws with required notice, apply the written refund terms rather than inventing a package penalty. A digital system must still preserve sequence, support, availability, deadline, and three-year retention.

Audit a sample file from student record to receipt, contract, and financial entry. Dates, numbers, service descriptions, and amounts should reconcile. A correction should preserve the audit trail according to the approved system rather than erase or overwrite the original transaction without explanation.