Re-sit driving test?

guitarman001

Just supposing you were to move to another country and sell your car here in the UK.. if didn't drive in the other country and came back after 5 years, would you have to re-sit your test? Would you have to re-sit it if you DID drive in the other country?

Thanks in advance!

neilmcl

No, I'm pretty sure you don't. What made you think you would have to?

McKneff

No, if you held a UK driving licence you would not have to resit your driving licence.

sarahg1969

Read your driving licence. It's generally valid until you're 70. What makes you think you'd have to resit your test? What if you had a licence and didn't leave the country, but never drove?

victor2

guitarman001 wrote: »

Just supposing you were to move to another country and sell your car here in the UK.. if didn't drive in the other country and came back after 5 years, would you have to re-sit your test? Would you have to re-sit it if you DID drive in the other country?

Thanks in advance!

As everyone else says, no.
I got a UK licence, lived (and drove) abroad for 13 years, then came back - and drove on my still valid UK licence.

Wywth

guitarman001 wrote: »

Just supposing you were to move to another country and sell your car here in the UK.. if didn't drive in the other country and came back after 5 years, would you have to re-sit your test? Would you have to re-sit it if you DID drive in the other country?

Thanks in advance!

It depends on whether or not you passed your test before you make this hypothetical trip abroad
You don't actually say
If you failed to pass the test before leaving the country, didn't drive overseas, then yes, you would have to re-sit the test (and pass it!) when you come back to this country if you wish to obtain a full driving licence.

Depending on the country you hypothetically visited, then it may be possible to transfer a licence you obtained overseas to a UK one, but strict time limits would apply.

More detail is required to give a more accurate response, sorry.

guitarman001

I've been driving for about 4 years

It's pretty stupid, but I read on some other forum a year ago that if you sell your car here, then it means you're not paying your road tax or any other form of payment related to motoring... and that if you don't pay for too long a period (2 years) then you would have to re-sit your test.

So if I sold my car and moved to Europe for 5 years, I would still be able to come back to the UK after that 5 years, buy a car and start driving right away.. good to know.

[Deleted User]

The only thing you will lose is your no claims bonus, that only stays vallied for two years if you don't drive.

guitarman001

Good point... I do wonder if it would be cheaper to keep the car in the UK and declare SORN (never done this so not sure what it all means). Would that also result in the loss of NCB after 2 years? If so then maybe it'd be worth keep the car and paying the road tax and insurance.. just looking at all options. Last option does sound ridiculous, though.

If I drive in the new country I WOULD get to keep my NCB, right?

victor2

guitarman001 wrote: »

If I drive in the new country I WOULD get to keep my NCB, right?

No.
Unless you had a UK policy that also covered you driving/living abroad, which I very much doubt you could get.

Edit:
I didn't have insurance in my name for two years in the UK, but the company I had been with before, did allow me to keep my no claims discount after 3 years, so long as I took another policy out with them. That was one of the big companies who are not found on comparison sites.

guitarman001

What a bummer... When I started driving my insurance was £1200 a year. Now it's something like £500 a year. Always been with Direct Line as they have always given me the best deal. If I return after several years... there's no way it's going back up to the £1200 figure. But more likely would revert to around £500/600 or so. B@gger.