drink driving ban over

ktcoil

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone has any advice, in march 2006 i got banned for drink driving, i know it was very very silly and i had been out and the next day drove back early, i felt fine but still had a lot of alcahol in my system which ment i was took to the police station then march 6th 2006 i was in court where i got a 24month ban, £90 fine and comunity services, my ban ran out march 2008 as it was a 2 year ban, i am at present waiting on my liscese to come back as i have paid for this aswell as paid and had my medical as it was drink driving, i did a quote with a drink driving insuraer just on a ford ka as there pretty cheap car etc and got a quote for £2000 just over, i did a quote the other day on auto trader where they search different people, now the questing was on there said have you had a conviction in the last 5 years but it was longer so i ticked no, the quote was £1400, so a lot cheaper, is this right has this convition gone from my record do i not need to tick the box as it was 5 years ago it happened as it will be 2013 when i start to drive again? i know i have now lost my no claims, also i got my liscense when i was 18 which was 2003 so helf my liscense for 9 years.

thanks

Happychappy

Was your conviction a DR10, if so this will stay on your licence for 11 years, a two year ban is normally for a high reading ?

Regarding the disclosing of your conviction, this is down to individual insurance companies, many will ask if you have had any convictions etc in the past five years, which in your case you could tick No, however, many also ask have you ever been disqualified, and in your case you must tick yes, regardless that this was over five years ago

ktcoil

Right i get you now, yea it was a dr10 as was a high alcahol reading. so it maybe worth just going straight to a drink driving insurace company.

Happychappy

ktcoil wrote: »

Right i get you now, yea it was a dr10 as was a high alcahol reading. so it maybe worth just going straight to a drink driving insurace company.

Try one of the price comparison sites, and see which companies do not ask if you have ever been disqualified or refused insurance, slim chance the question won't be asked, but worth a look at ? What else have you got to do on a day like this

paddedjohn

I've got a few friends who have been banned and none of them experienced an increas in their premiums when they got their licences back.

nicter

My son was in this position and like you filled in "no" to convictions in the last 5 years. However on ringing insurance companies some have said the ban does need to be disclosed as some companies wont pay out in the event of a claim if it hasnt been declared.
Tesco who he is with now are aware of the previous ban but do disregard it after 5 years as do severalcompanies.
Best to get your online quote then ring the company.

Alias_Omega

Some insurance companies ask for any convictions in the last 5 years, and any IN/DR convictions in the last 10 years.

Tilt

This is a problem and one that should be addressed by the on-line insurance industry. Unlike the OP there will thousand drivers 'exploiting' this to gain cheaper car insurance and will only become a significant issue when there is a claim made. 5 years is simply not long enough when dealing with this type of conviction and I know that on some sites, they will not let you put anything in further back than that.

The bottom line is that most (if not all) insurance terns will state that all relevant information must be disclosed to obtain the correct quote. Most reasonable drivers should realise that a DD conviction is 'relevant' while it is still showing on their licence.

Good on the OP to ask the question as i'm sure there are a lot of other motorists who wouldn't bother to check.

vaio

Tilt wrote: »

.........The bottom line is that most (if not all) insurance terns will state that all relevant information must be disclosed to obtain the correct quote. Most reasonable drivers should realise that a DD conviction is 'relevant' while it is still showing on their licence.......

but contrast that with the FOS/FSA/ICOB view that it's the responsibility of insurers to ask clear & unambiguous questions about things they consider to be relevant facts.

The insurers are the experts and punters shouldn't (and aren't) expected to try and guess what a given insurer will consider to be a "material fact"

Joe_Horner

It's a tricky one.

In law they CANNOT ask you about convictions that have been rehabilitated. More to the point, if they do ask you can treat the question as if the rehabilitated convictions never existed. That's all contained in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and they cannot make up their own rules to over-ride that Act.

The rehabilitation period depends on the sentence:

For any fine it's 5 years, which is why they never ask about convictions older than that. (ROA s.5, Table A)

For any disqualification it's the length of the disqualification (ROA s.5(8) ).

So, at least on the face of it, they can't ask about a disqualification once you get your licence back. They would (probably) argue that the fact it's noted on your licence for longer means the disqualification hasn't "ended" until it's removed but the Act doesn't appear to make any provision for that.

So, according to the "plain language" wording of the ROA, you don't tell them about convictions after 5 years and you don't tell them about the ban once the ban is over, regardless of whether or not there's a note on your licence about it, because that offence is legally rehabilitated. Doesn't matter at that point whether they think it's material or not because the law says it isn't and the law trumps their contractural stuff every single time.

The tricky part is that they do still ask and who wants to be fighting their insurers in court over that at the same as defending an uninsured driving charge becaue they've cancelled cover because you didn't tell them, even if that cancellation was unlawful?

Joe_Horner

Tilt wrote: »

The bottom line is that most (if not all) insurance terns will state that all relevant information must be disclosed to obtain the correct quote. Most reasonable drivers should realise that a DD conviction is 'relevant' while it is still showing on their licence.
.

No it isn't.

It's only relevent until the conviction is "spent" according to the law, which will be 5 years for the fine, and "the end of the ban" for the ban itself. Having a "note on your licence" does not mean the ban is still in force.

After that the law says, quite clearly, that it isn't relevent any more regardless of what the insurers think.