Hiring Van - out of date photo license questions...

Stooby2

Probably the quickest and easiest way for the OP to find out will be to ring the hire company and ask, before making the trip down there. People on here can advise all they like but at the end of the day, it's up to the hire company as to what they'll accept.

Rover_Driver

londonTiger wrote: »

If they take the expired license who knows - most likely will invalidate their insurance

The licence has not expired, it just needs updating with a new photograph. It does not affect the insurance.

Iceweasel

At risk of sounding pedantic here - Driving Licences do NOT 'expire'.

I know from bitter experience that one must be careful with words that have a legal definition.

It's bank cards and credit cards that have expiry dates.

Unless they have changed the format once again, when my back was turned, Photo-Card Driving Licences have 'valid from' and 'valid to' dates printed on them

The paper counterpart has no dates at all on it that refer to the validity of the licence as to the full entitlement categories that the holder has a permit to drive

The dates on the paper-bit only refer to the additional Provisional Entitlement and have dates marked as 'From' and 'Until'.

Employers, car-hirers etc. want to see the paper part to check on driving offence history and the like.

How a hire company can check what licence someone has from the paper bit, God only knows.

On my Photo-Card I have a whole load of categories - including B, C & D - Cars, Trucks and Buses.

On the paper bit which lists my provisional entitlements, up to the day before my 70th birthday, it only has categories A, G & H - which are of no interest to me at all.

Can I suggest that everyone has a look at what it really says on these documents, and come back with what it actually says as opposed to what they think it says.

If they are the same - then fine.

I also think that some folks are confusing the paper counterpart that should accompany a photo-card with the old style paper licence before photo-cards ever existed. You can carry on with the old style licence as long as you wish until the point you change address or name.

AFAIK No-one has been forced to replace an old paper licence for photo one unless there are changes to be notified.

photome

Iceweasel wrote: »

At risk of sounding pedantic here - Driving Licences do NOT 'expire'.

I know from bitter experience that one must be careful with words that have a legal definition.

It's bank cards and credit cards that have expiry dates.

Unless they have changed the format once again, when my back was turned, Photo-Card Driving Licences have 'valid from' and 'valid to' dates printed on them

The paper counterpart has no dates at all on it that refer to the validity of the licence as to the full entitlement categories that the holder has a permit to drive

The dates on the paper-bit only refer to the additional Provisional Entitlement and have dates marked as 'From' and 'Until'.

Employers, car-hirers etc. want to see the paper part to check on driving offence history and the like.

How a hire company can check what licence someone has from the paper bit, God only knows.

On my Photo-Card I have a whole load of categories - including B, C & D - Cars, Trucks and Buses.

On the paper bit which lists my provisional entitlements, up to the day before my 70th birthday, it only has categories A, G & H - which are of no interest to me at all.

Can I suggest that everyone has a look at what it really says on these documents, and come back with what it actually says as opposed to what they think it says.

If they are the same - then fine.

I also think that some folks are confusing the paper counterpart that should accompany a photo-card with the old style paper licence before photo-cards ever existed. You can carry on with the old style licence as long as you wish until the point you change address or name.

AFAIK No-one has been forced to replace an old paper licence for photo one unless there are changes to be notoified.

What type of changes are you alluding to. Do you just mean name and or address.

I still have an old style one which I am reluctant to change despite it being in 6 pieces (been through the wash),

A. because I dont want to pay
B. because like you I have many entitlements to drive different vehicles and of course we know DVLA never make mistakes

Iceweasel

photome wrote: »

What type of changes are you alluding to. Do you just mean name and or address.

I still have an old style one which I am reluctant to change despite it being in 6 pieces (been through the wash),

A. because I dont want to pay
B. because like you I have many entitlements to drive different vehicles and of course we know DVLA never make mistakes

That's right - as far as I understand you can carry on with the old style one as long as you don't change address or name, or need to add more categories.

londonTiger

Iceweasel wrote: »

How a hire company can check what licence someone has from the paper bit, God only knows.

They can phone the DVLA provide the license number and other details and the DVLA will confirm if the driver has a valid license or not and if there are any endorsements.

But it costs them each time so they don't like doing it. They prefer to grab photocopies of the photo card and paper counterpart.

bigjl

ilikethesimpsons wrote: »

If you need to hire any time in the next 3 weeks, you better find someone else.

I applied for my new photocard and changed address at the same time as i had just moved house .

I was surprised to get it back within a few days.

I used the Post Office and they took the photo in a special booth.

Very simple and easy.

FredL

I recently arranged for car hire in Canada, and was rejected because my photo on my licence had expired two weeks earlier (bad luck on my part). I was confused because I didn't think that UK drivers licences actually expired until I was 70. I've contacted the DVLA and they've confirmed that my licence is in fact valid, even though the photo has expired. Very frustrating.

I hired the car in advance through holidayautos.co.uk, with the actual rental company in Canada being Thrifty. Holiday Autos not prepared to provide any refund, quoting Terms and Conditions at me, which are:

"You will be required to present on collection of your car rental, a full driver’s license (UK Licenses two parts) from country of origin, a valid passport and a valid credit card in renters (drivers) name."

So, is a "valid" licence the same as a "full" licence?

Luckily in the end I managed to hire through Avis who understood that my licence is valid.

Aretnap

You were correct, but it doesn't surprise me that a bloke in a Canadian hire firm doesn't understand a rather obscure point of UK law. In his shoes if someone presented me with an apparently out of date foreign licence and said "no, honestly, it's valid", I'd probably have done the same. It's also not an argument I'd relish having with a foreign policeman who wanted to lock me in the cells for driving with an out of date licence. It is probably best to check the photocard hasn't expired before you go abroad (he said helpfully after the fact).

FredL

Agreed, fair point, and I've applied now for an updated licence. I'll probably apply for an international licence too if going outside the EU in future.

My battle at the moment is getting a refund for the car hire, and essentially it boils down to the terms and conditions:

"You will be required to present on collection of your car rental, a full driver’s license (UK Licenses two parts) from country of origin..."

according to the DVLA, who I've just called, my licence is both full and valid, despite the photo card being out of date. Good news on my part, looks like I've got a case.