Date passed driving test

BlueVinney

I've just been searching for the a better deal to renew the car insurance.

One site wants the date in column 10 (on the back of the photo licence) as the date of passing the driving test. Previously I've always used the date I actually passed my car test so have never bothered looking in that column before. Now I'm puzzled as the dates shown for passing the tests for both motorbike and car are the same, even though they were more than a year apart. The year shown on the licence for both is 1976. Hate to admit I passed both tests before that year.

Which date should I use, 1976 or the actual year? Don't want to give an insurance company the opportunity to refuse a claim because I've given wrong information.

AdrianC

That the "odd" date is 1976 gives a good clue as to what's happened. It's almost certainly the date that the originally local records for your licence were moved to the then-fairly-new national DVLA at Swansea, and should be read as "1976 or before".

Give the actual date you passed your test.

Hintza

They won't be that interested in the actual date for someone such as yourself, the year (ish) will be close enough.

BlueVinney

Thanks AdrianC.

I guessed it must be some quirk like you said. Pity they didn't just carry forward the exact dates. I'll follow your advice when I fill in the data.

BlueVinney

peachyprice

Goodness, I've never been asked the actual date, the closest I could get is the month and year.

Although most online insurance quotes I've come across seem only to ask how many years you've held a licence.

Iceweasel

Computerised licences were first introduced in 1973.


I got my first one of them in 1975 so my licence shows 1975 in column 10.


But I had 3 of the old style 3-year licences before then, having passed my test in 1966.