Car insurance: Canadian to UK license

chicgeek

Last June I swapped my Canadian licence for a UK license. When getting car insurance quotes the form asks how long I've been licensed. Is it asking for the date when I got my UK license or the date I got my Canadian license?

Also, depending on the answer, I fear I may have mis-answered for our insurance last year, where I indicated my UK start date. What are the implications of this?

tescofan

I swapped my Singapore licence a few years ago. The start date of my British licence was backdated to when I passed in Singapore. Check the back of your licence if they've done that for yours

chicgeek

Afraid they have not.

neilmcl

It's the date on your UK license that counts, particularly as the question is usually on the lines of "how long have you held a UK driving license".

chicgeek

Cheers Neil - not all forms use that wording otherwise I'd have no reason to ask.

Thanks all. I'll put that date as my start date. Oh joy for higher premiums.

gastroboy

It depends on the insurer. I am with Admiral and they asked (I did my quote over the phone) how long I have had a licence for (I swapped my Australian one for a UK one) rather than the UK one. They said, that's fine and took the date I got my Australian licence.

InsideInsurance

Interestingly the Admiral website is the reverse and asks what license type you have and the next question is how long you have held THIS license. Indeed there was a post on here not long ago from someone who fell foul of this.

There are some that ask how long you have had A license and certainly checking with one, think it was Aviva, they confirmed that you can add on time on provisional license and so logic would follow that they include overseas licenses but I'd always double check BEFORE buying.

gastroboy

The DVLA website is not clear and the whole switch over is confusing. When you swap a licence over you literally just give in your old one and they give you the UK one in exchange, plus the valid from on the licence is a "earlier of X date". So it's super confusing. Anyway, it's better to call when you have something slightly unusual rather than guess on the website.

chicgeek

I've gone through Tesco whose site was specific as to when I got my UK license. To be honest as annoying and expensive as it might be, I'd almost rather pay a bit extra than find a claim denied because they interpret my policy as null because I've picked the longer date.

And I hate phones. Online for me!

Thanks everyone. Hope this is useful for future information-seekers.

Johnmcl7

chicgeek wrote: »

I've gone through Tesco whose site was specific as to when I got my UK license. To be honest as annoying and expensive as it might be, I'd almost rather pay a bit extra than find a claim denied because they interpret my policy as null because I've picked the longer date.

And I hate phones. Online for me!

Thanks everyone. Hope this is useful for future information-seekers.

I think that's a sensible approach, I've been wondering how important age of license is vs age of the person - I've a couple of friends who have passed their test for the first time in their 30's, gone out and bought cars for which I expected the insurance costs to be very high but they were actually quite normal, not a huge amount more than mine.

John