Spent motoring convictions

sammir1618

Hi,

I am sure this has been answered many a time on here but after some searching I can't find a thread on it!

I got 3 points and a miscellaneous offence code in march 2012 which has played havoc with my car insurance costs (£3k one year!). I checked my dvla online and the offence expired in march this year (2015) it goes off my record entirely in march next year (2016).

Are there any insurance companies that only ask for convictions from 3 years? All the ones I have found ask for 5 years. I read somewhere that if the conviction is expired the insurance company cannot use it against you to higher the premium, is this correct?

Thanks in advance!

Quentin

You need to answer the question asked (which is invariably wanting 5 years history of convictions)


The points will be recorded against you already on insurance databases so don't be tempted to miss them off your disclosures till you have completed the full 5 years with no convictions

Aretnap

Once a conviction is "spent" insurers are not supposed to ask you about it, or at least if they do they're not allowed to take the answer into account in determining your premium. However how long a conviction takes to become spent is determined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, not the Road Traffic Act, and it's quite separate from how long the points are counted for totting purposes (3 years), or how long the DVLA keep their own records (4 years). Most minor motoring offences become spent after 5 years, which is why most insurance companies ask about convictions in the last 5 years. So your conviction will become spent in March 2018. Until then you have to declare it, if asked.

I believe that when the MyLicence system (which gives insurers access to the DVLAdatabase) is fully up and running some insurers may stop asking you to disclose your convictions altogether,and just ask for permission to access your DVLA record. This could work in your favour as the DVLA only hold the details for four years. However legally they can still require you to disclose it for 5 years, and if they do then failure to do so could invalidate your policy.

GingerBob_3

As an aside, I doubt the DVLA ever delete anything.

DigForVictory

I think even the DVLA has to abide by the Data Protection act - an interesting tenner's worth if I'm wrong.

antrobus

Aretnap wrote: »

... However legally they can still require you to disclose it for 5 years, and if they do then failure to do so could invalidate your policy.

The FOS says no. They say that if an insurer cancels someone's policy because they have a spent conviction they didn't disclose, a complaint will be upheld.

Aretnap

antrobus wrote: »

The FOS says no. They say that if an insurer cancels someone's policy because they have a spent conviction they didn't disclose, a complaint will be upheld.

But the conviction doesn't become spent for 5 years. That's the point.

noelphobic

When I had 3 points on my licence it didn't affect my insurance costs at all (and yes, I did disclose it.)

Nebulous2

noelphobic wrote: »

When I had 3 points on my licence it didn't affect my insurance costs at all (and yes, I did disclose it.)

I thought that as well. I had 3 points for speeding - and it made minimal difference. I think they said thanks very much when I told them and then took it into account in subsequent years.

However the OP hasn't said what his offence was. The devil is in the detail as the saying goes.

Sammir a lot of your costs could be down to car / location / claims history / age / length of time driving etc. Even with 3 points I was paying less than one tenth of that. I think you need to be looking at other ways of bringing it down and leave your points to run their course.

sammir1618

Hi All,

Sorry I forgot to mention my offence code! It is ms60 (miscellaneous offence code) which for some reason makes my insurance sky high.

I have tried putting it in as a speeding offence code and that makes it goes down to £800 so it is the code that is causing the problem. I have tried brokers and they came back as expensive. I get quotes for £1600 with a box fitted now which still seems high! I have had my license 6 years so don't think that is the problem.

Seems like

marlot

sammir1618 wrote: »

Are there any insurance companies that only ask for convictions from 3 years? ...

I seem to recall that Aviva only asked for three.