Insurance Issues, Nervous, Worried.... Help.

Convicted Driver Insurance

Anonymous90

Member
Hello,

So I'm now on the home straight of my ban (doesn't seem that long ago that I was posting on here with genuine sadness of the situation I was in). I am now 2.5 months ish away from getting my license back and truth be told, it couldn't come quick enough. The last 6 months have been so so hard. We all take our cars for granted and those who have not been caught drink driving, but do it, they need to stop if they value their cars.

I've started to looking at cars and this has slowly put a smile on my face again.

However, insurance is something that is now worrying and panicking me. There are a number of reasons why, so I'll go through them and I really hope you guys can help me with this.

So firstly, and it's my mistake, I never declared to my previous insurer that I was:
a. involved in an accident. b banned for driving.

The accident was a reasonably low impact accident with a bush. No other vehicle was involved and I did not claim. The vehicle was simply taken home. I also did not drive again after this day despite having a valid license for several weeks after. Once I was convicted, that put stop to any chance I had of driving. I didn't think to tell the insurance company of my ban as there was no chance of me driving, however I did not want to cancel the policy either as letting it run for another month would gain me an extra years NCD. I should have disclosed the accident, but considering the predicament I was in, the thought never crossed my mind.

I now am terrified of having my future policy cancelled. I am aware that my previous insurer can't 'retrospectively' cancel the policy (can it?). The old policy has now lapsed and obviously I did not renew. This preserved my extra years NCD and there are no losses from their perspective either. However, I am worried that I should have told them as it might show up as a discrepancy in timing and show me in a dishonest light and then they can cancel it as a 'commercial decision' or something. Is there any chance of this happening? Or so long as I get my disclosures correct will I be fine with my new policy?

Then there's my actual convictio, fine and punishment etc. I don't know the correct answers to half of the questions regarding my conviction.

I am aware that I was given a DR10, which is the standard drink drive conviction.
The fine I paid was around £540, however this was broken into various chunks (restitution, costs and all that). Do I simply disclose the full £540 or do I need to give a specific part? Do I have to disclose this for the next 5 years? The drink driving course I took said I should only disclose this for 12 months?
According to what I've read, I should have been given points. However I remember specifically that nothing was mentioned about points because I came out of court thinking (at least I've got no points). Are points just assumed to be part? Should I just put 3 points?
When disclosing the ban length, do I put 12 months or do I put 9 as I did a course to reduce it?

When disclosing the accident (especially on Compare the market), there is no way to link it to the conviction. Do they need to be linked? Does it need to be implied that the accident was as a result of the drink driving that took place on that date? The only option I have is to simply disclose the accident and the date, which I can do, but there's no disclosure option as I said.

I'm genuinely a wreck as there's so many permutations to getting this wrong and very few that feel correct. It's actually putting me off getting a car when I get my license back until 12 months after the ban.....

I know there's a lot of questions here, but I really hope you can help.
 
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I will deal with your forcoming insurance.
They are not interested in your fine. They will want to know: the date of your conviction, your offence code (DR10) the length of your ban (the ban AFTER your course, not the original one) and your reading in breath / blood. This is applicable for 5 years, but ithe extra they charge you decreases each year. There are no points given for Drink driving, just a straight ban.
i don't know who your Course provider was, but whilst they are correct to say that your fine is technically spent after a year, because of the ban, the drink drive conviction IS discloseable for 5 years for insurance purposes.
You will have to disclose the accident, but it is up to the insurers if they link the accident with the Drink driving. If you put 01/01/2016 for your date of conviction, and in the accident section January 2016 then you have disclosed the relevant information.

i hope this sheds some light on how to approach getting your licence back.
 
I will deal with your forcoming insurance.
They are not interested in your fine. They will want to know: the date of your conviction, your offence code (DR10) the length of your ban (the ban AFTER your course, not the original one) and your reading in breath / blood. This is applicable for 5 years, but ithe extra they charge you decreases each year. There are no points given for Drink driving, just a straight ban.
i don't know who your Course provider was, but whilst they are correct to say that your fine is technically spent after a year, because of the ban, the drink drive conviction IS discloseable for 5 years for insurance purposes.
You will have to disclose the accident, but it is up to the insurers if they link the accident with the Drink driving. If you put 01/01/2016 for your date of conviction, and in the accident section January 2016 then you have disclosed the relevant information.

i hope this sheds some light on how to approach getting your licence back.
Thanks for your reply. I think that clears it up for me.

My course was TTC (spotted under your name) and it was absolutely excellent, a massive eye opener for me and something I think should be introduced for young drivers.

Also he did mention that the conviction was for 5 years. I remember him doing like a chart, 1 year for fine, 5 years for the conviction etc. I assume stuff like the amount of milligrams .5 in my case will be disclosed every year?
 
Glad our trainer did get it right, they usually do.
yes, the reading will be relevant for each policy for 5 years. Of course if you are just renewing your previous one, they will already be aware from your last declaration, they will just get you to confirm that there are no new convictions.
 
Glad our trainer did get it right, they usually do.
yes, the reading will be relevant for each policy for 5 years. Of course if you are just renewing your previous one, they will already be aware from your last declaration, they will just get you to confirm that there are no new convictions.
Thanks for all the help. I am going to make sure I declare everything. I will declare the accident, I will declare the conviction, if they call and ask are they linked, I will confirm they are.

I am happy to pay any extra, to ensure that the insurance is good and proper.
 
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