Two Drink Driving Offences, spent?

Convicted Driver Insurance

Sammi

Member
Hi there guys,

To cut the long story short, I did a drink driving offence (DR10) (I was twice over the limit) this was in JAN 2005, I was fined £3700 and given a 2 year ban. After I got my licence back when I had served my ban a few months later, I did another drink driving offence this was in MARCH 2007 (DR10) this time I was given a 3 year ban, £2300 fine and 2 years probation, and drink driving awareness course, I did the probation for about 6 months it went so good I went back to court and rest of the probation was taken off for good behaviour, (I didn't miss a single class, and helped out alot other drink drivers) I'd learnt my lesson I had also completed my drink driving awareness course and I got a few months taken off my ban, I did a DVLA medical and my licence was given back to me in 2011 almost a year ago. As you can imagine it was a nightmare trying to get insurance with two DR10s.

So, when a my boss saw how much I was paying for my insurance she recommended that I don't have to pay that much, since its been 5 years and those are spent convections, and that I don't need to declare them to the insurance company. Now my question is, I just want to make this absolutely clear if this is true or not, can someone find out if my both DR10s fall under spent convictions or not?

I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks.
 
Sammi said:
Hi there guys,

To cut the long story short, I did a drink driving offence (DR10) (I was twice over the limit) this was in JAN 2005, I was fined £3700 and given a 2 year ban. After I got my licence back when I had served my ban a few months later, I did another drink driving offence this was in MARCH 2007 (DR10) this time I was given a 3 year ban, £2300 fine and 2 years probation, and drink driving awareness course, I did the probation for about 6 months it went so good I went back to court and rest of the probation was taken off for good behaviour, (I didn't miss a single class, and helped out alot other drink drivers) I'd learnt my lesson I had also completed my drink driving awareness course and I got a few months taken off my ban, I did a DVLA medical and my licence was given back to me in 2011 almost a year ago. As you can imagine it was a nightmare trying to get insurance with two DR10s.

So, when a my boss saw how much I was paying for my insurance she recommended that I don't have to pay that much, since its been 5 years and those are spent convections, and that I don't need to declare them to the insurance company. Now my question is, I just want to make this absolutely clear if this is true or not, can someone find out if my both DR10s fall under spent convictions or not?

I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks.
Click to expand...

For insurance purposes all questions insurers ask must be answered honestly or you run the risk of your insurance being invalid. The question most insurers ask is if you have any claims or convictions in the last 5 years. If your last conviction was a DR10 conviction in March 2007 and you have made no claims in the last 5 years either then you can currently safely answer no to this question.

If it has been 5 years or more since your last claim/conviction then you should have seen a decrease in the cost of your insurance premiums, the cost usually decreases as the years progress.

I can only suggest you shop around for quotes from different insurance companies when your insurance is due for renewal in order to try and find a more competitively priced insurance quote.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for that guys. I could save 1000s hopefully. I've also noticed they only ask for in the last 5 years, I thought I was obliged to tell them more then 5 year since I was under the assumption you have to go on the basis of the fact that a dr10 says on your licence for 11 years. But now I realize, under the offender rehabilitation act you're not obliged (legally) to tell insurers of spent convictions unless they specifically ask you. They are also not allowed to refuse/terminate your insurance if that is the case, see: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org....-disclosure-of-spent-motoring-convictions.htm
 
So basically according to the link I posted, insurers should not insist on asking about spent convictions, in the event they do, and turn you down insurance or worse terminate your insurance after finding out (when you make a claim) the financial ombudsman will take on the case as it would be a breach of statutory duty of the firm. So, it is always a good idea to tell the insurance company that it is a breach of their statutory duty if they insist on ask questions about spent convections and show them how they are actually in violation of their statutory duty and that if they still insist you can take legal action against them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Enter code DRINKDRIVING10 during checkout for 10% off
Top