Points on licence - When do they come off insurance????

[dave87]

I spoke to a guy at work who is well learned about cars ( he's a 60 year old petrol head ) and he says that if your points are spent and you send your license in to get the spent points removed, you do not have to declare them to the insurance company. If the spent points are still on your license, you can declare them however the insurance companies should penalise you for them as they are spent.

I should have them off my licence before renewal and hopefully see cheaper insurance.

Unfortunately he's talking rubbish.

Insurance contracts are based on the principle of 'uberrima fides' or utmost good faith. So if they ask you have you got any points/convictions etc etc in the last 5 years and you say no on the basis that you've had them removed from your licence after 4, then you'd potentially be paying for a worthless piece of paper with some details on it - they could void your policy for non-disclosure of a material fact. Whether they will or not, is another matter, but not one I'd like to find out after having an accident.

The question over having to disclose them after 7 is a subtly different one. Due to s4(1) and s4(3)(a) Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974:

Subject to sections 7 and 8 below, a person who has become a rehabilitated person for the purposes of this Act in respect of a conviction shall be treated for all purposes in law as a person who has not committed or been charged with or prosecuted for or convicted of or sentenced for the offence or offences which were the subject of that conviction

any obligation imposed on any person by any rule of law or by the provisions of any agreement or arrangement to disclose any matters to any other person shall not extend to requiring him to disclose a spent conviction or any circumstances ancillary to a spent conviction (whether the conviction is his own or another’s);

s5 deals with the periods for rehabilitation, but broadly for any fine or other sentence subject to rehabilitation (that isn't otherwise identified in the Act) is five years, and so after that point, no one can compel you to disclose the conviction due to s4 above.

[GoNz0]

I spoke to a guy at work who is well learned about cars ( he's a 60 year old petrol head ) and he says that if your points are spent and you send your license in to get the spent points removed, you do not have to declare them to the insurance company. If the spent points are still on your license, you can declare them however the insurance companies should penalise you for them as they are spent.

I should have them off my licence before renewal and hopefully see cheaper insurance.

he may know cars but he knows bugger all about points and insurance, i had points removed after 4 years and failed to declare them (plain forgot as they were not there due to the change of address request removing them) a few weeks after the policy kicked in the insurance rang to say i had failed to declare it and would need to pay an additional £xx for them plus an administration charge, it's all on a central insurance database and they do check against it.

and i can guarantee if you didn't declare them and the insurance didn't find out and you made a claim they would void your policy on the spot leaving you liable for everything along with being up sh*t creek without a paddle (and car)

I even declared an aftermarket air filter insert just to be sure they couldn't worm out of a claim.

[yamangman]

My insurance went down 5% or so after getting 3 points when I was driving a new car. I switched to an older car and it went up by about 100% .