Do driving convictions affect your car insurance?

Having penalty points on your driving licence is highly likely to affect and increase the cost of your car insurance policy. Though the amount by which the cost may increase will depend on the circumstances, including the type and nature of the conviction.

Declaring penalty points to insurance companies

Insurers have the right to choose whether or not to offer an insurance policy to you if you have a conviction. Common instances where an insurer may decline to offer you a quote would be if you have (or have had) a driving ban or a drink-driving related conviction.

If an insurer does offer a quotation, you may find that your premium will be quite high. However, the increase in price may not be permanent – sometimes when a certain amount of time has passed, your insurer may then decrease the price.

Do I need to tell my insurance company about penalty points?

According to the Road Traffic Act 1998, it is an offence to withhold information about driving convictions when applying for car insurance. This means that you have a legal obligation to inform a prospective insurer about any penalty points you have on your licence.

If you choose not to tell your insurer about any penalty points you’ve received, you run the risk of your car insurance policy becoming invalidated. If you drive an uninsured vehicle you could face up to eight points being added to your licence – on top of those you already have. Informing your insurance provider may mean that the price of your policy increases, but not as much as it would if you choose to hide your driving convictions.

Car insurance for drivers with penalty points

Many insurers will still provide car insurance cover to convicted drivers, even though it will cost more. Most will still offer cover if you were convicted of:

• Drink driving
• Speeding
• Non-driving related criminal convictions

It’s important to check the details of the policy before applying for car insurance to ensure you’re fully protected. If you have been disqualified from driving altogether, you will not be able to take out car insurance until you have served your ban.

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