mission

if you are using your UK DL when renting in the UK and you get into an accident your insurance cover will be void, because legally you are not a resident in the UK and hence you shouldn't be using your UK DL to rent.

Bahtatboy

It's not as cut-and-dried as that. I rented a car in Ireland last year, and had a detailed email conversation with the hire car company who advised that it was ok. An invalid driving licence doesn't necessarily invalidate insurance.

Millhouse

unless the policy says so...

mission

that's interesting, because every time i have hired a car in the UK, which is at least once or twice a year, they explicitly tell me that i cannot hire using my UK DL since i am not a resident and hence the insurance policy would be void.

Bahtatboy

I make sure either a) I keep a copy of emails in which they confirm that, or b) if the conversation is oral, I keep contemporaneous records.

jam25mack

I think the whole is it or isn't it discussion is a massive grey area..... if they pay out then fine, however, we all know how good insurance companies are about wriggling out of paying on a technicality..... but thats obviously 'if' they know you are a non resident / know about the technicality.

jam25mack

Been flashed loads of times over the years in the UK and have never had one come back to me.

I'm not saying the hire car companies don't give the Police / courts your details, more that they don't see the value in chasing up the fine...... As there would be no way for them to apply points to a foreign licence.

As far as I understand, the hire car companies cannot legally add a fine to your CC automatically as speeding is a criminal charge and carries a penalty (with the allowance / option for you to argue it in a court). This is unlike parking, driving in a bus lane etc which just carries a fine which they can add on as it isn't a criminal charge and carries no penalty.

sicklyman

I'll ask next time I rent and see what they say. I've only ever had experience of someone hitting me, not the other way round.

martinbkk

Found this

https://www.intltravelnews.com/2015/...icket-overseas

The bit at the bottom of the page, last letter from one Anton Prole and the bit from the website people themselves are the interesting parts. It suggests that most UK car rental company contracts have in their fine print that you accept any traffic fines and that they can be automatically deducted.

FriendlyExpat

The renewal process has changed greatly since 2012.

mission

ah fair play then.

Eeyore

Unless the car hire company was willing to put in a formal letter (not an email) that they understood you were driving on a UK licence despite not being permanently resident in the UK and their insurers accepted and agreed to this, I wouldn't trust anything they said. After all, insurance companies are stuffed with people whose job it is to find reasons *not* to pay out. The expats who keep a car in the UK, insured under a standard domestic UK policy, are running a particularly serious risk, given that pretty much every private UK motor insurance contract includes a clause requiring the insured persons to be permanently resident.

As has been said, though, it's a legal grey area. People have had contradictory responses from the DVLA when they asked directly (when I asked they said flat-out that I should not try and drive on my UK licence while visiting the UK, and they also confirmed that the Dubai traffic police are supposed to take your UK licence off you when you swap to a UAE licence and send the UK one back to Swansea, which of course never actually happens).

Sooner or later there's going to be a legal test case about it. My view was that I didn't want to run the risk of being involved in it, so I only ever drove on my UAE licence when in the UK. It meant I couldn't drive any private cars (it would obviously have been a serious money-saver if I could), but I knew I was unambiguously on the right side of the law.

As for actually renewing while an expat, I did it, giving my parents' house as my residential address. This was about 5 years ago. It was a risk that I probably wouldn't try again. During the online renewal process, a number of clear warnings about misrepresentation were displayed, and apparently people *have* been caught out when the DVLA did their due diligence. You pays your money, etc.

sicklyman

considering the number of renters that could potentially have invalid insurance each year, it's telling that you're suggesting there hasn't been one.

I've written to Avis about this and have yet to hear from them, but when I do I'll report back.

kimjhuk

I just want to renew the licence in order to keep it validate so I can use it when I return back home. I do not want to go through the all the test if it's expired. I do not intend to rent a car using the uk licence.

Bahtatboy

If by "return back home" you mean returning to UK permanently, then renew it when you get back -- you don't need to re-take the test.

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