Question about car insurance & my driving licence situation

Bronco Bullfrog

Hello,

Just a question about car insurance & my driving licence situation.

I still have a UK Driving Licence. I have not yet exchanged it for an Irish licence. The UK licence was no longer valid in Ireland from 1st Jan 2021 due to Brexit. I have not driven my car since end December 2020.

The car was last taxed from Nov 2020 until end Jan 2021. The car has been on SORN since end Jan 2021. However, the car is still insured.

I did not yet exchange my licence for several reasons:

My car failed it's NCT in late November 2020. The car is 23 years old & no parts are available in Ireland. Eventually sourced parts online from Estonia. Then had delays over Xmas & with Brexit & courier suspended its services and also delivered my part to wrong address. By the time I got the part my licence was no longer valid.

Not needing use of car due to COVID travel restrictions & not needing car to travel to work. Workplace still closed since December. Still face uncertainty about future.

I did not cancel my car insurance policy. I admit I have been sitting on the fence .Currently, I can manage without the use of a car.

I understand that my no claims bonus is still valid up to two years after a policy expires. I am wondering if I do decide to remain in Ireland & exchange my UK licence for an Irish one when in the future if I come to take out a new policy am I likely to face any problems with the insurer?

Could a discrepancy arise with an insurer regarding the issue date of an exchange Irish licence and the expiry date of my last motor policy? In terms of them viewing it as me not cancelling my policy when I could no longer legally drive in Ireland with a UK licence.

The genuine situation is that I have not been using the car since end of last year. By the time I obtained the part for NCT there was only a few months left on the policy and I am undecided about the future. The car is on SORN and does not have an NCT.

I have not broken the law, but in the past when I have let a motor policy expire and not renewed due to non use, when I did go to take out a new policy the insurer asked me to send them a copy of my licence, proof of SORN & sign a non-use declaration and that was all that was necessary, there were no problems.
Maybe when I renew in future a proof of SORN and sign non use declaration would be enough, as well as copy of an Irish licence. I'm unsure.

If you renew your policy every year with the same insurer do they ask to see your licence every year?

The renewal reminder has arrived but no request from the insurer for me to provide proof of exchange of UK licence for Irish licence. Or to send copy of a licence.

I would be OK with not renewing a motor policy for now, until things are more certain regarding my future, but, don't want to cause a bigger headache in the future.

Can anyone give any advice or insight on this situation or direct me where I might obtain advice.
Thanks in advance.

athlone573

Your overthinking it

Right now you don't have a valid EU licence so you can't legally get insurance

Get on to the NDLS and see what you need to do to get a licence before it's too late

Then worry about your insurance and NCB when you need to. Usually your NCB lasts for a year or two.

Bronco Bullfrog

How do you mean "get a licence before it's too late?".Do you mean before my current policy expires?

It is still possible to exchange a UK licence for an Irish one. There was no cut off date. There has always been a provision to exchange a foreign licence, and there is an agreement in place still to exchange, they were warning UK licence holders to exchange before Jan 2021, but in my situation was not so urgent, I don't do that much driving,I could manage without a car for some time. I was just concerned about the potential gap between my motor policy expiry & an issue of an Irish licence in the future, if there may be an issue with an insurer suspecting the car was still in use or if proof of SORN would be enough.

Markcheese

I assume you'll want to continue to insure your current 22 year old car the same as before - ?
. You shouldn't have too much trouble getting your license exchanged - granted there could be a delay or back log -
It's reinsuring the same car under the same conditions if the policy is let lapse that I'd be concerned about ...
If it's not too expensive just keep the insurance valid until you decide what you want to do - tax /NCT/licence won't really cause you any issue ,because it's not being driven anyway...

athlone573

Bronco Bullfrog wrote: »

How do you mean "get a licence before it's too late?". It is still possible to exchange a UK licence for an Irish one. There has always been a provision to exchange a foreign licence, and there is an agreement in place still to exchange, they were warning UK licence holders to exchange before Jan 2021, but in my situation was not so urgent, I don't do that much driving,I could manage without a car for some time. I was just concerned about the potential gap between my motor policy expiry & an issue of an Irish licence in the future, if there may be an issue with an insurer suspecting the car was still in use or if proof of SORN would be enough.

If you're sure about that then happy days
I wouldn't want to be running around at the last minute trying to get a licence when the insurance company look for it though
I don't see why you don't just get the licence now, whenever the NDLS offices open.

Bronco Bullfrog

It is definitely possible to still exchange a UK licence for an Irish one, my situation with motoring is on hold, it's not so urgent for me, I wasn't intending to be running around trying to exchange the licence right now, It would suit me to take out a policy in six months or next year, depending on how things pan out. By which time if I see how things are I could exchange, there was no cut off date for a licence exchange, I was just wondering if an insurer might view the gap between my policy expiry and a licence exchange as problematic

Bronco Bullfrog

Markcheese wrote: »

I assume you'll want to continue to insure your current 22 year old car the same as before - ?
. You shouldn't have too much trouble getting your license exchanged - granted there could be a delay or back log -
It's reinsuring the same car under the same conditions if the policy is let lapse that I'd be concerned about ...
If it's not too expensive just keep the insurance valid until you decide what you want to do - tax /NCT/licence won't really cause you any issue ,because it's not being driven anyway...

There's no problem exchanging a licence, I have let the policy lapse on several occasions in the past, all I was asked for by an insurer was to send a copy of my licence, proof of SORN & sign a non use declaration. What would be your concerns if the policy is let lapse?

About keeping the insurance valid as you say, but as a other poster on here has pointed out I can't legally obtain insurance in Ireland without a valid EU driving licence.