car insurance

[dickturpin]

Just renewed a car policy and insurers have asked for a photocopy or scan of all our driving licences....never been asked that before and not sure for security reasons if I should supply them. Views?

[stevierst]

Yep, had that before. If it's a reputable company then I wouldn't worry.
I suppose you could phone them up and ask why they want it, and what they're going to do with the information.

[Dead Eye]

I've never not had that :|

Always had to send photocopies of my license to every insurer; both car and motorcycle

[Exupnut]

Yup.... Pretty normal .... Nothin to worry about there. Unless you got points on your licence u didnt declare.

[esetest]

I was asked that by Motor quote direct , they said it was to verify my address , never been asked before , now with Esure , they didn't ask .

[wezdavo]

I have never heard of that before....Ever!!

[darrsi]

I have never heard of that before....Ever!!

Me neither!

[dickturpin]

I've nothing to hide....just don't like the idea of ins co having a copy of my licence

[richfzs]

Never heard of it either. I'd be interested to know what they're doing with the copy. I work in an industry where data collection and storage is heavily regulated (finance, so the same industry!), and we have to justify any data collection we do. If there's business justification for collecting and storing, fine, otherwise it's a no no.... Given that they've never collected previously, judging the responses from most people here, why do they need to start doing it now? If the punter buying the insurance turns out to have lied about their licence, they just turn round and say "You're not insured". The copy they take is only correct at the time the copy is taken anyway (you could collect 11 points through various transgressions the very next day), so is of pretty limited value.

[Exupnut]

There just limitin their liability rich.... If someone would lie when taking out a policy its a fair bet they will if claiming....

[fazersharp]

Nope - never had it either
But if you think about it if you have points that you are not declearing then why should they care --- infact all the better for them as they can take your money off you and then they have a perfect reason not to pay out in a claim as they will sask for it then or do their own reshearch and find out

[tommyteeman]

I did hear this was done , after payment, as a certain % of people have the wrong address on their license which allows the insurance company to cancel the policy, it can then be very difficult to get your money back, free money for them. Also it counts as being denied \ cancelled insurance which counts against you when you come to get another policy.

[mr self destruct]

50/50 with me, some have asked some haven't. I've got no problems sending them a copy.

[Dead Eye]

I did hear this was done , after payment, as a certain % of people have the wrong address on their license which allows the insurance company to cancel the policy, it can then be very difficult to get your money back, free money for them. Also it counts as being denied \ cancelled insurance which counts against you when you come to get another policy.

That's interesting as my last 2 policies have been registered at a different address to my driving licence and nothing was said about it - both times a copy of my licence was requested and this was 2 different companies as well

[tommyteeman]

Just what I'd heard that's all, thought it sounded fairly plausible. Did you claim from either policy maybe you could have run into trouble if you had...dunno.  lots of ins companies use common sense and others while offering cheap policies may offer a very poor service come claim time, or if you want to cancel the policy etc. My dealings with even well known companies have been a drawn out affair, with the usual hire car scams thrown in. I'm straying off topic now but I really believe we should have a system of increased road tax to include gov funded 3rd party insurance. Been canny weather lately tho so not all bad.

[sadlonelygit]

the law has changed recently for ins co.s so that they can now actually check your license with DVLA to see if you have been telling porkies.
sounds to me like they know your a bad'un.
on a personal note my business vehicle insurance have always asked for a copy........so worry not.

[Robbie8666]

ok so if its to verify your address?
my license is registered to my parents (where I am registered to vote from)
my bike & car are registered to my week time address
but insured from where I live @ weekends
is this wrong?

[BBROWN1664]

but insured from where I live @ weekends
is this wrong?

Ask the insurance company as they may use it to wriggle out of a claim if they find out later when the car/bike gets stolen mid-week from your weekday address.

With regard to the insurance company asking for copies, I have seen this before on bike policies as they like to confirm that you are licenced for the size of bike etc. Also it allows them to see your sparkly clean licence and you to prove your not hiding anything from them.
More recently I have had requests to see licences when my son insured his car (he's 19 now) last year and the year before. Just something they do so I don't worry.

More worrying is the amount of times I have had to email copies of my driving licence, passport and proof of address to people recently to set up bank accounts, mortagages etc.

[bigralphie]

not been asked for the car but MCE asked for a copy of my licence and proof of NCB for the bike

[mickvp]

not been asked for the car but MCE asked for a copy of my licence and proof of NCB for the bike

Odd, I just went with MCE about 4 weeks ago, and they never asked me for anything. I don't think even they know what they want at times :lol