Looking for Drink Driving Insurance?
Obviously, you cannot insure against drink driving, but how can you get insurance if you have a DR10 conviction?
Getting insurance with any type of conviction can be struggle. So how does a drink drinking conviction affect your car insurance?
Does drink driving invalidate insurance?
The majority of insurers will refuse to pay out to damage to your vehicle caused whilst driving under the influence, regardless of what type of insurance you have.
Under the Road Traffic Act they are legally obliged to cover damaged you may have caused to third parties, however it is at their discretion as to whether or not they then attempt to reclaim these costs from you.
Car Insurance for Drink Drivers
If you have drink driving on your driving record, this type of conviction dramatically increases your risk in the eyes of insurers, which will be reflected in insurance quotes. Ways to save money on drink driving insurance include:
Insurers and underwriters familiar with this type of policy are likely to be able to get you the best price.
Some insurers may let you take out a black box policy which uses GPS to monitor your driving style, cornering, acceleration, braking etc and favours careful drivers.
Although there’s no guarantee this will affect your insurance premiums, many insurers look favourably on drivers who have completed a drink rehabilitation course.
If you don’t drive very far or very often, some insurers may consider a limited mileage policy which can be cheaper since the less you drive, the less risk you represent.
Drink Driving Insurance on a Multi-Vehicle Policy
Multi-vehicle policies make it easier to insure all vehicles registered to one address. This can make renewal dates easier to manage and can let drivers take advantage of multi-car discounts.
Each vehicle on a multi-car policy is insured separately, meaning that if someone is convicted of drink driving although their insurance will increase substantially, everyone else’s will remain unaffected.
Drink Driving Insurance – Useful FAQs
Yes. Drink driving is a criminal offence under section 5(1)(a) of the Road Traffic Act 1988. Read more…
A DR10 conviction will remain on your driving licence for 11 years, however it will be considered ‘spent’ after 5 years.
Drink driving convictions are considered ‘spent’ after 5 years. You must always inform insurers about unspent drink driving convictions.
If an insurer specifically asks you if you have ever been convicted of drink driving then you have to tell the truth. Read more…
No. By law Insurance providers are not allowed to make policy decisions based on “spent” convictions. If you think that they have it is possible that the Financial Ombudsman would find in your favour.
To be convicted of drink driving in the UK you must have over 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath or over 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. Read more...
Yes. Although there are no laws against sleeping in your car if you are parked safely, if you are under the influence then you can still be convicted of drink driving, even if you are not actually driving. This is due to the possibility that you drove to wherever you are parked and then fell asleep. Read more…