This is a bit niche - renewing UK drivers licence

[Archduke]

Hi there

I have lost my plastic bit of my UK drivers licence so I need to get a replacement. I went through this UK Gov site but unless I'm being thick it has no option for o/s residents to renew their licence.

It asked for me to put in a UK address, so I put in a family members, but I'm pretty sure this is against the rules.

Has any one done this? What was the solution?

JessieMcJessie is correct that most U.K. insurers will not insure non-residents. But it is possible to get cover. We've lived abroad for many years and have two vehicles insured in the U.K. Cost is reasonable (I think).

Yes, I used my parents address.

Didn't realise it was an offence!

If you don't renew it, and then one day return to live in the UK, do you have to retake your driving test?

No toffee. You just fill in the form. Bertie OP says she already has an Aussie licence.

No toffee you just fill in the form.
Bertie OP already has an Aussie licence.
seadragon I was thinking specifically of adding a person without a UK address as a named driver on an existing policy where the car is not owned by that person. Presumably your U.K. cars are registered in your name?

Not that niche!! I was honest with the DVLA about losing my plastic licence and living abroad-they refused to make me a new one. I didn't fancy committing fraud so I had to battle the French bureaucracy to 'exchange' my lost licence for a French one. It only took 14 months and most of my sanity

JessieMcJessie One is owned by us and the other by DFIL. But for DFIL's car, IIRC (it was quite a few years ago), you are right that the existing insurers would not add non-resident drivers. We either did it at renewal or cancelled the existing policy and arranged new cover.

Oh yeah, sorry! I totally missed that. Then, I'd probably just get the lost one with parents' address. As long as you respond to any post which gets sent to you there, I can't see that they'd really care that much. The main purpose of having a UK address on the form is to be able to collect speeding fines etc.

Thanks all. Bertie I think that Jessie and others are correct - having an incorrect driving licence invalidates your insurance which would be a total disaster were I to be involved in an accident.

This is the response I got from emailing the DVLC:

As you live overseas we’re unable to issue you with a new GB driving licence.

Which is pretty short and to the point.

I have an Australian licence which means I can hire a car when I visit the UK but am not able to borrow the folks car.

Thanks everyone for your help.

JessieMcJessie Finally! You are the only other person I have ever met who has refused to just give a UK address and renew (and probably not coincidentally another lawyer). My DH is still moaning that I made him (and me) sit the UAE driving test because our UK photocards has expired.

Does anyone know how long you have to be resident in the UK for at the time of renewal? I couldn't find the answer but was wondering whether next time we relocate we could become temporarily resident in the UK for a short period to allow us to renew.

Oh and in looking at it, I think if you don't renew and have been outside the UK you count as a new driver for car insurance which is a massive additional relocation cost. Again, of course you can just not mention this but then you run the risk of the insurers finding out and invalidating a claim.

You can borrow your folk's car- just get them to call their insurance to include you. It's not expensive. I only have a HK driver's license and my parents added me and just declared I have an overseas license and am non-resident. It was only about twenty quid extra.

The problem for me is (incorrectly) signing anything that says I am claiming to be UK resident, given that I'm a higher tax bracket earner living in a country with a top rate of income tax of 15%.

Could you argue that when you're in the U.K. you do live with your parents? From an insurance perspective, anyway...

PS. your Australian DL is valid for use here, for up to 12 months after you move back as well.

Sorry, finally RTFT - for the person asking how long you need to be back living in the U.K. to exchange your licence again, it's six months (well at least it was for us when we moved here the first time).

We used 'car detective' for our car hire in the UK and it was cheaper with our Australian licences than it would have been with our UK ones.

There is a clear definition of residency x(dirty can't recall who asked):-

2. UK residence and tax
Your UK residence status affects whether you need to pay tax in the UK on your foreign income.
Non-residents only pay tax on their UK incomee_ - they don’t pay UK tax on their foreign income.
Residents normally pay UK tax on all their income, whether it’s from the UK or abroad. But there are special rules for UK residents whose permanent home (‘domicilee_’) is abroad.
Work out your residence status
Whether you’re UK resident usually depends on how many days you spend in the UK in the tax year (6 April to 5 April the following year).
You’re automatically resident if either:
• you spent 183 or more days in the UK in the tax year
• your only home was in the UK - you must have owned, rented or lived in it for at least 91 days in total - and you spent at least 30 days there in the tax year
You’re automatically non-resident if either:
• you spent fewer than 16 days in the UK (or 46 days if you haven’t been classed as UK resident for the 3 previous tax years)
• you work abroad full-time (averaging at least 35 hours a week) and spent fewer than 91 days in the UK, of which no more than 30 were spent working

Zimmer 😀
I wasn't treated as a new driver when I came to insure our UK car after returning and renewing, so I don't think your prudence will have penalised you that way.

We were treated like new drivers. It sucks. Despite having very good claims history and 5+y no claims bonus our first year's premium was over £900 for a £2500 car! Totally insane. DH was 30 and I was almost 29, FFS.

Girl Elephant - can you provide the link for that? I haven't found anything that says residency for DVLA purposes is the same as residency for tax purposes. If it does then that makes me happy I insisted on not declaring us resident.

KP86 - what was that based on? I wouldn't be exchanging my overseas licence but renewing my existing one.

I might email the DVLA and ask :)

I of course know 1 day 'resident' won't do anything but it's annoying! Only because British licences are automatically exchangeable in most of the GCC but other licences require you to do a driving test and sometimes even lessons. They won't accept an expired photocard (believe me we tried).

Zimmer, there was no real reason except we were new to the country without U.K. licences. At that stage we still had our home licences (Australian). We did many quotes and that one was the cheapest by a very long way.

Because you know everyone really cares about this I thought I would report that there is no specific period you need to be GB resident for to renew your photocard (according to the DVLA). So in theory my plan of spending one day resident in the UK whilst moving between countries would be sufficient to renew.

KP96 you were new British drivers though. That's not the same as someone who has passed a UK test but spent some time living outside the UK, from an insurer's perspective at least. For example when they ask any applicant how long they have held their licence they are not interested in how much that person has actually driven over the course of the years since their test. (Though obviously a regular driver should have a NCB to show for it).

When I moved abroad and got my local licence, I had to get a beginner's licence and wear P plates for 2 years. I guess they have no way of transferring your driving history, so they want you to start from a clean plate so to speak.

Jessie when my mum moved back from Spain to the UK she ended up buying a new car with insurance included as their insurance was prohibitively expensive because they were being treated as new drivers. This is maybe 5 years ago now so it might have changed but that's what she found (and my mum will have checked a lot of insurance companies!).