Date Of Obtaining A Driving Licence

[iloveglee]

i am looking for quotes for car insurance. for the first time ever, i am being asked for the month and year i obtained my licence. as if i can remember the exact month and year, its so long ago.

the date on my driving licence is not the year i passed my driving test, i am absolutely sure of that, but cannot remember the exact year. DVLA only have the dates that are printed on the licence, so what happened to the years prior to that.

it shouldnt matter really, i have been driving for 40+ years anyway, but knowing what insurance companies can be like if you give them inaccurate information, leaves me wondering what they really want.

has anyone else experienced this ridiculous situation.

[fiction-factory]

I had this recently, gave an approx answer to within a few months either wauy, entered my driving licence number as requested and their system then corrected my licence date to something that looked more correct

[Bathsheba]

Mine is still an A4 pink + green one. Still valid last time I checked.

Baths
x x

[bhg481]

It sounds like you're using comparison sites. If you go directly to insurance companies they usually give an option "more than (say) 10 years". Comparison sites don't do this but need to ask the exact date in case your licence is fairly new. With a licence as old as yours just invent a date that's about right I, like FF, did.

[chrissa1]

I can remember mine. March 1968. Easy.

[EDDIE51]

Just give a date in the most likely year when you passed your test. Can you remember the time of year? if so give an answer that is the same season. For example if summer say June or July.

[iloveglee]

actually it wasnt a comparison site. the comparison sites asked for a number of years licence was held, and 25+ was the maximum. it was santander, and halifax was the same format exactly. i cant remember now whether santander had the option to enter the driving licence number, although halifax did. wouldnt have mattered if santander hadnt been the cheapest option!! what i find bizarre is that the DVLA say they dont have any information prior to the date that's printed on my driving licence. my husband, who is the policy holder, has a date of 1974 on his driving licence, and we both know for an absolute fact that he passed his test in 1964.

[EDDIE51]

As they say the DVLA do not have the information, therefore it can't be checked, so just put a date that seems reasonable to you.

[Hopkirk]

If you have a photocard licence, look on the back.

Look in the 'From' column for group B.

That's the date of your test pass.

[EDDIE51]

^^ Not true Hopkirk I just looked at mine , it says 24/4/74 . I know for a fact it was June 1971 that I passed the test.

[iloveglee]

eddie51 is right, the date on the licence does not reflect the date you passed your test. neither mine nor my husbands is accurate for the date first obtained a licence. ironically the date on his, seems to reflect almost to the date he passed his test, but 10 years later!! i rang DVLA to check this, and the date they gave was the one on the licence, they don't have any information prior to this!! Absurd. This of course may only be older people who are affected, maybe the time that information became digital or something like that. i also called santander, just shows how much their call centre people know. they first of all told me just to put the year and the leave the month blank. the website will not allow you to continue if you do that. then they told me to put the driving licence number. there is no space for that information. they have no idea why this is required in such fine details, as far as the insurance documents are concerned all it says on that is licence obtained over 9 years ago!! the general concensus of opinion is to put the exact date that's on the licence, as that's the only checkable thing, and as long as the driving licence was obtained more than 9 years ago, the price wont be different. we will see when i do exactly that.

[HansUrbancka]

You have said..."I am being asked for the month and year i obtained my licence".

The date you passed the driving test was when you qualified to apply for a full licence, but allowed time to elapse before applying for one. Consequently, as you are Not being asked the date you passed the driving test, it is the date on your full licence which is when you first obtained a licence.

Hans.

[fourteen85]

Out of interest I have had a look at the from date on my license and the dates are correct for both the car and motorcycle pass dates

[sapelesam]

The DVLA are a waste of time. I recently decided to buy a motorbike, haven't ridden one for over thirty years, bad accident. I booked refresher lessons and when I turned up they looked at my licence and said I wasn't entitled so had to cancel my course and I lost my deposit. I passed my bike test on 14th June 1970 on a BSA 250 Starfire. On an occasion when I have renewed my licence the DVLA has missed off my bike entitlement. They have refused to amend my licence even though I have all the original paperwork from my bike test. My solicitor has even tried without success. I have had to go through CBT and practical to get something I already have. For anybody wondering about 46 year old paperwork, my late mother was a filing fanatic, in the same file was my Cycling Proficiency Test certificate, 98% score.

[iloveglee]

i had my kids check their licences and the date on the licence corresponds with the date they passed their test. i then asked friends and relatives who are my age, and the date on the licence does not. there is a discrepancy of around 10 years!! the dvla did not start until after we had taken our tests, and it seems that it took them some years to take over everyone's licence details after this. its possible it was the date that dvla digitised your licence that shows on the back of it, and there could be several years discrepancy. it was obviously rather a big job. in the event, we insured with someone who asked a sensible question like have you held a licence for more than 25 years. answer yes. job done