Thais Driving In The Uk

[Mercury]

When looking at insuring my Thai partner on the car insurance, there is a great difference between the premiums quoted when she is listed as having an international license as opposed to a provisional UK license. My argument is that she presumably has both.

Due to the Thai license not being exchangeable for a UK license and her being required to take a test in the UK, she must first surely need a provisional license should she not ? If so, it would seem legal to apply for insurance on this basis as opposed to quoting her as having a foreign license.

The premium difference is stark, approximately 100% more if on an international license when compared to a UK provisional.

What did you do ?

[buffcoat]

You can legally drive for 12 months in the UK from date of first entry on an international license but after that 12 months have expired you must have a full UK license to continue driving unsupervised.

If your wife is driving unsupervised in the UK on her international license it is correct to tell the insurance company that this is the basis on which she is driving at the moment.

However if she fails to pass a UK test in the twelve months she must immediately stop driving unsupervised and you must declare to your insurer immediately that she is now using a UK provisional license and is a learner.

Most motor insurers have a tick box system that is not flexible enough to handle this unusual position.

Your legal duty of disclosure requires you to declare any material fact so when applying for coverage it is a fact that your wife will be driving unsupervised on an international license, this is the prime information, as an additional element of information you should tell them she will aim to pass a full UK test and therefore will have a UK provisional as well.

The crucial difference is obviously that under the international license she can drive on her own but under a provisional she cannot and the insurer is making assumptions about how risky she is by the relative desirability of the different licenses.

[bobrussell]

My wife (international drivers licence) was added to my policy free of charge with NFU. The main difference (and reason for premium variation) is that a UK provisional licence requires a full licence holder to accompany the driver and L plates etc. With an international licence the driver does not require anyone to accompany them. This presumably changes the risk level for the insurance company.

My wife is not 'allowed' access to my car unaccompanied until her driving instructor tells me she (and my car) are safe on the road!

I understand legally you can hold an international drivers licence and a UK provisional together and are allowed to drive unaccompanied until the allowed period of 1 year is up. At this point the international licence stops being valid if you are a UK resident. Please correct me someone if this is wrong!

The choice of licence to use seems to depend on whether you are going to be with her all the time or not!!!

[TiredTeacher]

Ahhhh!

What has the world come to? We will now have people who drive like they are on a kamikaze mission driving in the UK!!!! Check airbags, crash and roll bars, helmet and gloves in car etc.

Just joking, all the best with your UK license and insurance issue. With the cost of insurance in the UK, it might be cheaper to have her do the theory and test - let her wait a month or so!

[MartinL]

If your wife were in UK on a visitors visa, she could drive in UK for the duration of that visa. But most visits are for only a few months at most, I'd guess.

But I imagine she's there as your wife on a Settlement (Spouse) visa. In that case, she can drive on the IDP for 12 months FROM THE DATE OF HER FIRST ENTRY TO UK AS A RESIDENT. After that, she must have passed the UK driving test or drive, accompanied, on a Provisional. So if she arrived in UK as a resident on, say, 1st. June 2009, the 12 months expire on 30th. May 2010. There is no extension of that 12 months if she were to leave UK for 6 months, for example. The clock starts from Day 1 and stops exactly 12 months later.

[Mercury]

Just spoken to DVLA and they say she must get a provisional and then pass the tests. Fair enough, Thai tests are useless. However, she'll need to be driving alone unsupervised so I guess even though she can get the provisional straight away, she would technically be driving on the international licence. Quite a difference in premium but hopefully she can pass her UK test and I'll get some of that excess premium back.

Not at all worried about her passing the practical side of the UK driving test as I think she is a good driver per se, excellent by Thai standards, but the theory is going to be her downfall. Even I tried one online simulator and I didn't pass ! She got 6 out of 35 ! which is less than the 1 in 4 you'd get at random were it all A,B,C,D etc.