Can I Get Car Insurance if I Have a Conviction?

Caeva O'Callaghan | March 10th, 2023

Convicted drivers may be banned from driving for a while, or face another kind of penalty. But can you get car insurance if you’ve committed an offence?

Yes, you can. A conviction, as long as it does not prevent you from driving a car, will not prevent you from getting car insurance.

The price will vary according to the type of conviction you have. Also, there may be a few more hoops to jump through, but it’s entirely possible to still get a good deal.

In this article, we’ll cover questions such as:

• Will a conviction stop me getting car insurance?
• Does my car insurance premium go up if I have a conviction?
• Do non-motoring offences affect my car insurance?

If you’ve fallen foul of the law in the past, buying car insurance products are one of those things you’ll need to treat a bit differently. Luckily we have experience in this area, and are happy to help.

Criminal offences

No matter if your conviction is in relation to motoring or non-motoring offences, this will affect your car insurance. Specialist convicted driver insurance is available for drivers who have been convicted or who have open claims. But, we can help find you the best car insurance in these circumstances.

Committing a motoring offence, especially if that conviction is within the last 5 years, does make getting insurance more difficult. It will stop most mainstream insurers from giving you a quote. Even if they do quote, the price may be prohibitively expensive.

Some car insurers will only be concerned with convictions that you have received within the last 5 years. Others will need to know about convictions within the last 10 years. Yet more insurance providers will turn you down if you have ever had a conviction. Insurers may increase the cost of your policy depending on when you received the conviction as well as what the conviction was for.

Please note, many car insurance providers will not cover you if you have convictions for more than one of the same type of offence. We have access to special insurance markets for people who have the following:

• 2 or more speeding offences
• 2 or more sign and signal offences
• Any motoring offence
• A poor history of motoring convictions, penalty points or disqualifications
• Non-motoring (criminal) offences

Drink driving convictions

Even drivers with a drink driving related conviction are able to get car insurance. During the application process, we will require additional details from the applicant that relate to their conviction.

For example, we need to know the date of the offence and the penalty you received. Since 2011, your penalty will reflect the offence. This means we no longer need to know the statistics around your blood/alcohol levels at the time of your offence.

The penalty you face will be a major factor in determining the cost of your car insurance policy. For instance, if you were disqualified from driving for more than 2 years, you will have lost your no claims bonus, with the obvious consequence.

Telling your insurance company

If you have a criminal conviction for any kind of offence, you need to tell your car insurance company right away. Not going so can create a lot of problems later on. It’s much better to be upfront and honest with your insurance. If your policy changes too much we can help you shop around for a new one.

Where there are driving convictions, disqualifications and/or penalty points declared we may require written confirmation of driving record from the NDLS. This is for any driver with an offence on their record. This document can be requested by sending an e-mail to info@ndls with your relevant Driver Number. As long as the driver requests a reply by email the NDLS will respond at no cost.

Any convictions spent under the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016 do not need to be disclosed. Further information on spent convictions is available on www.citizensinformation.ie. Or, you can check with your local Garda station if your conviction is considered spent under the Criminal Justice Act 2016.

If you have had a previous criminal conviction and need car insurance, talk to us today!

If you have had a criminal conviction in the past, and you are researching car insurance, you can call and talk to our car insurance experts anytime from Mon-Fri between 8.30am and 5.30pm on 0818 224433 or 042 9359051. We can help search the market according to your specific circumstances. We look forward to helping you today.