It can be quite difficult to find a new insurance policy when you have penalty points on your licence, but it’s not impossible. It’s important, however, to be aware of what you can expect when looking for car insurance.

Ultimately, it will depend on the provider whether they want to insure you or not, especially as some offences will be viewed as considerably more serious than others. An insurer may be comfortable insuring someone with a single speeding offence in a long history of driving, or even a criminal conviction that’s not related to driving.

That said, the cost of your premiums will generally be higher than you might expect. This is simply because it introduces an element of risk that insurers will be wary of. Providing cover for a driver who has previously been convicted raises doubt among insurers, as well as raising the possibility that the driver could offend again if they’re not careful.

Additionally, if you’ve been disqualified from driving or been given a motoring ban for a set period, you won’t be able to get an insurance policy at all until you’re permitted to drive again. Even after you’ve served your ban, you may well find that insurers will quote you quite highly, so it’s important to bear this in mind.

By law, you need to declare any unspent convictions or any prosecutions that are presently ongoing. If you fail to do so, your insurance policy will be invalid and you run the risk of having any claims you make being rejected.

All minor convictions will eventually change from ‘unspent’ to ‘spent’, meaning that a previously committed offence will no longer appear on your criminal record once it is spent. This usually happens after a period of time has passed, which can be short or long depending on the severity of the offence and the punishment.

Once a conviction is spent, it’s not legally mandatory to declare it, although certain insurers may wish to ask for information of any spent convictions. In this case, it will be necessary to disclose the appropriate details. It’s always worth checking the small print of your insurance documents to make sure whether this is relevant to your policy or not.

If you have a previous motoring conviction, you may notice that it comes with a short alphanumeric code. These codes can quickly inform insurers of the type and seriousness of the offence committed, allowing them to easily identify how much your quote will be affected.

Each of these endorsements on your driving record comprise of two letter and two numbers signifying the type of offence and the seriousness of the issue. Numbers can change depending on whether it was you in the driving seat or whether you – as a passenger – assisted, abetted, incited or failed to prevent a driver committing an offence.

These codes also inform the number of penalty points you might expect to receive. The type of offence will also be associated with the length of time that conviction must stay on your record. For a complete list of offences and the corresponding endorsement codes, you can consult the Government’s

official website here

Finding an insurer who will provide cover for a driver with convictions can be a difficult enough task as it is. Trying to find the cheapest possible quote, however, can be even trickier. By choosing Arkwright, you can be sure that – through our specialist knowledge and diverse panel of insurers – we’ll be able to find you the best quote for an insurance policy that suits you.

To get started with Arkwright Insurance Brokers, call our team today on 01204 392 525 and let’s discuss your situation and insurance requirements. Alternatively, you can click the “Get a quote” button to send us a few basic details so we can contact you back at a later time.