DVLA Rip Off

[Butts]

My Photocard Licence expires in January - I just had a nice reminder from the DVLA....

Along with a bill for £20 - what a rip off, I would never have surrendered my old paper one. (should have read the small print)

I appreciate after 10 years the photo should be updated but if you have had a new passport in the last say two or three years they could scan it from that like some others do.

Provided you other details have not changed I think it should be free of charge.

Next thing you know they will be charging for change of address - whoops don't go giving them ideas. Fair enough to charge if you have lost it, but when the old one has to be sent in

 

[Zoidberg]

...
I appreciate after 10 years the photo should be updated but if you have had a new passport in the last say two or three years they could scan it from that like some others do.

...

But you can renew online and have a passport photo acessed by the DVLA.

From https://www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence

To apply online, you’ll need to:

have a valid UK passport issued within the last 5 years

...

 

[Butts]

But you can renew online and have a passport photo acessed by the DVLA.

From https://www.gov.uk/renew-driving-licence

Is it free if you do it that way ?

 

[Zoidberg]

Is it free if you do it that way ?

Oh no ... also on that page

To apply online, you’ll need to:

pay £20 by MasterCard, Visa, Electron, Maestro or Delta debit or credit card

but you save the cost of having to send in a photo.

 

[richw]

Do you need any details changing? if you pop a passport photo in with an address change they don't charge you. My wife did this very recently. Mine needs doing next September, so I will probably change address to my other address, send a photo. I spread my time between two addresses so can pull this off, guessing changing to a relatives will be ok for a short time.

 

[Zoidberg]

Do you need any details changing? if you pop a passport photo in with an address change they don't charge you. My wife did this very recently. Mine needs doing next September, so I will probably change address to my other address, send a photo. I spread my time between two addresses so can pull this off, guessing changing to a relatives will be ok for a short time.

Oooh, that's cheeky, but I like your style.

 

[snail]

Provided you other details have not changed I think it should be free of charge.

Yes, because no one has to do anything to process it do they? Would you work for free? £20 doesn't pay for much nowadays even at minimum wage.

 

[yorkie]

If something is a rip-off, the best thing to do is not use it, and make alternative arrangements

 

[DaveNewcastle]

. . . . . I would never have surrendered my old paper one. . . . . . .

Indeed.
I haven't, and it's not caused me the slightest inconvenience (I have other ID which has always been accepted) and I don't intend surrendering it before I have to.

 

[PaxVobiscum]

May I echo the comments of the honourable member from Newcastle. I still have my paper licence and feel no compulsion to "update" it either.

 

[Clip]

The government really is putting it to you eh Buttsy. But why should they process it for free of charge?

 

[Zoidberg]

Indeed.
I haven't, and it's not caused me the slightest inconvenience (I have other ID which has always been accepted) and I don't intend surrendering it before I have to.

Me, too. And when I have to hand it in at 70, it's free to get a photocard style on renewal, apparently.

 

[talltim]

You can renew your driving licence using the photo from your passport providing it's less than 5 years old. You can renew your passport using the photo from your driving license providing it's less than 5 years old. Anyone spot the flaw?
You could could keep the same photo forever!

 

[Butts]

Yes, because no one has to do anything to process it do they? Would you work for free? £20 doesn't pay for much nowadays even at minimum wage.

The cost of processing must be much lower online utilising "passport capture" than the mailed version which will involve more manual work, so why is the charge the same?

If it were cheaper online it would encourage people to use that method and save them money at the same time.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

The government really is putting it to you eh Buttsy. But why should they process it for free of charge?

Careful Clip there is an imposter who goes by the name of "Buttsy" on this site. Personally I think that should not be allowed :roll:

They process change of address free , and if your details have remained the same with the photo scanned in from a passport the amount of work involved is marginal.

As I said earlier if you'd lost it fair enough - but you have to send the original in and the 2nd part and theres no stamp on the envelope provided - another 60p.

Just had a thought if you renew it online do you still have to send the old one in ?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

If something is a rip-off, the best thing to do is not use it, and make alternative arrangements

Ho Ho.....very witty Yorkie

Are you familiar with any good forgers ?

 

[NSEFAN]

The cost of processing must be much lower online utilising "passport capture" than the mailed version which will involve more manual work, so why is the charge the same?

If it were cheaper online it would encourage people to use that method and save them money at the same time.

Doing something online is only cheaper if the mechanism behind it is automated and well implemented. I wouldn't be surprised if the DVLA has vast offices with people clicking away on computers producing new licences, doing a job that could easily be automated in the majority of use cases.

 

[Butts]

Do you need any details changing? if you pop a passport photo in with an address change they don't charge you. My wife did this very recently. Mine needs doing next September, so I will probably change address to my other address, send a photo. I spread my time between two addresses so can pull this off, guessing changing to a relatives will be ok for a short time.

You pastie munchers certainly have some wild ideas ...would it not invalidate your insurance adopting this dodge.

Plus a lot of them charge for amendments these days
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

May I echo the comments of the honourable member from Newcastle. I still have my paper licence and feel no compulsion to "update" it either.

If only I had not followed suit , my old paper one was really manky and car hire firms didn't take to kindly to the various fragments it had become being slapped on the counter and joined like a jigsaw

 

[bnm]

You can renew your driving licence using the photo from your passport providing it's less than 5 years old. You can renew your passport using the photo from your driving license providing it's less than 5 years old. Anyone spot the flaw?
You could could keep the same photo forever!

Anyone spot the flaw is this argument.

Invalid syllogism.

You cannot keep same photo forever. That one photo is taken at fixed point in time. It doesn't magically renew.

 

[talltim]

Anyone spot the flaw is this argument.

Invalid syllogism.

You cannot keep same photo forever. That one photo is taken at fixed point in time. It doesn't magically renew.

Well no, it's not magic, you have to tick the box on the website to get them to use the photo from the other form of ID.
And yes, it's not the same actual physical photo, it's another printout of a scanned in one that you sent them originally

 

[455driver]

As long as the photo is less than 5 years old you can use it, not the passport being less than 5 years old!

 

[Jonny]

You pastie munchers certainly have some wild ideas ...would it not invalidate your insurance adopting this dodge.

The validity of insurance depends on the entitlement to drive (the counterpart) being valid, the only issue is a 'failure to surrender' the expired photocard.

Oh and I'm going to see just how long I can keep my non-photo one (I was one of the last to get a non-photo licence).

 

[Butts]

The validity of insurance depends on the entitlement to drive (the counterpart) being valid, the only issue is a 'failure to surrender' the expired photocard.

Oh and I'm going to see just how long I can keep my non-photo one (I was one of the last to get a non-photo licence).

Is there no cut off or expiry timeline to retain the paper version ?

If you change address etc can you get it updated or do you have to have the new style photocard ?

 

[Zoidberg]

Is there no cut off or expiry timeline to retain the paper version ?

If you change address etc can you get it updated or do you have to have the new style photocard ?

Any change to a paper licence results in the provision of a photocard licence and so, the need to provide a photograph or be able to refer to a less than 5 year old one on a passport.

Oh, and if you get to 70 and still have a paper licence, that is the cut-off for having to go photocard, although I do remember reading a while ago of a proposal for an arbitrary date cut-off. I will try to find that and link to it.

 

[Butts]

Any change to a paper licence results in the provision of a photocard licence and so, the need to provide a photograph or be able to refer to a less than 5 year old one on a passport.

Oh, and if you get to 70 and still have a paper licence, that is the cut-off for having to go photocard, although I do remember reading a while ago of a proposal for an arbitrary date cut-off. I will try to find that and link to it.

With these conditions I wonder what percentage of people still have a paper licence.

 

[tony_mac]

I do remember reading a while ago of a proposal for an arbitrary date cut-off. I will try to find that and link to it.

There are a number of articles, such as from the BBC, saying that this will be done in 2015.
However, the only thing I can find directly from the government is a proposal to remove the need to hold a paper counterpart. It doesn't actually say that old paper versions will be invalidated (although the law allows them to do that), so I wonder if it's just dodgy reporting from somebody making assumptions.

scrapping the regulation requiring motorists to hold a paper counterpart to their driving licence by 2015

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/road-transport-red-tape-challenge

e.g. the telegraph says

The paper driving licence is to be phased out as part of the Government’s drive to cut red tape.
It will disappear in 2015, after which only a photocard will be issued.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8921683/Paper-driving-licence-to-be-phased-out.html

but the BBC says

Photo-card driving licences are set to become mandatory in 2015, when new paper licences are officially phased out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20968886

 

[Butts]

You'd think a Licence would become a "smartcard" to hold information and negate the need for the paper counterpart.

Mind you that would be an excuse to jack the fee up even more !!

 

[richw]

Most of Europe just have the photocard, no paper counterpart. Whenever I've hired cars (I use local providers, rather than the airport robbery prices) a majority have been "whats this" to the paper section and only deal with the photocard

 

[jon0844]

It's odd that our photocards don't have a chip, as many other EU ones do.

As I always carry my driving licence, I signed up to be one of the first to get a photo ID - and it's been used countless times to prove my ID (and whenever I'm at the post office to pick up something, everyone in front of me seems to use theirs too - rather than a passport or whatever other photo ID might be accepted).

I obviously still have my paper licence (and I still have the plastic pocket that my first one came in, as I don't even think they give these anymore) but it's safely filed at home and I've never been asked to produce it for anything. Even the police accept the card only, even though technically you need both (or so I was told when I first got it).

 

[richw]

even though technically you need both (or so I was told when I first got it).

It says in the leaflet that accompanies them when they're posted to you, that they must be kept together, and the parts are only valid together.

 

[Buttsy]

Careful Clip there is an imposter who goes by the name of "Buttsy" on this site. Personally I think that should not be allowed :roll:

Imposter eh? I've had my nickname since I was around 7 or 8 and is based on my surname, not my habit.

 

[jon0844]

It says in the leaflet that accompanies them when they're posted to you, that they must be kept together, and the parts are only valid together.

But as I think most people will have experienced, that's not the case.