Is Your Car Insurance Valid if Your Drivers Licence has Expired?

If your drivers licence expires, is your car insurance valid? Renewing your licence is one of those boring admin tasks that we all want to put off forever. But if you’re going to be driving for years to come, you’ll need to do it.

And your car insurance provider will be grateful you didn’t let your licence expire too. Aside from the inconvenience of not having a valid licence, you can also be heavily punished for driving without one. So what happens if you have an accident and your drivers licence has expired? Does car insurance still cover you? And what about if the other driver’s licence has expired, but yours is still valid?

First off, let’s clarify whether driving with an expired licence counts as driving unlicenced.

Driving unlicensed

You can check the expiry date on your licence by just looking at it. However, you’ll usually receive a renewal notice six weeks before the expiry date too, if you haven’t renewed yet.

It’s important to know that even if you don’t receive any notifications, it’s your responsibility to make sure you don’t let your drivers licence expire. Perhaps put a recurring annual calendar note in your phone? Something as simple as that can save you from a world of financial and legal hurt.

Does driving with an expired licence count as unlicenced driving?

Technically, you do have a licence, right? It’s not suspended due to too many demerit points… or at least you think so (read “Time to check your demerit points?” just in case). It’s just an expired one. So if you drive with a licence that’s expired, is it still unlicenced driving?

In all states and territories in Australia, driving unlicenced is an offence. The punishment varies from area to area but depending on where you live you could be fined, be prohibited from applying for a licence for a period of time, have your car impounded, or even serve a prison sentence.

Will your car insurance cover you if your drivers licence is expired?

A lot of people think that if your drivers licence has expired, and that’s the only reason you’re driving unlicenced, your car insurance will continue. However, you’ll have to check your PDS carefully for the wording and exclusions if you want to make sure that’s the case.

In most instances, your cover won’t be valid if you’re driving unlicenced – regardless of the reason.

The national Insurance Contracts Act also doesn’t specify that an expired licence would be an exception under the “prescribed cover” standard.

What does all of this mean? Usually, if your driving licence has expired and you’re involved in an accident, your car insurance provider would have ample reason to void your claim. It would probably fall under the exclusions where a car driven by an unlicenced driver isn’t covered by your policy.

Also be sure to find out if you can get car insurance with a learner’s permit.

What if another person driving your vehicle is unlicensed?

If you lend your car to someone and they have a crash, what happens? We have an article covering the ins and outs of an unlisted driver being involved in a claimable event. However, that assumes the driver is driving on a valid licence.

Your comprehensive car insurance usually covers you for any licensed drivers who drive the car with your permission. Though, be sure to check for exclusions for young drivers. If you’ve let somebody borrow the car and they are driving unlicenced, however, your car probably won’t be covered if there’s an accident.

Of course if your car is stolen or hijacked by an unlicensed driver and then involved in an accident, you’d still be covered under the theft part of your car insurance policy.

If the other driver in an accident has an expired licence and car insurance

If you get into an accident with another driver whose drivers licence has expired, but your licence is valid and your car insurance is in place, what happens?

In most cases, the insurance provider for the other (unlicenced) driver will not honour their claim. This means the unlicensed driver will have to pay the costs out of pocket. If you have comprehensive car insurance in place, your insurance provider will usually pay your claim and then recoup their costs from the other driver.

It’s important to know that someone driving without a licence doesn’t automatically mean they’re at fault in an accident. For instance, let’s say you rear-end a driver without a licence. Though they’ll still be punished for driving unlicenced, you’ll need to find out whether your car insurance will pay when you’re at fault.

Moral of the story? Keep your licence and your comprehensive car insurance up to date at all times!