How long do you have to declare a conviction?
For most drivers the practical answer is five years. The large majority of UK insurers ask whether you've had any motoring convictions in the last 5 years, so that's the window you're declaring against when you fill in an application. Answer that question honestly and accurately and you've met your duty — you don't volunteer a conviction from outside the window an insurer hasn't asked about.
The deeper answer is that a conviction stops being declarable for good once it becomes "spent" under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. For a standard motoring conviction that's usually also around five years, which is why the two line up for most people — but the spent date can be shorter or longer depending on your age and sentence, and that's where the detail matters.
What's the difference between your licence record and declaring?
The single most common (and expensive) mistake is assuming that "still on my licence" means "still have to declare it". They're two separate clocks. One is how long the DVLA keeps the endorsement on your driving record; the other is how long you must declare it to an insurer. They don't stop at the same time.
| Clock | How long | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| On your DVLA licence record | 4 years (most codes) or 11 years (drink/drug and causing-death codes) | The endorsement is visible to the DVLA and the courts for this long. It's the figure on your licence check — but it is not the figure you declare to insurers. |
| Declarable to insurers | Usually 5 years | Most insurers ask only about convictions in the last 5 years. A DR10 stays on your licence for 11 years but is normally declarable for just 5. |
| Once spent | From the spent date onwards | You no longer declare it even if asked, and an insurer can't lawfully use it to refuse cover or raise your premium. |
So a drink-driving DR10 that sits on your licence for 11 years is usually only something you must declare for 5. After that, declaring it just costs you money you don't need to spend.
What is a "spent" conviction?
A conviction becomes spent after a set "rehabilitation period", after which the law treats it as though it never happened for most everyday purposes — including buying car insurance. The period depends on the sentence and your age at conviction:
- For a typical endorsable motoring offence dealt with by a fine, the conviction is generally treated as spent 5 years after the date of conviction for an adult — it's the licence endorsement that carries the five-year rehabilitation period, not the fine itself. A fine on its own is spent after one year, and a community order generally once the order ends.
- If you were under 18 at the date of conviction, the period is usually halved to about 2.5 years.
- A custodial sentence has a longer rehabilitation period — the more serious the sentence, the longer before it's spent.
- A driving disqualification itself is generally spent at the end of the ban.
These periods apply in England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules. Because the exact date turns on your specific sentence, treat the figures above as the usual case and confirm yours (see how to check below).
Do you have to declare a spent conviction?
No. Once a conviction is spent, you don't have to declare it — even if an insurer's question looks like it's asking for it — and it is unlawful for an insurer to refuse cover or load your premium because of a spent conviction. That protection is the whole point of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.
One nuance: a small number of insurers word their questions to ask only about unspent convictions, while most ask about the "last 5 years". Either way, a spent conviction doesn't need to go on the form. If you accidentally declare one, it won't void your policy — it'll just push your quote up needlessly, which is exactly why knowing your spent date is worth money.
Do you tell your insurer mid-policy?
Disclosure isn't only a renewal-time job. Many insurers require you to tell them about a new conviction during the policy term, as a change in your circumstances — not just when you next renew. If your policy says so and you stay quiet, the insurer may be able to cancel the cover or refuse a claim.
If you pick up a conviction while you're insured, check the policy wording or call them, disclose it, and ask how it affects your premium. It might cost a mid-term adjustment, but that's far cheaper than a cancelled policy on your record — which itself then has to be declared to future insurers. Our guide to insurance after a cancelled policy explains why that matters.
Do you declare a pending charge?
Most insurers ask not just about past convictions but about any motoring prosecutions pending — a charge you've received that hasn't yet been dealt with by a court. If you're asked, you must answer honestly, even though the outcome isn't known yet.
This is the question drivers most often get wrong, because a pending charge feels uncertain. The safe approach is to tell the insurer the facts as they stand and let them decide how to treat it. Guessing that it "probably won't count", or leaving it off because it isn't a conviction yet, is the kind of careless answer that can void a policy later.
What happens if you don't declare?
This is the part worth taking seriously. Under the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, you must take reasonable care not to misrepresent the facts when you take out or renew a policy. If you don't, the consequences scale with how careless the mistake was:
- An honest mistake that the insurer wouldn't have priced differently: generally no effect on a claim.
- A careless misrepresentation: the insurer can reduce or refuse a claim, or charge what it would have charged had it known.
- A deliberate or reckless misrepresentation — such as hiding an unspent conviction: the insurer can void the policy from the start, keep your premium and refuse every claim.
On top of that, non-disclosure is cross-checked against the insurance industry's shared CUE (Claims and Underwriting Exchange) database, and a deliberate non-disclosure can leave a fraud marker that pushes your premiums up for years and makes cover harder to find. "Fronting" — naming a lower-risk person as the main driver to dodge a loading — is treated as fraud in exactly the same way.
How do you check if your conviction is spent?
You don't have to work the dates out from memory. Three free tools cover it:
- The charity Unlock publishes a disclosure calculator that works out when a conviction becomes spent.
- GOV.UK's check your driving licence record service shows your current endorsements and points.
- GOV.UK's rehabilitation periods guidance sets out the rules in full.
If your situation is complex — a custodial sentence, several convictions, or anything you're unsure about — confirm it with one of those before you buy, and when in doubt, declare it and check rather than assume.
For the wider picture, see our main guide to convicted driver insurance and our breakdown of every UK conviction code — both live in our driving law hub.