British motorists could collectively be saving £2.3million each year if they renewed their driving licences online, according to the Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency.
It said that between April 2020 and March 2021 almost a quarter of the two million renewal applications it received were sent either by post or via the Post Office, when its dedicated online service is both quicker and cheaper.
Renewing a photocard driving licence on the official Gov.uk website costs £14 and the driver will receive their new one in just five days.
Posting an application to DVLA costs £17 and will take longer, especially with a third of DVLA staff working still from home.
Motorists spend extra million: The DVLA revealed that nearly a quarter (25%) of all driving license renewal requests sent via postal mail between March 2020 and March 2021 was done by motorists.
Julie Lennard (chief executive at the DVLA) stated: “Our online services offer the quickest, easiest, and most importantly, the fastest way for customers to interact with the DVLA. Customers typically receive their driving or vehicle documentation in five days.”
Lennard also pointed out that there are a number of rogue online sites that will charge more than the flat-rate £14 fee when using the Gov.uk service and for motorists to use only the official channel when renewing online.
This highlighted extra cost of sending applications to DVLA by post is just a week following Sunday’s Mail on Sunday report that one-third of staff at agency’s Swansea headquarters have returned to work.
This is despite concerns over of supply-chain issues over Christmas because of the ongoing driver shortages, with reported delays in processing almost 30,000 HGV licence applications.
Motorists are warned to avoid other online services, which will likely charge more than the £14 flat-rate fee to process a licence renewal application
Co-op Insurance also advised motorists to renew their drivers’ licenses as soon as possible after the DVLA informed them that there will be 2.5million of these people before theirs ends on 31 August 2022.
This driver represents over 6 percent of 40.7 million registered motorists in Britain.
The insurer received data showing that more than 450,000 drivers’ licenses had expired over the previous 12 months. This could have been due to delayed postal application processing or motorists forgetting about the expiry date of their photocards.
Drivers might not be aware that the 11-month Government extension for licence renewals last year is almost over.
Licenses with expiration dates between 1 February 2020 and 31 December 2020 could be extended. This means that the eleven-month grace period will end at the close of the month. All eligible drivers should also have renewed their licenses.
Renewing a photocard driving licence on the official Gov.uk website costs £14 and the driver will receive their new one in just five days
Driving without a licence is a legal offence and can result in three to six penalty points and a fine of up to £1,000.
In addition, a driver’s licence may not be valid and could result in an insurance claim being denied.
Paul Evans, head of Co-op Motor Insurance, said: ‘Due to last year’s national lockdown, motorists with driving licences which expired between February and December received an automatic 11-month extension to renew their licence.
‘However, over 450,000 motorists whose driving licence expired between September 2020 and August 2021 need to be sure they’ve definitely renewed, as they run the risk of facing a serious fine. We’re urging all drivers to check their licence and renew quickly if they need to.’
The photocard driving license must be renewed once every ten year.
The online Gov.uk service provides the greatest transparency. This allows motorists track the progress of their renewal applications on the site.
MOTORING: SAVE MONEY
