Student Car Insurance in Ireland: the Student and Young Driver Offer
If you are a student insuring a car in your own name, GMIB.ie runs a student and young driver off...
read more
What a conviction means for your car insurance
Declaring it. Our full quote asks whether you have had a conviction or a disqualification in a set number of past years, then what the offence was, when, the sentence, and the dates of any disqualification. Answer for the period asked. Under the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 you must answer the insurer’s questions honestly and with reasonable care, and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), the State’s consumer watchdog, warns that a policy can be cancelled for undisclosed details and that you may then find it difficult to get cover.
Convictions with their own page. Drink and drug driving, which carry a mandatory disqualification, and driving bans generally: drink driving, drug driving, and car insurance after a driving ban. Driving without insurance goes to court and carries five penalty points on conviction.
During a disqualification you cannot drive until it ends and you have your licence back, so a policy for you as a driver cannot start before then. If you know the end date, tell us and we can quote ahead of it.
How long a conviction counts, and what to have ready
Spent convictions. Under the Criminal Justice (Spent Convictions and Certain Disclosures) Act 2016, all District Court convictions for motoring offences except dangerous driving become spent after seven years, provided you complied with the sentence, as does a single dangerous driving conviction that resulted in a fine or a prison term of 12 months or less. In general a spent conviction does not have to be disclosed. The exception that matters here is on the same page: a spent conviction for fraud, deceit or dishonesty when making an insurance claim must still be disclosed on any insurance proposal.
If you are refused. Insurance Ireland operates the Declined Cases Agreement, which all motor insurers in Ireland adhere to. Once you have approached at least three insurers and been unable to get cover, the Declined Cases Committee arranges a quote, and in general the insurer you approached first must provide it; that insurer may refuse only where cover would be contrary to the public interest. Keep the refusals in writing and a note of the order; Insurance Ireland says each refusal letter is valid for six months. Our refused car insurance page has the steps.
Have ready the date of the conviction, the court, the offence, the sentence, the start and end dates of any disqualification, your licence status now, and your no-claims bonus letter if you have one. To talk it through first, call 0818 92 92 42, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm.
Sources: Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019; CCPC – car insurance; Citizens Information – penalty points; Citizens Information – drink driving offences; Citizens Information – spent convictions; Insurance Ireland – Declined Cases Agreement. Last reviewed September 2026.
