Applying for Car Insurance with a Criminal Record in UK

If the proposal form asks whether the applicant has any previous driving convictions the answer can be 'no' if the driving convictions are spent. This is the case even if the conviction is relevant to the risk, which the insurers will underwrite (for example, spent driving convictions are not required on a proposal form for car insurance).

Duty of disclosure on car insurance for people with driving convictions in UK:

The duty of disclosure applies to all facts, which a car insurance company may use to decide whether or not a high risk is accepted. They are not restricted to solely the proposal form. For example driving convictions for non-motoring offences such as arson, fraud and other acts of dishonesty may be material to a car insurance company acceptance of a high risk even if there is no specific question on the proposal form. In the case of Woolcott v Sun Alliance & London (1978) a claim was avoided in respect of a fire because the insured had not disclosed a conviction for robbery. The punishment had been imprisonment for over 2½ years and therefore was never spent. The judge at the time said "I accept that the criminal record of an assured can affect the moral hazard which car insurance companies have to assess; indeed this is almost self-evident".

Duty to disclose facts also arises at renewal.