Car Hire: DVLA codes

Author
Discussion

12TS

Original Poster:

1,806 posts

209 months

Saturday 25th April 2015
quotequote all
Who ever thought this system up?

If you need to rent a car now that the paper bit of your licence has been scrapped you have to get a code from the DVLA 72 hours before you go.

As predicted in the article I can't see this goin well.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/apr/25/dvla-...

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Saturday 25th April 2015
quotequote all
12TS said:
Who ever thought this system up?
Gawd knows, but it must be a slow news day. Facts rarely stop a bit of scaremongering.

12TS said:
If you need to rent a car now that the paper bit of your licence has been scrapped you have to get a code from the DVLA 72 hours before you go
No, you don't. The code is _in addition_ to all the other ways of accessing DVLA information that car rental places already have. Any sensible rental place of any size will already have online access direct or by you giving your permission over a conference call on the phone, rather than believe a piece of paper. "Oooh, I lost my licence. Better get a replacement... Ha! Now I have a clean and unsullied counterpart that doesn't show my points/ban..."

ging84

8,828 posts

145 months

Saturday 25th April 2015
quotequote all
They are not yet scrapped, even when they are, people will not be forced to part with the counter part
and as discussed in a thread i raised a couple of weeks back, very few other countries have actually have been checking the counter part, as very few countries actually still use a paper licence, and even for those that do will very soon get used to getting by without them for UK nationals, after all they seem to be fine with all the countries which ditched the paper licence long ago and didn't have an internet code system.

Nickyboy

6,700 posts

233 months

Saturday 25th April 2015
quotequote all
said:
But fears are growing that the “very muddled” introduction of the new rules will almost certainly lead to some hirers being turned away by car firms this summer. This is because many car hire companies insist on examining the paper document to check on any endorsements or bans
No they don't. Never been asked for my paper counterpart in the past 8 years

Vaud

50,289 posts

154 months

Saturday 25th April 2015
quotequote all
Lots of could, maybes and possibly in that article masquerading as journalism.

surveyor

17,768 posts

183 months

Saturday 25th April 2015
quotequote all
In my eperience only in the UK are they bothered about the paper counterpart, and I presume the new rules.

Outside - even in Ireland they simply do not seem to bother. In fact with Hertz Gold account it takes about 30 seconds (while they look for the key/paper packets) before I'm off to the car. They glance at the driving license card to 5 seconds.

jbsportstech

5,069 posts

178 months

Saturday 25th April 2015
quotequote all
once had to hire a car about 2008 as my car suffered a problem with power steering on the way up the m5. pulled into nearest ford garage and they said leave it with us. As I was car allowance my firm insisted I hired a car so did from europe car they collected me from the ford dealer offered me a discounted hire and waived a £5 charge to phone the dvla and enquire to my driving licence details including endorsements I was on my way within the hour.

more concerning i tried to hire van a couple of years ago and my licence had sp50 fp. One big name hire firm guy tired to tell me the only fixed penalty speeding were sp30 and sp50 not a speeding offence and they only took less than 6 points and that was for speeding offences which are only sp30.

Edited by jbsportstech on Saturday 25th April 21:32

jbsportstech

5,069 posts

178 months

Saturday 25th April 2015
quotequote all
once had to hire a car about 2008 as my car suffered a problem with power steering on the way up the m5. pulled into nearest ford garage and they said leave it with us. As I was car allowance my firm insisted I hired a car so did from europe car they collected me from the ford dealer offered me a discounted hire and waived a £5 charge to phone the dvla and enquire to my driving licence details including endorsements I was on my way within the hour.

more concerning i tried to hire van a couple of years ago and my licence had sp50 fp. One big name hire firm guy tired to tell me the only fixed penalty speeding were sp30 and sp50 not a speeding offence and they only took less than 6 points and that was for speeding offences which are only sp30.

Edited by jbsportstech on Saturday 25th April 21:32

davepoth

29,395 posts

198 months

Sunday 26th April 2015
quotequote all
surveyor said:
In my eperience only in the UK are they bothered about the paper counterpart, and I presume the new rules.

Outside - even in Ireland they simply do not seem to bother. In fact with Hertz Gold account it takes about 30 seconds (while they look for the key/paper packets) before I'm off to the car. They glance at the driving license card to 5 seconds.
That's because we are quite uncommon in insuring the driver here in the UK - most other countries just insure the car. So it makes sense that elsewhere in the world they'd go "oh, it's a valid licence" and then ignore anything else.

grumpyscot

1,277 posts

191 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
I rent cars in the USA and in Turkey. Never have I been asked for the paper part of my license. I've also been stopped in police road checks in both countries, and all I've had to produce is my Photocard and rental documents.

V8forweekends

2,481 posts

123 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
The main point of this is an information grab for DVLA. They are jockeying with the passport service to become the ID leaders and sell themselves to the politicians and project their jobs.

Notice that the new system requires you to supply your National Insurance number in order to get the code (as does the online entitlement checker). DVLA are gathering this so they can offer to "tie up" with HMRC. This is called transformational government - it's not tinfoil hattery, it's what they are doing.

Vaud

50,289 posts

154 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
V8forweekends said:
The main point of this is an information grab for DVLA. They are jockeying with the passport service to become the ID leaders and sell themselves to the politicians and project their jobs.

Notice that the new system requires you to supply your National Insurance number in order to get the code (as does the online entitlement checker). DVLA are gathering this so they can offer to "tie up" with HMRC. This is called transformational government - it's not tinfoil hattery, it's what they are doing.
It's really not - it's a form of 2 factor authentication to identify people.

V8forweekends

2,481 posts

123 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
DVLA Strategic Plan 2014/15 to 2016/17 –

New opportunities
As we increase our online services, the proportion of paper transactions will decrease offering the opportunity to use existing assets to further benefit the taxpayer.

Our aim is to use our assets to support cross-government efficiencies, initially using our own commercial enterprise. Building externally funded opportunities is a main priority for the new commercial director and the use of digital service channels will require an increase of commercial and contract management skills.

We have a state-of-the-art printing facility that is able to provide premium quality services.

In 2015-16, we will continue to explore opportunities as a service provider for both government and the private sector. Current initiatives include:

licensing services for third parties
online services for other government organisations
print and mail
Data strategy

We will review and develop a refined data sharing strategy to ensure it fits with our wider organisational objectives and future direction. The strategy will consider the potential wider usage of DVLA data across government, ensuring it complies with Data Protection legislation. It will also ensure that any developments are in line with statutory obligations and provide appropriate levels of assurance to ensure we are able to meet the future needs to share data between organisations. This will reflect the needs of both public and private customers.

Sgt Bilko

1,929 posts

214 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
It will save them a fortune in processing and staffing (real time head count reductions). Most government departments are trying to look at what services could be digital. Having a flimsy bit of paper which proves very little is an archaic system which is at odds with today. If this means HM Gov can safe £3M a year it's going to happen regardless of the end user thoughts. I've never had a problem at work with this, as I have to reshow my license every 12 months to stay on the driver list. Last time around I just logged into my account, showed the screen to my boss and he signed the form. Saved me digging out my counterpart and forgetting to bring it into the office five times like I used to do.

Vaud

50,289 posts

154 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
V8forweekends said:
DVLA Strategic Plan 2014/15 to 2016/17 –

New opportunities
As we increase our online services, the proportion of paper transactions will decrease offering the opportunity to use existing assets to further benefit the taxpayer.

Our aim is to use our assets to support cross-government efficiencies, initially using our own commercial enterprise. Building externally funded opportunities is a main priority for the new commercial director and the use of digital service channels will require an increase of commercial and contract management skills.

We have a state-of-the-art printing facility that is able to provide premium quality services.

In 2015-16, we will continue to explore opportunities as a service provider for both government and the private sector. Current initiatives include:

licensing services for third parties
online services for other government organisations
print and mail
Data strategy

We will review and develop a refined data sharing strategy to ensure it fits with our wider organisational objectives and future direction. The strategy will consider the potential wider usage of DVLA data across government, ensuring it complies with Data Protection legislation. It will also ensure that any developments are in line with statutory obligations and provide appropriate levels of assurance to ensure we are able to meet the future needs to share data between organisations. This will reflect the needs of both public and private customers.
Fair enough, I don't see it as tinfoil hat stuff though.

Interesting that the want to provide online services for other govt agencies - HMRC has been trying for ages. Everyone wants every other dept to use "theirs". As for printing - should a tax payer funded capability compete with private sector, of all they have to do is get to cost recovery?

V8forweekends

2,481 posts

123 months

Tuesday 28th April 2015
quotequote all
Vaud said:
Fair enough, I don't see it as tinfoil hat stuff though.
Neither do I, hence I said it wasn't. It's reality. Every agency is trying to make sure it survives and prospers - especially the ones like DVLA that aren't directly accountable to government.