Warning - renewing driving licence over 70 years old

Scam! Always go onto Govt. Website

When a friend of mine's mother died in her late eighties she discovered that her mother hadn't renewed her licence for the last 15 years!

I had a phone call just last week from a friend who had accidentally entered one of these copycat versions of the dvla website! She was checking with me how much it had cost to renew my licence as, like Twinneytwin she was being asked to pay £78!!! I told her she was on the wrong site and, much to her relief, she then found and used the correct one! Be on your toes!

The same is true when applying for a US ESTA visa. You do have to pay for this, so it's easy to be scammed. I filled in all the details until asked for about $78 fee, when I became suspicious. The true fee was $14 when I last applied, so you have to be careful that you are on the real US Embassy website.

Yes, I had a similar thing happen when trying to get a visa.

Renewed recently and was a piece of cake. Absolutely correct about gov.uk

Thanks for the warning.

Thanks for the warning much appreciated.

I've renewed online. It was refreshingly easy to do and the new licence arrived within the week. I was very impressed. I'd been expecting a right palaver but was all OK.

Good that you spotted it!

The way to avoid this is DON'T GOOGLE (or any other search engine) for Government services. Type in gov.uk, and search within that site..

Passports, GHICs etc - it's a massive scam. They charge you for their "service" and all they do is pass on the info that you have sent to them.

Thank you for the warning twinnytwin. I

Yes, I have had a reminder. Unfortunately I have got to get new photos done. My passport is out of date, so its photos are not acceptable. I have still got enough time.
What I can’t decide is whether or not to renew my passport. It expired during lockdown so I didn’t bother renewing it, then with DH’s state of health we had no plans togo abroad. Now I don’t know whether I want to. Anyway I will get the photos done.

FishandChips15

I remember renewing my licence at 70. If it has to be renewed every three years after that do the DVLA send a reminder?

They do send a 3 year reminder. I got one a couple of months before my birthday.

I remember renewing my licence at 70. If it has to be renewed every three years after that do the DVLA send a reminder?

I am now 81 and I renewed my licence online a few weeks ago and received my new licence about 4 days later.

This will be my last- I prefer to make the decision I am giving up driving than have it made for me.

I had to renew as I hit 70, but I was sent the info from DVLA few months in advance.

Exactly. This has been going on since at least Y2K.

I think renewing your passport can result in the same scam. Of course you pay to renew, but just be very careful you are logged onto the correct site. That goes for everything on the internet....take time to make sure you are where you want to be.

Thankyou twinnytwin for the heads up I had no knowledge of this scam.😉👍✊

RosiesMaw2 - apologies, I got confused. The driving licence is renewed every 3 years. It's the photograph from my new passport that can be used for the next 10 years.
Kittylester - an acknowledgement email came immediately to my account. I should double check.
NotSpaghetti - the scam isn't so well known that I wasn't caught up with it.

An official website should end in .gov.uk

I have just done mine, I think. If you type in the address that is on the form that comes through the post it is fine. The only issue I found was that I haven't had an acknowledgement email. I have till January , though, so will see what occurs and start again if I don't get the licence.

This has been going on for at least 4 years; www.gov.uk/government/news/dvla-warns-motorists-to-be-aware-of-scams . I feel that the government should have been dealing with this more effectively. There was an attempt to scam me when I was in the process of renewing my licence earlier this year so did it by post in the end......and would do it again even though it was touch and go to arrive in time for a trip away,,,,,

Were you renewing at 70?
If so, it’s every 3 years thereafter.
Thank you for the reminder re checking it’s the genuine website though!