Hiring a car on holiday should be less stressful after the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency made a significant change to the new system that allows vehicle hire companies to check an individual’s driving history.
The DVLA came under fire after abolishing the paper part of the driving licence and introducing an online system that allows car hire companies to access people’s driving records. Predictions the new regime would provoke chaos at car hire desks appeared to be borne out, with the launch being dogged by technical hitches and website crashes.
However, with just a week to go until most schools break up and millions more people go on holiday, the DVLA has tweaked the system.
Motorists have to log on to the DVLA website before they head off and obtain a one-time passcode which they give to their car hire company. Up until now this passcode was valid for just 72 hours, but as of Friday it will be valid for 21 days.
Critics had said that making the code valid for just three days would inconvenience many holidaymakers and business travellers, particularly those not hiring a car at the start of their holiday – for example, those who intend to pick up their vehicle in the second week of a foreign trip. They may have faced paying roaming charges or even having to find an internet cafe to obtain their code.
Pete Williams, the RAC’s head of external affairs, said: “This is a dramatic U-turn from the DVLA which feels very much like a victory for common sense.”
He added: “The move to three weeks is sensible as it provides sufficient flexibility for people hiring a car in the second or third week of a holiday or business trip. The big question is why was the validity of the ‘share your licence’ code fixed at three days in the first place?”
Hannah Maundrell, editor in chief of comparison website money.co.uk, said the announcement from the DVLA was “wonderful news” and should help resolve some of the teething problems. However, she added the DVLA had not addressed the fact drivers needed to use their national insurance number to generate the code. “This is a piece of information that many people do not have to hand, particularly when they travel,” she said.
