The Department for Transport’s road safety campaign Think! warns that the penalties for drink driving may incur a hefty fine, a ban from driving for at least 12 months and a criminal record. Despite this, it is one of the more common driving convictions we tend to come across.

Not only that, but being caught drink-driving may also affect you with higher car insurance premiums; loss of a job; trouble getting in to countries like the USA and a loss of independence.

The Institute of Advanced Motorists calculate that a drink drive conviction could cost between £20,000 – £50,000 as a result of fines, solicitors fees, increase in car insurance and loss of job.

By inviting drivers to consider the consequences of their actions, the campaign publishes posters that urge you to think about some of the people you are likely to meet along the way if caught drink driving, namely:

• the police officer who arrests you;

• the police officer responsible for locking you up in a cell;

• the police officer who takes your fingerprints; and

• the magistrate who hands down your driving ban for the coming year.

Insurance

Of course drink driving is a serious offence. But here at GSI Insurance we also recognise that drivers are human too, and driving convictions can happen.

If you have driving convictions you are already likely to have paid a high price for that transgression, including the inevitable difficulties in finding an insurer prepared to find you cover or one that is not likely to make it prohibitively expensive.

For that reason, we have made something of a specialisation in arranging motor insurance for those with a drink driving conviction – and at a price intended still to be as reasonable as possible.

But there are also steps you might take to help reduce the cost of your motor insurance following a drink driving conviction:

• buying your insurance from a specialist provider such as us, for example, may be able to match not only the particular circumstances that you face as a convicted drink driver but also the options you have in choosing the most appropriate insurer;

• if you are able to park your vehicle somewhere more than usually secure, this is also likely to go down well with your insurer and gain the possibility of a discount on your premiums

• the same goes for any security devices you might choose to install – such as burglar alarms, immobilisation devices or even the location at which you normally park your car – anything that reduces the risk might help to lower your insurance premiums;

• if you are able to declare a lower annual mileage this may also encourage your motor insurer to lower the annual premium – after all, the fewer miles you drive, the less chances you are likely to have an accident;

• another way of reducing the risk of your having an accident – and needing to make a claim – is simply by using your car less often and therefore the annual mileage on which insurers typically base their calculation of premiums; and

• finally, you might choose the well-worn path of reducing your insurance premiums simply by accepting a greater proportion of any risk by taking on a bigger voluntary excess – the first part of any successful claim that you are liable for.

A conviction for drink driving may not be the end of the world when it comes to arranging insurance. There are a number of specialist providers and a number of ways you might help to reduce your premiums.

Further reading: Guide to insurance for people with criminal convictions