Medical and renewal of licence advice please

Hi, my licence is due for renewal mid May and i need to have my medical. Last time I renewed I seem to have lost a months entitlement due to being early with my medical and consequently am hoping to renew quite close to the expiry time. How long before the end of my entitlement should I allow to have my medical and then obviously submit the forms to DVLA. Obviously I want to renew as close to the end as possible, but allow for slow service or problems. Thanks.

My renewal is now down to the date I updated my photo rather than my birthday. What difference does a month, or in my case, 6 months, make in all honesty?

I would say 4 weeks prior to expiry date

Vid:
My renewal is now down to the date I updated my photo rather than my birthday. What difference does a month, or in my case, 6 months, make in all honesty?

If the bloke is a pensioner it could be around 10% which is significant when he needs to do it each year.

i’ve just renewed mine…
you probably need to do it in two parts…
first at opticians, then doctors…
best advice i can give is.
if you haven’t already got forms and reminder from dvla , go to the post office and ask for D2/D4 vocational licence renewal pack…
get appointments booked at opticians and doctors, bearing in mind that most docs have a long waiting list ( i had to wait nearly a month)
some doctors can do the eye test part. ( you need to check when you call them)
post complete form along with your licence to dvla and cross your fingers…
specsavers charged me £10
doctors charged £90
my employer will cover £87.43 of it… god knows how they came to that figure, but I’ll take it

On one of my renewals, it took nearly 6 months, and i complained to my MP that i would lose 6 months of my licence when its renewed annually anyway…so she intervened and now its dated when they issue it…just got another wait on this years renewal ( applied in december ) still waiting…but mostly that was the hospitals fault…but have peace of mind that my licence will have almost a year to run when i get it back.

TB,why do you renew yearly,is it an age thing or Medical thing.?

A similar scenario with me a couple of years back. Due to medical reasons (previous heart attack and triple bypass) it took the DVLA over 5 and a half months to renew my entitlement. A phone call to the medical dept at DVLA reassured me that I was ok to keep driving and they were aware of the length of the delay. I thought that I would lose that time and as soon as I got the renewed entitlement back it would almost be time to start applying for the next one!
But lo and behold, it came back with 18 months to run, it was renewed from the time the former one had expired.

sammym:

Vid:
My renewal is now down to the date I updated my photo rather than my birthday. What difference does a month, or in my case, 6 months, make in all honesty?

If the bloke is a pensioner it could be around 10% which is significant when he needs to do it each year.

But you don’t lose 10%. You lose a little the first year and every subsequent year is annually based on that first early date so you still get 12 months.

Any day now you will receive you’re licence renewal and D4 medical form if not soon then contact the DVLA.

Firstly go and get some photos done Max Speilmann do them for £7 for 4 not cheap but they crosscheck the picture online so it meets requirements for passport and driving licences, I’m sure other companies do the same.

Next book an eye test and a medical and take the D4 with you to the eye test as there is a section for the optometrist to fill in and a box for them to stamp.

Next take the medical and make sure you proof reed and check carefully that both forms are correctly filled in, then send both forms off together (there is no fee)
and wait, my licence took about 3 days to come back I wouldnt recommend leaving it too late if you even sign you’re signature outside the box they can send the form back causing further delay.

Get receipts, even if you have to pay yourself you are entitled to tax relief for expenses relating to you’re work.

Hutpick… After aged 45 its a 5 year renewal…after 65 its an annual renewal…for HGV`s…a car licences however is a 3 year renewal at aged 70 and over…however because of my medical condition…i renew every year, but have to have a treadmill test every 3 years…hope that suffices bud…

Just done my medical 3 weeks before due date, no reminder from Swansea, so long as they have your D4 on record after you post it you can still drive on a section 88, i think it is.

My last renewal took 11 months to clear due to a medical issue but I was told I could still drive during the waiting period. The new licence finally arrived in the same post as another letter stating “We are awaiting another medical report” which made me chuckle, but it started again from the 11 months on date so I had almost a year for free.

Pete.