Collingwood Insurance Jargon Buster
Learning to drive and getting insurance can be a confusing time with so many new words and terms thrown at you at every turn. We have put together this helpful jargon buster to help you understand key terms relating to your policy.
The Driving Instructors Association is the UK’s largest professional body for driver, rider training and education. The DIA offers support, professional development and training to trainers working across all vehicle and licence categories.
A Driving Instructor is a person who teaches you how to drive. They are qualified to teach driving and can help you learn and improve your driving skills.
Your driving licence number is a 16-character code on your photocard. It’s a mixture of letters and numbers found on your licence underneath the licence’s expiry date. This will need to be validated for your insurance policy to show you have entitlement to drive.
A driving licence photocard or provisional licence is used as proof that you are able to learn to drive. The card is issued out by the DVLA. The card contains your photo, signature and information about your eligibility to learn to drive. You must have this before you start learning how to drive.
Driving tuition is when you work with a driving instructor for driving lessons. During the lessons you will learn key skills to help you pass your driving test and obtain your full driver’s licence.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) holds the database of driver records in the UK. Along with registration and licencing of vehicles, in order to keep vehicles taxed on on the road.
The DVLA check code is the online counterpart of the photo card driving licence. If you are waiting for your licence this may be required to check your eligibility for insurance, It is used to access the DVLA database to check driving licence information to view things such as penalty points and the type of vehicles you can drive. Find out how to get a check code on the DVLA website.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), carry out driving tests, approve people to be driving instructors and MOT testers, carry out tests to make sure lorries and buses are safe to drive, carry out roadside checks on drivers and vehicles and monitor vehicle recalls.