Dealers can, as you can do, go to the DVLA website https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence and obtain your driving licence details.
That’s what car hirers do but I’ve always found that dealers / Motability are over strict for seeing the actual driving licence. I think that’s just down to them not having realised were in the 21st century now and everything is a data stream. I hoping I don’t have trouble when I order in July because I reach 70 years old mid October and my handover, should it be on time, is the end of October and driving licenses have to be renewed every 3 years once you hit 70 so a great time for ordering a car when they don’t except the electronic procedure that everybody else does, or, do they except it?
Chris,
The reason car hire companies (and Motability dealers etc) want to see the driving licence is to provide a form of photo ID – so they can verify the person stood in front of them is infact the person to whom the driving licnce relates. (The ‘computer verification part’ is just to check on licence validity/points etc).
Take this in the context of where someone can access another persons documents (award letters, household bills etc) such as flats with communal mail facilities (where all mail gets posted through a single letterbox), It is easy to steal enough documents to form an identity, but the photo on the driving licence should match the person presenting it and is a final ‘double check’.
Yes, I know it isn’t always the allowance recipient who is the ‘driver’ in the case of Motability, but at some point in the ordering process, the driving licence of a ‘nominated driver’ must be produced so that person is ‘photo verified’ as it were and details recorded.
Obviously in Covid-19 times, Motability have relaxed the ordering process and scanned documents, including a driving licence is permissible, but they are obviously prepared to take the risk – as most scanned driving licence photos are more or less silhouettes!