Q1 2026 UK Premium Index live · refreshed quarterly Independent · Editorial · FCA introducer disclosures in footer
Guide · By Driver History · CU80

CU80 mobile phone car insurance in the UK (2026)

A CU80 mobile-phone conviction adds around +45% to a UK car insurance premium on average in 2026 — roughly £315 a year, taking a typical £700 comprehensive policy to about £1,015, and more in the first year. CU80 carries an automatic 6 penalty points and a £200 fixed-penalty fine (up to £1,000 in court, or £2,500 for a lorry or bus). It stays on your licence for 4 years from the offence, but insurers ask you to declare it for 5 years, and any driver who passed their test in the last two years loses their licence outright. Full cost curve, the rules, who quotes, and how to bring the price down below.

Where to get cover → Other convictions
Direct Answer

What CU80 means and what it does to your premium

CU80 is the DVLA endorsement code for a breach of requirements as to control of the vehicle — in practice, using a hand-held mobile phone or similar device while driving. Since the law was tightened in March 2022, almost any hand-held use — calling, texting, scrolling, taking photos or using an app — counts, even when stopped at lights or queuing in traffic. The offence carries 6 penalty points and a £200 fixed-penalty fine; if the case goes to court the fine can rise to £1,000 (£2,500 for drivers of goods vehicles, buses or coaches).

The endorsement stays on your driving record for 4 years from the date of the offence, after which the DVLA removes it. Insurers, however, ask a separate question — “have you had any motoring convictions in the last 5 years?” — so you must declare a CU80 for 5 years even after it has left your licence. Because the offence is seen as deliberate and is strongly linked to crash risk, insurers load it more heavily than a single speeding point: 2026 quote samples put the typical uplift between +30% and +70%, averaging around +45% — about £315 on a £700 policy. A handful of insurers decline 6-point CU80 drivers, but most of the mainstream market still quotes. Here is how the cost typically eases as the conviction ages:

Time since convictionTypical premiumUplift vs clean licenceInsurer acceptance
Year 1 (points freshly applied)£1,190+70%Most mainstream insurers quote
Year 2£1,050+50%Full mainstream market
Year 3£945+35%Full market, loading easing
Year 4 (final year on licence)£840+20%Loading small
Year 5 (off licence, still declarable)£770+10%Nearly all insurers
Year 6+ (no longer declarable to most)£700~ at parFull market

Sources: ABI Q1 2026 Motor Insurance Premium Tracker (UK average paid premium £560) and Confused.com Q1 2026 Price Index (£711 average new-quote) for the clean-licence baseline; comparison-site and specialist convicted-driver guidance (Tempcover, Money Expert, Keith Michaels) for the CU80 uplift ranges. Figures are a Car Insurance Expert composite quote sample for a typical 30–50-year-old on a group 10–20 car and vary widely by age, car, postcode and how the offence was dealt with. Refresh: 2026-09-24.

Where to Get Cover

Getting CU80 cover: mainstream first, specialists if you are declined

Unlike a dangerous-driving (DD) code, a single CU80 with 6 points is still quotable across most of the mainstream market — the loading is real but you rarely need a specialist broker for one conviction alone. Start with the standard comparison sites declaring the CU80 accurately, then turn to convicted-driver specialists only if you are declined, have other endorsements, or are a recently-qualified driver who has had their licence reinstated:

  1. Mainstream insurers — Admiral, Direct Line, Aviva, LV= and Hastings all quote for a single CU80; loadings differ markedly, so compare several.
  2. Adrian Flux — large specialist broker with convicted-driver schemes if a mainstream quote is refused or loaded heavily.
  3. Keith Michaels — specialist publishing CU80-specific guidance; useful for multiple convictions or high-value cars.
  4. Performance Direct — convicted-driver panel covering CU, SP and IN codes.
  5. Quotezone — comparison panel that filters for insurers accepting motoring convictions.
  6. Tempcover / GoShorty / Veygo — temporary cover that still accepts CU80 drivers if you only need short-term insurance.

How to use them: declare the CU80, the offence date and the points accurately on every quote, run two or three comparison sites because CU80 loadings vary hugely between insurers, and re-quote at each renewal — the price falls noticeably from year three onwards. For the wider picture on why post-conviction premiums sit where they do, see our guide on why UK car insurance is so expensive in 2026.

How to Lower It

Six legitimate ways to cut CU80 insurance cost

  1. Compare widely, every renewal — CU80 loadings vary more between insurers than almost any other factor; the cheapest insurer for a clean driver is rarely the cheapest for a CU80, so run several comparison sites and re-quote annually.
  2. Drop to a lower insurance group car — moving from a group 25 car to a group 8–12 city car can cut a post-conviction premium by 30–40%, because the insurer stacks the CU80 loading on top of the car's base rate.
  3. Accept a telematics / black-box policy — a box rebuilds your risk profile with real driving data, and clean months bring the renewal down faster than waiting on the calendar alone — particularly valuable for younger drivers.
  4. Raise your voluntary excess — going from £250 to £500–£750 voluntary excess typically trims 8–15% off, provided you can fund the excess if you claim.
  5. Pay annually, not monthly — monthly instalments on a loaded premium carry APRs of 20–40%; paying the year up front avoids those finance charges entirely.
  6. Keep your record clean and let time work — the single biggest lever is time. Each clean year lowers the loading, and the CU80 stops being declarable after five years. A second conviction, by contrast, can push you out of the mainstream market.

Never be tempted to not declare the conviction to get a cheaper price — non-disclosure of a CU80 voids the policy, leaves you uninsured at the moment of a claim, and is itself an offence. The legitimate route is wide comparison plus time.

Common Questions

CU80 car insurance FAQs

A CU80 mobile-phone conviction adds around +45% on average to a UK premium in 2026 — roughly £315 on a typical £700 comprehensive policy, taking it to about £1,015 — with year-one quotes often nearer +70%. The exact figure depends on your age, the car's insurance group, where you live and whether you have any other convictions. Quote samples across the market put the CU80 loading between +30% and +70%; a small number of insurers decline 6-point drivers, but most still quote. The loading falls steadily each year and is largely gone by the fifth year.
A CU80 endorsement and its 6 points stay on your driving record for 4 years from the date of the offence (not the conviction date), after which the DVLA removes them. Insurance is different: insurers normally ask about convictions in the last 5 years, so you must declare a CU80 for 5 years even though it has left your licence at year four, and a small number of insurers ask whether you have ever had a motoring conviction. Always answer the exact question the insurer asks.
Yes — if the insurer's question covers the period of your conviction, you must declare it, including the CU80 code, the offence date and the 6 points. Failing to disclose is non-disclosure: the insurer can void the policy from inception, refuse any claim, and treat you as having driven uninsured — far more expensive and serious than the higher premium itself. If you are unsure whether a question applies, declare it. Honesty keeps the cover valid.
Yes. Under the New Drivers Act, anyone who passed their test in the last two years has their licence revoked automatically once they reach 6 points — and a CU80 carries 6 points on its own. You would have to reapply for a provisional licence and pass both the theory and practical tests again before driving unsupervised. You would also then be insuring as a newly-qualified driver with a conviction on record, which is one of the most expensive profiles on the market, so the cost goes well beyond the £200 fine.
CU80 is the DVLA endorsement code recorded on your licence; the fixed penalty is how the offence is usually dealt with. Most mobile-phone offences are settled with a Fixed Penalty Notice — 6 points and a £200 fine — without going to court, and that produces a CU80 on your record. If you contest it or the case is referred to court, the same CU80 code applies but the fine can rise to £1,000 (£2,500 for lorries, buses and coaches) and, in some cases, a discretionary disqualification. Either way, the CU80 and its insurance impact are the same.
Generally no. Unlike a low-level speeding offence, where a speed-awareness course can replace points, the mobile-phone offence carries a mandatory 6 points and there is no national “mobile-phone awareness” course offered as an alternative to endorsement. Your realistic options are to accept the Fixed Penalty Notice (6 points, £200) or, if you believe you were not using the device unlawfully, to contest it in court — which risks a higher fine if you lose. There is no points-free route once the offence is made out.
A conviction and a no-claims discount are separate things. A CU80 on its own does not wipe your accumulated no-claims years — those are tied to at-fault claims, not convictions. So if you were stopped for using your phone but had no accident, your NCD is intact; the insurer simply applies a conviction loading on top of your discounted premium. If the phone use led to a crash, the resulting at-fault claim is what reduces your NCD, not the CU80 code itself. Keep proof of your no-claims years to present at quote.
Premiums improve steadily after the first two years and are broadly back to normal once you no longer have to declare the conviction — typically the sixth year, five years after the offence. The biggest drops come once the points leave your licence at four years. Keeping a clean record, accepting telematics where offered, and re-quoting widely at every renewal all speed the recovery. Note the gap between the points leaving your licence (4 years) and the conviction no longer being declarable to insurers (5 years) — the full insurance benefit lands when that five-year window closes.

Our sources

  • gov.uk — DVLA endorsement codes — CU80 definition and 4-year duration on the licence
  • gov.uk — using a phone when driving — 6 points, £200 fine and the March 2022 hand-held rules
  • ABI Q1 2026 Motor Insurance Premium Tracker — UK average paid premium of £560 used as the clean-licence baseline
  • Confused.com Q1 2026 Price Index — £711 average new-quote premium and the ~9% year-on-year fall
  • Tempcover, Money Expert and Keith Michaels CU80 guidance — the +30% to +70% conviction-loading ranges and new-driver licence-revocation rule
  • Car Insurance Expert composite quote sample — 2026 modelled CU80 cost curve across the mainstream and specialist market

Reviewed by the Car Insurance Expert editorial team

Figures combine DVLA published conviction rules with ABI and Confused.com index data and comparison-site/specialist broker guidance, plus our own composite quote sample, refreshed quarterly and reviewed by the Car Insurance Expert editorial team (motoring-conviction insurance desk). Methodology: clean-licence baseline from published indices, CU80 uplift modelled from market loading ranges. This is general information, not regulated insurance or legal advice; check your own policy wording and the exact conviction question.

Contact: editorial@carinsuranceexpert.co.uk · Last updated: 2026-06-24 · Next scheduled review: 2026-09-24

Explore more

More Driver History pages

← Back to By Driver History