French Drivers Renting Out Their Driving History Online

from the oui dept

A few months ago we discussed the practice of renting out one’s credit score to people having trouble getting a loan. There didn’t seem to be much justification for the scheme, as it’s pretty clearly just a way to game the system. A similar practice is taking place in France, except instead of credit scores, people are renting out their good driving records. Basically, the way it works is that if someone commits a traffic violation that accrues points onto their license, they can pay someone else to take the fall. For the elderly, who have more use for cash than a clean driving record, the system works out pretty well. Of course, it doesn’t do much to further the purpose of driving laws, which are there to keep bad drivers off the road. In most cases, letting the market find an optimal price for any good (in this case, a clean driving record) would be ideal. But for the safety of French drivers, it would probably be best if this loophole were closed.

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Comments on “French Drivers Renting Out Their Driving History Online”

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6 Comments
Ed H. says:

Re:

If the laws were designed purely as revenue generation, there would be no points accrual and license suspensions, only fines. There is certainly a revenue component to the law, but the part that should ultimately catch up to bad drivers is the part that is being circumvented by this new practice.

One difference between this and credit score rental is that this practice is most likely illegal. “Renting out your good driving record” in this case really means claiming that you were the driver for some violation caught by a speed camera. If that’s not already very illegal, it certainly can be made so. Catch a few people and stick them with really high fines or stiffer penalties (community service, probation, etc.) and that should discourage a lot of this.

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