I must confess i was not conscious of the expiry date on these cards. Having checked mine it is outof date but renewal can be done online in a few seconds. I am sure all posters are not like me!
We are off to Madeira on Monday next and I discovered last week that our EHIC cards were out of date.
Dewdrop is right that it can be renewed on line very quickly, but actually getting the cards in your hand can take a while depending on the efficiency of the postal service. Ours arrived this morning.