Foreign registered cars in accidents???

dcGT

Hi,
Recently a friend of mine was in a car park where he was crashed into by a Latvian registered car (LV plates). Although the crash was at a very low speed (and no one was hurt) the side of my friend's car was completely ruined. To cut a long story short, the driver could barely speak a word of English and had no tax, insurance (not even in the country it was from) or license (EU or otherwise). Luckily, they came to an agreement and the driver paid up on the spot.
However, I'm just wondering what the legal implications of such an accident are? Do the Gardaí have any power in this case? Obviously, the car cannot be traced to an address in Ireland and penalty points cannot by given to the driver (what happens in the case of 'hit and run'). Does the other person involved have a leg to stand on in terms of compensation, or is the compensation just taken from the uninsured driver fund (which we all pay into and which drives insurance costs up)
There seems to be more and more foreign cars on our roads and it's sometimes doubtful if they are insured or roadworthy.

DC.

DukeDredd

He should have called the Gardai. As far as i know if a foreign car is in an accident they have to be kept at the station until things get sorted out.

spockety

I knew before I even clicked on your post that it would be a Latvian car.

What the hell is it with Latvian cars? They are all over the place these days!
I'm not just picking them out for any xenophobic reason, but seriously, I'd say I see at least 5 or 6 Latvian cars a week on our roads.

jlang

New EU-ians holidaying?

They generally look to be driven by gangsters to me, but I admit I haven't met too many Latvians in my time - maybe they all look like gangsters. And if the crash guy can settle out his crash damage for cash on the spot, it doesn't change my opinion.

seamus

If he had rang the gardai, they would have taken the guy's name and address, maybe if you're lucky would have taken him down the station, and charged him with driving unlicenced and uninsured (and whatever else he was doing). Then he would have been scot free to feck off home and escape the charges, and any costs your mate had.

Unfortunately, your mate probably got the best outcome he could have hoped for.

unkel

DukeDredd wrote:

He should have called the Gardai. As far as i know if a foreign car is in an accident they have to be kept at the station until things get sorted out.

You mean until he pays up? That would be good

The gardai should also pursue uninsured drivers a bit more imho, checking vehicles (including foreign license cars) and not releasing the vehicle until proof of insurance can be shown and a penalty is paid...

BTW there are so many Latvians here because 10s of thousands of them got work permits a few years ago (Latvians were no 1 nationality of immigrants in this country) to do work that neither the Irish, or for that matter any other EU workers wanted to to. Now of course they are free to travel and work here same way as the English, the French etc.

dcGT

seamus wrote:

Unfortunately, your mate probably got the best outcome he could have hoped for.

That's what he (and I) was thinking. Calling the Gardaí may have resulting in no finiancial compensation. A similar thing happened to me a few years ago. A 16 year old took his fathers van out (while drunk) and crashed into my car. When the Gardaí arrived, they 'suggested' to the father to say that his son 'stole' the van, in which case the father would not be liable and no compensation would have to be paid by his insurance. What a joke! They only place I could (but didn't bother) claim was the old uninsured driver's fund.

DC.

Gmodified

there is hundreds of this LV reg cars.


this is only one of few reason why road tax should be part of petrol price

ando

spockety wrote:

What the hell is it with Latvian cars? They are all over the place these days!

yeah I notice that aswell. I usually try keep distance from them LV's. A lot of them seem to all have tinted windows for some reason

I also try keep clear of black people driving. Just dunno if their insured or not

ondafly

this is a very sensitive issue to discuss, without sounding like a racist plonker

The only things that annoy me about foreign reg cars (this includes UK regs!!!!)

-The Gardai can do very little with regards speeding/gatso pics - as the system here only works for Irish registered cars.

-VRT ! the big BMWs, Audis etc that are still on foreign plates for months, if not longer now. While the owners are clearly living and working here. There is no TAX/Insurance/NCT displayed on the cars - and being a car nutt, this breaks my heart - I'd love to own a 3 litre 5 series/7 series and not have to pay car tax or have to go for the NCT

I wonder would it be possible for me to register a car I own in Latvia ? and drive it here and avoid VRT et al ?

I will also state (and I owe this guy a huge thanks, he wouldn't even take any money from me) if you ever have a lock nut on an alloy wheel that ain't never gonna come off - ask a Russian mechanic ! bloody genius he was

Victor

dcGT wrote:

Recently a friend of mine was in a car park

Technically, does that mean the other driver didn't need insurance at that moment as he wasn't on hte public road.

aidan_walsh

I guess that depends on whether or not it was a public car park?

jlang

What are the rules in regards to importing vehicles from other EU countries - How long can you drive on the foreign plates? When must you pay Irish road tax? From when must the car be insured? Should you pay VRT, get an NCT?

Victor

jlang wrote:

What are the rules in regards to importing vehicles from other EU countries - How long can you drive on the foreign plates? When must you pay Irish road tax? From when must the car be insured? Should you pay VRT, get an NCT?

The general rule for non-Irish people is 3 months. For Irish people, it's next day.

dcGT

Victor wrote:

Technically, does that mean the other driver didn't need insurance at that moment as he wasn't on hte public road.

It was in a shopping centre car park. So you don't NEED insurance in a non-public car park?

DC.

Andrew Duffy

Certainly if the park is normally open to the public, your insurance company is obliged to cover you; I imagine every insurance company will also cover you while driving on fully private land. I doubt you could claim that you don't need insurance to drive on privately owned, publicly accessible land - several long motorways more or less meet that description.

mudflapgirl

ondafly wrote:

I'd love to own a 3 litre 5 series/7 series and not have to pay car tax or have to go for the NCT
I wonder would it be possible for me to register a car I own in Latvia ? and drive it here and avoid VRT et al ?

heh, I'd toyed with this idea, well similar enough. BMW's cost buttons in South Africa compared to Ireland. You can get a fully stocked 318i for bout €22k whereas it'll cost you God knows how much here. And since Road Tax is included in the price of petrol - methinks anyway - which is a brilliant idea and should be here - and insurance costs are nearly nothing. But I figured I'd get stopped soon enough though and have to pay VRT etc. Besides my insurance on it would be sick 0 once I'd reg'd it here.

How do all the LV guys get away with it?

dcGT

mudflapgirl wrote:

How do all the LV guys get away with it?

Well if my friend's experience is anything to go my, they don't. They just drive around and hope for the best :rolleyes:

DC.

mudflapgirl

grrrr! whereas my insurance disc is out a day (well was - and only cause I forgot to put the new one in) and they're all over me :mad:

dcGT

ando wrote:

yeah I notice that aswell. I usually try keep distance from them LV's. A lot of them seem to all have tinted windows for some reason

Yeah, it's funny that, and they always seem to be big cars (e.g. BMW 5 series) Must be a lot of tinted windows in LV. Also, I've noticed it's not so much a tint as a complete limo black-out

DC.

mudflapgirl

dcGT wrote:

Yeah, it's funny that, and they always seem to be big cars (e.g. BMW 5 series) Must be a lot of tinted windows in LV. Also, I've noticed it's not so much a tint as a complete limo black-out

Yeah, nothing seems to happen to them but me with my little ole tint on the back half of the car (rear and rear-side) gets piked out of it by everybody - thinking I'm a drug dealer.

pfft!

dermot_sheehan

according to Directive 84/5/EEC <http://europa.eu.int/smartapi/cgi/sga_doc?smartapi!celexapi!prod!CELEXnumdoc&lg=en&numdoc=31984L0005&model=guichett&gt;

You have a claim against the bureau that deals with claims against uninsured motorists, in the member state where the vehicle is registered. For Latvia, this appears to be the traffic bureau of Latvia

http://www.sb.gov.lv/en/faq/

unkel

mudflapgirl wrote:

Road Tax is included in the price of petrol - methinks anyway - which is a brilliant idea and should be here

Yeah couldn't agree more Linda!

Even though I drive a big petrol car, I think that's only fair

Why would a 1.0 liter car that does 50k miles be taxed at a fraction of the rate of a 4.0 liter car doing 1k miles :mad:

Sold my last V8 BMW to a real enthousiast dude who runs about 4-8 performance cars at the same time. Why should he pay €10000 per annum in road tax? Well he didn't anyway and just risks cars being confiscated. So far he's had a 740 being legally abducted from him

I don't condone people not paying their taxes, but I sure as hell do feel empathy for him

PBC_1966

unkel wrote:

I don't condone people not paying their taxes, but I sure as hell do feel empathy for him

I'd go as far to condone it when the rates are exorbitant, and I'd certainly put your road tax rates for any decent-sized engine in that category.

I know when I first looked up Irish tax rates they seemed to really go sky high above 2 liters, and when I saw, IIRC, about IR £800 for 3 liters and up I thought it must be a misprint at first.

unkel

I pay €1343 per annum up front :mad:

That is €0.15 per mile :rolleyes:

PBC_1966

£165 per year top rate here for a private car, no matter how large the engine.

unkel

Yep, it has to be said: the UK is a bit of a motoring walhalla

Petrol a bit expensive and you need to change your registration to a non-UK one to avoid the penalty points, but then you get cheap high spec cars, cheap tax and insurance

SharpBlade

So, I guess that if you are a foreign national and your father lives in another European country, you can buy a used car in that other European country (at a discount price in comparison to you what you would pay in Ireland of course), have the car insured, registered and taxed there in the name of the father. You can then drive with that car in Ireland provided you are a nominated driver of the car and that the insurance company covers you in Ireland. So no VRT to pay and everything is above board. You regularly visit your relatives abroad to take the NCT over there (this is funded by the VRT you did not have to pay ;-). Am I right?

skibum

First of all I want to say "I am not a racist", and I am probably going to get shot down for saying this, but if I see an old banger being driven by a chinese driver, I keep well out of the way for the simple reason that I know for a fact of at least two cars being driven in south county dublin that the drivers don't have any licences or insurance, never mind tax or NCT.
These guys attitude is I'm here to make as much money to bring home, (fair dues to them) so i'm not going to the expense of learning to drive, do a test, buy a road worthy car, or pay for insurance. If I have an accident I will run!
This has happened at least once, and as for tax, insurance and NCT discs, lets just say there are some very resourceful people out there.

And no, I couldn't be bothered telling the cops after a couple of previous attempts of being a "Good Citizen " were proven to be a complete waste of my time and effort. :mad:

dcGT

unkel wrote:

Yep, it has to be said: the UK is a bit of a motoring walhalla

Petrol a bit expensive and you need to change your registration to a non-UK one to avoid the penalty points, but then you get cheap high spec cars, cheap tax and insurance

Yeah, but of course, the grass is always greener on the other side Take this man's opinions, for example....

http://www.chris-longhurst.com/cometobritain.php

I found it a very interesting read, though perhaps a bit biased. Read the section on motoring in Britain. He claims that Britain is still being ripped off when it comes to buying cars.... no one is ever happy :rolleyes:

DC.

Sizzler

Are foreign reg cars (pi55takers) being rounded up in that new traffic bill? It was promised but not much publicity on it of late, the penalty points seems to be dominating the front pages. Anybody any updates?