Foreign car clampdown?

Sizzler

Below is excerpt from todays Indo.....do people really think the cops will start to impound all the foreign cars floating around ??

I'd really like to see some evidence of this clampdown...just my own feelings, dont like to see different rules for the same road users...

In fairness it wouldnt be difficult, I pass at least 3/4 on a typical journey into Dublin City centre each morning!

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell ordered gardai yesterday to use their power to impound cars.

He was reacting to new statistics which show a greater disregard by foreign motorists of road insurance laws.

Latest figures show foreign drivers are 16 times more likely to be caught for insurance offences that incur penalty points than Irish motorists.

While Mr McDowell did not "want to dump on one community rather than another, everyone has to familiarise themselves with the rules of the road".

Speaking in Templemore, Co Tipperary, at the graduation ceremony of 84 new gardai, said most people who broke the law, irrespective of what nationality they were, were aware of what they were doing.

"Nobody is exempt from the operation of our law and if you come to Ireland to work, and you drive a car, you must find out what our laws are and you must obey them," he said.

"Yes, they (cars) should be impounded and that's already in the law and I would encourage an Garda Siochana to ensure that power is used to the maximum."

He added that the Government was not to blame for the appalling carnage on the nation's roads. He laid the blame squarely on irresponsible drivers and insisted speed and drinking caused most collisions.

mike65

The cops were moaning they had nowhere to store the car they conficate so that will have to be addressed.

Mike.

drdre

does this also include uk registered cars or just polish etc

Anan1

drdre wrote:

does this also include uk registered cars or just polish etc

Not even Michael Mc Dowell would be that stupid.

Ratchet

they were doing this for a while now, seen good few LV cars at Pheonix Park impound

drdre

Ratchet wrote:

they were doing this for a while now, seen good few LV cars at Pheonix Park impound

yes my dads friends car got impounded.it was uk reg and he was driving it on uk plates

jimmycrackcorm

how are they impounding the cars - i.e. what reasons? the only one I know of is where a cars tax / insurance is out by more than three months so how are they lifting foreign cars other than for parking?

Stephen

If you live and work in Ireland it is illegal to drive on foreign plates - you have to have it registered with irish plates (i.e. pay VRT) within 7 days of arriving in the country. They seem pretty lax in enforcing this for cars from other EU states but hopefully they'll crack down on it now.

mike65

Its amazing what a few dead bodies can do...

Mike.

Anan1

Stephen wrote:

If you live and work in Ireland it is illegal to drive on foreign plates - you have to have it registered with irish plates (i.e. pay VRT) within 7 days of arriving in the country. They seem pretty lax in enforcing this for cars from other EU states but hopefully they'll crack down on it now.

I don't think that this is the case. My understanding is that, whereas Irish residents have to register foreign registered cars immediately, foreign residents can legally drive their cars here.

peasant

Anan1 wrote:

I don't think that this is the case. My understanding is that, whereas Irish residents have to register foreign registered cars immediately, foreign residents can legally drive their cars here.

Not quite correct ...all residents have to register their car immediately after arrival.
You are not considered resident if you're here on holidays or on a short term work contract. (there are excemptions for students as well)

This is where many people try it on / get caught ...they come here, not knowing will they stay or will they leave after a short while or they might just have a short term contract to start with and don't want to go through the "hassle" of registering their car here ...and end up staying longer than they thought.

Having said that ...EU citizens need not pay VRT as long as they car has been in their posession for more than 6 months prior to moving here ...so there shouldn't be any reason not to register it here.

Except for the insurance / road tax which might be a lot cheaper in the home country or some people try getting away with not paying at all.

So in short ...I'm all for tough controls ...don't really fancy having an accident involving a non-insured foreign reg car (or a non insured Irish reg, for that matter)

Tipsy Mac

There are lots of cars coming into the country that cost less than the ferry trip to bring them here. The simplest solution to the problem would be to fine the ferry companies for allowing any car into the state without insurance. I think they should get 10 days to show insurance and or get the car roadworthy, after this the car should be crushed into a cube.

Anan1

Tipsy Mac wrote:

The simplest solution to the problem would be to fine the ferry companies for allowing any car into the state without insurance.

I doubt the ferry companies would appreciate being told to do the job of the police for them. Perhaps customs?

Sizzler

I think you have to pay VRT regardless of previous history with the car...easy money for the govt if they got thr cops to even take 10% of these cars off the road.

Show me an area around Dublin that doesnt have a Latvian/lithuanian/Polish Beamer / Audi with obligatory blacked out windows residing in it.

peasant

Sizzler wrote:

I think you have to pay VRT regardless of previous history with the car...easy money for the govt if they got thr cops to even take 10% of these cars off the road.

No, you don't ...see here:

http://www.revenue.ie/leaflets/vrt_3.htm

That ...in my opinion ...is one of the reasons why they haven'yt bothered to clamp down in a big way so far ...no real money to be made, as most of the foreign reg vehicles could claim VRT exemption anyway.

"All" that is at stake is insurance and road tax really ...probably not worth bothering seen as how you can shoot fish in a barrel with a hairdryer on any given dual carriageway ...now there's a nice moneymaker with far less paperwork involved and the "victims" usually speak english as well ...so much easier for the guards

Sizzler

I stand corrected So why do the cops get so thick with people driving northi or UK reg cars but the eastern european jammers are on a free for all?

No tax / insurance when resident here IS enough to get them impounded though? So what are they waiting for !

Also surely there is a fee to get the car reregistered?

peasant

So why do the cops get so thick with people driving northi or UK reg cars but the eastern european jammers are on a free for all?

Because people driving NI /UK regs usually ARE avoiding paying VRT (very few of them just moved here yesterday:D ) ...and also usually on cars where it is worth doing so (therefore also "worth" catching them and making them pay)
How much VRT do you stand to collect on a late eighties 5-series Beemer (complete with blacked out windows and eastern european reg) as opposed to a 05 BMW X5 on UK plates?

And what percentage of the cash does the garda get?

Sizzler

LOL...fair point :-)

At the same time, dossing around in a UK reg car, no proof of when you got here, the aul "I just brought it in last week" trick...works everytime

Still cant get away from the fact that insurance cover in latvia etc isnt worth a toss over here so get them off the road.

bo-bo

Anan1 wrote:

I doubt the ferry companies would appreciate being told to do the job of the police for them. Perhaps customs?

i believe the ferry companies get fined for bringing illegal immigrants as it is, maybe it should be the same for cars.

although saying that i cant see any way they could enforce that efficiently

Tipsy Mac

bo-bo wrote:

although saying that i cant see any way they could enforce that efficiently

Simple enough for the insurance, no insurance cert no travel.

KeRbDoG

This has been a long time coming.
Just about a month ago I had to fork out a load of cash for TAX on my car, only to notice across from me a Polish dude just got himself an Audi A6 and its on PL plates, and its still on PL plates. So annoying.
Is there anyway of reporting people for living/working in IRL and keeping their everyday driver on foreign plates?

unkel

peasant wrote:

How much VRT do you stand to collect on a late eighties 5-series Beemer (complete with blacked out windows and eastern european reg) as opposed to a 05 BMW X5 on UK plates?

This is it. The attention shouldn't be on VRT. It should be on tax and insurance

kerbdog wrote:

Just about a month ago I had to fork out a load of cash for TAX on my car, only to notice across from me a Polish dude just got himself an Audi A6 and its on PL plates, and its still on PL plates. So annoying

I betya you're not as annoyed as me, forking out 4 grand in TAX alone for one car in just over 2 years

jimmycrackcorm

Tipsy Mac wrote:

There are lots of cars coming into the country that cost less than the ferry trip to bring them here. The simplest solution to the problem would be to fine the ferry companies for allowing any car into the state without insurance. I think they should get 10 days to show insurance and or get the car roadworthy, after this the car should be crushed into a cube.

Wouldn't we need to invade the north to enforce such a law in Larne and Belfast harbour???

Sizzler

kerbdog wrote:

This has been a long time coming.
Just about a month ago I had to fork out a load of cash for TAX on my car, only to notice across from me a Polish dude just got himself an Audi A6 and its on PL plates, and its still on PL plates. So annoying.
Is there anyway of reporting people for living/working in IRL and keeping their everyday driver on foreign plates?

You could report him to the local gardai and say he has been resident here for X Months but he aint got his car reregistered or taxed or insured....OR just send a simple email to the revenue and see what they say about it..

Del2005

Is there anyway of reporting people for living/working in IRL and keeping their everyday driver on foreign plates?

It's the revenue that deal with this not the Gardai. And they have more power to confiscate the car the aswell.

drdre

kerbdog wrote:

This has been a long time coming.
Just about a month ago I had to fork out a load of cash for TAX on my car, only to notice across from me a Polish dude just got himself an Audi A6 and its on PL plates, and its still on PL plates. So annoying.
Is there anyway of reporting people for living/working in IRL and keeping their everyday driver on foreign plates?

ah just leave the poor chap alone.you wouldnot want to see his car getting taken away:(

Mc-BigE

kerbdog wrote:

This has been a long time coming.
Just about a month ago I had to fork out a load of cash for TAX on my car, only to notice across from me a Polish dude just got himself an Audi A6 and its on PL plates, and its still on PL plates. So annoying.
Is there anyway of reporting people for living/working in IRL and keeping their everyday driver on foreign plates?

The polish dude is probably working down in some local super market for minimum wage, and cant afford to pay 1300 euro road tax for his 1990 BMW 740!!;)

Seriously though all cars in the state longer than 6 months should also do NCT, who's going to check if the car has bald tyres, broken lights etc.

drdre

Mc-BigE wrote:

The polish dude is probably working down in some local super market for minimum wage, and cant afford to pay 1300 euro road tax for his 1990 BMW 740!!;)

Seriously though all cars in the state longer than 6 months should also do NCT, who's going to check if the car has bald tyres, broken lights etc.

yeah your right.they should do nct.i think the best option would be that the government reduce crt then everyone will be happy except for the govenment:D

Sizzler

drdre wrote:

ah just leave the poor chap alone.you wouldnot want to see his car getting taken away:(

Sure if that was the attitude why bother insuring or taxing your own car, why is this dude any different?

Sizzler

drdre wrote:

yeah your right.they should do nct.i think the best option would be that the government reduce crt then everyone will be happy except for the govenment:D

I wonder how many of those ****ebox Latvian beamer's would pass the NCT lol ! Some of them are even worse than the skangermobiles you see around town ! Signature mafia type cars some of 'em !

Sparky

I once seen a latvian merc involved in an accident on the roads, the guards were there at the time, and from what I could see there was no display of tax or insurance on the windscreen. I read in the Indo that they get their policy from home printed in English and think it covers them over here.
Also I was helping out in an off licience over the last two weekends, they come in with a great smell of drink on them, buy 2ltr bottles of cider and vodka and drive off drunk. Again in their polish and latvian reged cars.

I think the amount of them now involved in accidents has brought it home as to a problem we are now having.
As the papers but it, they are driving "Uninsured, untaxed and intoxicated"