Foriegn plated cars on our roads?

snaps

Who monitors or polices the amount of foriegn plated cars using our roads? The reason why I ask is some one at work from eastern europe has been boasting for the last 4 years he has been driving his polish car on irish roads with no tax, insurance, nct and gets away with it?

When he was questioned by us at work he says the gardai have stopped him many times and he just says he is on holiday?

What stops me from going abroad and just buying a foriegn plated car and doing the same?

Surely foriegn people have to get their car re registered with irish plates and taxed and insured etc like us all?

Henry Ford III

It is mess.

Customs and excise should pursue VRT in theory. The cops insurance and tax.

It's very hit and miss.

snaps

But how do they get away with it? What happens if you have an accident with one of these guys? Ive never thought about this before?

In Galway alone I know lots of non nationals that have been driving around for years in foriegn cars?

Seems the hundreds and thousands I pay to keep my car on the road here is making a mug of me!

Mojito

I would have thought that when you arrive at customs on entering the country they issue you with a arrival customs ticket. Then when stop by the Gards they should have to pruduce this ticket, if they can't then bye bye car!

But then again thats very complicated and would cost billions to implement and take 10 years to do. :cool:

Mc-BigE

Henry Ford III wrote:

It is mess.

Customs and excise should pursue VRT in theory. The cops insurance and tax.

It's very hit and miss.

No VRT to pay because their not an Irish Resident (I know, its a joke) but a polish resident on holidays in Ireland.

So no VRT = Customs don't care.

Now motor tax/insurance/NCT is a different matter.

sprinkles

They wouldn't have to pay the full VRT if they owened the car outside the state for more than 6 months, the fee for reregistering it would be about €50.

snaps

So because they are not Irish but still working and living here for 4 or so years they are not doing anything wrong?

Owen

TBH who cares. There's a million threads on boards whinging about this, and nothing will ever be done about it. It's the EU boys, get used to it, it probably happens in other countries too.

snaps

Im not whinging but astonished! So after all the winding up this guy has done at work he is correct, Nothing can be done with him on our roads!

I cannot believe this, is it the same for us if we go to their country?

gyppo

ned78 wrote:

TBH who cares. There's a million threads on boards whinging about this, and nothing will ever be done about it. It's the EU boys, get used to it, it probably happens in other countries too.

Maybe you might care if your car/yourself was damaged/injured by an uninsured driver.
Agreed, "it probably happens in other countries" - That does'nt mean its right.

Mr.Diagnostic

I think we would all agree that it is a disgrace, so lets see if there actually is anything that can be done about it or not!

Even if the guy in the opening post owned the car long enough before he came here to not be liable for VRT he must still register the car and pay insurance tax etc.

@ OP (snaps) you have the info regarding one who is driving uninsured and untaxed. Why not post the info here (make and model of car, reg number, drivers name, where he works and (if known) where he lives. Then, how ever many members here care to can report him to the gardai. If it is not permissable to do this here then maybe members could ask for the details to be PM'ed. Mods??

He is breaking the law after all and it is our duty to do this

Perhaps if one or two get caught the rest will comply.

Tanabe

I agree this is a total disgrace & a total insult to the rest of us Irish citizens who have to pay this unnecessary form of double or even treble taxation every time you buy a car.

As Snaps asked earlier, can we do the same if we were to move to another EU country? Drive over on our Irish plates & let that be the end of it?

I thought customs were cracking down on all these foreign registered plates over the last couple of weeks? This guy deserves to be caught for VRT just like the rest of us.

peasant

Most of these people would have owned their cars for more then 6 months previously and are therefore not liable for VRT (not even 50 Euro as mentioned above)

On the other hand there is nothing keeping the gardai from looking for proof of insurance ...there is something like the international green insurance card after all.
But the gardai are so used to looking at round little disks, so when they don't see any (and the driver on ther "wrong" side) they just wave you through ...lack of enforcement ...as usual.

snaps

i was tempted to phone the gardai after having to put up with his boasting and listening him saying he was untouchable, I know others that were listening to him wanted to throw him in the corrib!

Apparently though the gardai cannot do anything with him? Only thing is outstanding custom and excise duty, but like you say who would collect this?

Its really amazed me, this.

peasant

snaps wrote:

Apparently though the gardai cannot do anything with him? Only thing is outstanding custom and excise duty, but like you say who would collect this?

Its really amazed me, this.

'course they could do something ...if they were bothered to do so.

Likelyhood is, there is no custom and excise duty payable, which is none of their business anyway ...driving without insurance on the other hand is.

checking for insurance would be very simple also. Every insurance company has to issue you (on request) with an international proof of insurance , the so called green card. Police forces in other countries DO ask for this, when they stop foreigners ...the gardai just can't be bothered with the ensuing paperwork IF they caught a foreigner without insurance, so they don't ask:D

Owen

gyppo wrote:

Maybe you might care if your car/yourself was damaged/injured by an uninsured driver.

Whoah whoah whoah, who said anything about uninsured? They're two totally different arguments. People from other countries drive here on EU plates with Insurance. My girlfriend for one, and my sister for another. They regularly visit on holidays with their own Insurance, and for the record, my sister's UK Insurance policy and my girlfriend's Polish policy entitle them to drive 12 months of the year in another country. Of course my girlfriend's car spends most of it's little life in Poland, but that's besides the point.

Common Market boys, see the bigger picture here. You read reports of a few uninsured drivers and automatically tar any one from Poland, Czesc Republic or Lithuania with the same brush.

Alun

Tanabe wrote:

As Snaps asked earlier, can we do the same if we were to move to another EU country? Drive over on our Irish plates & let that be the end of it?

No we can't, but you can take it from me, it certainly does happen. Go to any place on mainland Europe where there are a lot of foreign workers .. places like the EU offices in Strasbourg , or a European institution like ESA for example, and you'll find loads of foreign registered cars, some of them even Irish . The authorities over there tend to adopt the same approach as they do here with occasional raids from customs officials stopping cars leaving their car parks, but that's about the limit of it.

Alun

ned78 wrote:

Whoah whoah whoah, who said anything about uninsured? They're two totally different arguments. People from other countries drive here on EU plates with Insurance. My girlfriend for one, and my sister for another. They regularly visit on holidays with their own Insurance, and for the record, my sister's UK Insurance policy and my girlfriend's Polish policy entitle them to drive 12 months of the year in another country. Of course my girlfriend's car spends most of it's little life in Poland, but that's besides the point.

Common Market boys, see the bigger picture here. You read reports of a few uninsured drivers and automatically tar any one from Poland, Czesc Republic or Lithuania with the same brush.

Right! I was shocked when I moved here from the Netherlands and found I was only allowed to drive abroad for 30 days a year on my insurance. Over there I can drive as long as I like where I like on a green card (issued as standard).

Mr.Diagnostic

ned78 wrote:

Whoah whoah whoah, who said anything about uninsured?

The OP said it in the first line of his opening post.

Owen

Mr.Diagnostic wrote:

The OP said it in the first line of his opening post.

He's concerned with a particular individual in his office, the rest of the posters are generalising about foreign plated cars in Ireland and assuming the majority are also uninsured.

sprinkles

peasant wrote:

Most of these people would have owned their cars for more then 6 months previously and are therefore not liable for VRT (not even 50 Euro as mentioned above)

On the other hand there is nothing keeping the gardai from looking for proof of insurance ...there is something like the international green insurance card after all.
But the gardai are so used to looking at round little disks, so when they don't see any (and the driver on ther "wrong" side) they just wave you through ...lack of enforcement ...as usual.

you are liable for the €50 re registration payment. It's not a tax. it covers paperwork etc.

I think it is a disgrace because they aren't insured but the whole issue about not re registering their car and getting away with vrt is nonsense.

Mc-BigE

This is not a VRT issue, its a Safety issue first, Motor Tax issue second.

I have no problem with non nationals in Ireland and if they can prove to a garda when stopped that their not working in Ireland for more than 6 months and that their car is Insured /Tax /NCT'd in country of origin. The problem is most non national cars are here for more then that and they should at least get the car NCT'd so that they don't crash into us because their car isn't road worthy.

Guy:Incognito

As I say any time one of these threads come up , I have a problem with accountability. If someone in a polish reg car runs over a child here and pisses off, even with a reg the guards have no way to trace them. Best case scenario is that a few people are going to start losing thousands through hit and runs/ uninsured drivers etc. Worst case is that drunk/sober foreigners kill people on the roads.


Irish people will still drink and drive and cause acidents, but at least if they are caught or theres witnesses, they will be take off the roads.

It would be very simple to implement a system to make sure cars are re-reged. A system could be set up with ferry companies to log reg's that enter the country, they could then be checked by gards stopping cars to see how long they are in the country.

peasant

Stekelly wrote:

As I say any time one of these threads come up , I have a problem with accountability. If someone in a polish reg car runs over a child here and pisses off, even with a reg the guards have no way to trace them.

On the continent there are two waysto tackle this:

1) cross border co-operation between police forces. So, once you have the reg, you will find the owner/driver

2) some countries have a system of registration where you personally have to register with the authorities as soon as you move somewhere. Nothing (no social insurance, no tax, no employment) happens without registering first. This helps to track down offenders ....but imagine the popularity of such a system in Ireland

Sizzler

snaps wrote:

i was tempted to phone the gardai after having to put up with his boasting and listening him saying he was untouchable, I know others that were listening to him wanted to throw him in the corrib!

Apparently though the gardai cannot do anything with him? Only thing is outstanding custom and excise duty, but like you say who would collect this?

Its really amazed me, this.

Why dont you just call the local VRO office of the rev comms and tell them you have an address of someone they may be interested in ? Also if the dude is driving without insurance the cops will DEFO be interested !

Fey!

Sizzler wrote:

Why dont you just call the local VRO office of the rev comms and tell them you have an address of someone they may be interested in ? Also if the dude is driving without insurance the cops will DEFO be interested !

Snaps: Customs are on Flood St and Druid Lane, and Gardai are in Mill St and Dalysfort Rd.

Tipsy Mac

There are cars coming in which are worth less than the cost of ferry and fuel getting them here, the only reason it's viable to do this is for insurance and NCT avoidance. The shipping companies should be liable to check all vechicles coming into the country are insured in the same way airlines are liable for fines if found carrying illegal immegrants. Also all left hand drive vehicles should have to be fitted with those light deflectors to stop there lights dazzling oncoming traffic, this is a legal requirement in France for UK/Irish cars and you will not be allowed off the ferry without them.

peasant

Tipsy Mac wrote:

There are cars coming in which are worth less than the cost of ferry and fuel getting them here, the only reason it's viable to do this is for insurance and NCT avoidance.

There *may* be another reason:

The owner might not be able to afford the latest 06 3-series

fulofh20

They should comply with road safety.

Hobbes

Tbh it sounds like hes BS'ing somewhat. As the cops would make a note of it every time he was stopped.

Also while I have no idea about this guys case, I am aware of numerous others in work from NI, France, Germany where the Revenue commissioners actually hunted them down.

snaps

i phoned the gardai and they actually said it was a custom and excise case. I think you guys are right, its to much hassle for them to chase them if they are uninsured as there is no way of tracking them (Even though they have a home address and a work address)

For the record apparently he was working here for a year, went back to Poland and brought the car brand new, drove it back. As far as I know it was never insured even for the first year. I dont know how the rules are abroad in regards to tax and NCT/MOT of cars.

His killer line to me was "The only thing I spend on my car is petrol and that is twice as expensive here than in Poland!"

Perhaps I will speak to customs, Not sure how I would go about it and what department to speak to as I know nothing about revenue.

People like this make me sick.

And in Galway its not just a one off, The road I live in has lots of Foriegn plated cars parked in it (Polish (lots of), Lithuanian, Czech, German, Spanish and I even think French). My car park at work must be at least 10% foriegn plated cars, some have been working for years here also.

I used to see lots of UK (Mainland and NI) plates here but nowadays hardly any.