Got stung for no insurance display [I was covered though]

patriotIE

Hello Boards Community, hope someone can give me sound advice on how to proceed.

I'll try to explain this as best as I can. My insurance expired in April, I renewed it on the 11th May (I rarely use my car). Anyway The guy told me the discs were being sent out. on 21st of May no discs in sight I called them and inquired as I needed to use the car. They told me there was an internal error and he would reissue them. I didn't dig deep into this, I just told him to send them asap.

That day i used the car and guess what, guards stopped me and fined me 60euro for no display I told him I had renewed it on 11th but the discs where never sent out. He told me, he was fining me for no display and no proof of insurance.

I called 123 for assist on this and they say they can do nothing even though they never sent them out.

Should I dispute this? what are my options. The mad thing is that I have a record of the direct debit on the 11th but the girl on the phone says the ones sent out today will have yesterdays date.

Really annoyed. I know I should have followed up sooner with them or renewed it in time, but I rarely use the car.

Should I just pay the fine and never use 123 again or do I have to go to court for the sake of 60quid?

ResearchWill

You have a chance of success in court (depends on judge) the question is which is cheaper going to court and a chance of no fine or pay the 60 and forget it. You could be cheeky and ask insurance company for 60 reduction.

lynchie

There is a 10 day grace period for non display of a current insurance disc after the issuing of the new disc. Assuming your disc was valid from 11th May you would have a case against the fine.

Surely your policy start date should be the 11th May and therefore the insurance cert should be the same regardless if there was a problem on their side. If they are issuing your cert with the 21st, then Id be more worried about receiving a summons for no insurance than the €60 fine as technically you were not insured on that date.

Yawns

Just pay the €60 fine. You were fined for not displaying your disc and that is all the judge would care about if it went to court. They are not disputing if you had insurance or not. Even if it is the company's fault you as the driver are responsible for ensuring all disc are valid and up to date before you drive your car.

It would be a different story if you were being fined / summoned for not being insured. Then you could have a case. However as it's for not displaying a valid disc then you have no argument because you did in fact drive without a valid disc displayed.

Yawns

patriotIE wrote: »

He told me, he was fining me for no display and no proof of insurance.

Sorry I just re-read that bit again.

Did he fine you for no insurance cert or did he give you 10 days to produce the cert at any garda station? I supposed if he really thought you had no insurance he would issue a summons for it instead of the €60 fine for non display.

James Jones

Pay the fine and then make a complaint to the insurance company in writing. If they don't refund you, make a complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman. I know it doesn't seem obvious but they dealt with over 500 cases regarding motor insurance in 2011. See page 18 of the 2011 review HERE.

BrianD

There must be more to this story?

If your insurance disc shows 04-12 and it's now May 22nd you must have done something else to attract attention.

While there is there a period of grace my understanding is that most Gardai wouldn't be overly bothered with you with a disc that expired in April.

It's up to you and not the insurance co. to have a valid disc displayed. Pay it and move on. If you are hauled in for being uninsured then 123 will be able to produce a cert for you.

frag420

I had simlar issue a few yrs ago when renewing insurance as previous yr there was a three week delay in getting disk. So I asked them to send me an email with broker logo, date of renewal, confirmation, policy number etc. I printed this out and kept it in car until my disk arrived.

I was stopped only once at checkpoint (was a bank holiday weekend) and after I explained the gard was cool about it and just asked me to produce it within ten days.

MagicSean

You will need to get a cover letter from the insurance company. Your story is common for people who just buy insurance on the day they are stopped and the Garda will likely not believe it.

uberwolf

The one time I've been stopped all year was three days after my expiry date. The Garda was satisfied with my showing her the email from aviva confirming renewal

Fey!

Get a letter with from 123.ie with the date of the insurance being renewed, and the date of your subsequent call relating to you not having received the discs.

When you get this send a copy of that, a copy of the ticket, and a letter of appeal outlining your predicament to the district office of the relevant Garda station.

Hopefully they'll be able to get you sorted. It may be worthwhile to ring the district office and outline your situation in the meantime; note that call in your appeal letter, too.

BrianD

There is a period of time that suggests that you were not insured so a judge may not like to hear of that.

slimjimmc

BrianD wrote: »

There is a period of time that suggests that you were not insured so a judge may not like to hear of that.

That period is irrelevant if the vehicle was not used in a public place, the OP did say he rarely uses the car.


OP, you say you renewed on 11th May but when was cover to commence; on the same date, or some later date?

Using the 10 day period allowed in law:
If cover started on 11th May (day #1) then after the 20th May (day#10) you need a disc.
Even if cover started on 12th May, you have up to and including the 21st May to drive without displaying.

Either way, the insurance company are not responsible for you driving without a disc. If they failed to send you one on time then legally you should have left the car parked up after the 10days. They can't do anything to drop the charge but a letter could persuade either the Garda or the judge that no intent was involved.