Psv, nct and tax confusion...

crazyFeet

so i purchased a car (mk1 mx5) and bought insurance for it straight away...
2 days later i got stopped and they took the car off me for having none of the discs displayed... when i tried to explain that i just bought it showing reference number for my insurance policy cops just ignored me, never mind provoking me and searching the car as i'm some sort of a drug dealer :mad:

10 days later i had to travel 60 miles to pick up my car from Quinns Recovery and Crash repairs (bastards scraped the car while transporting), all this cost me 250e and i couldn't drive it back as PSV inspector said it is not road worthy, there again he provided no report of any kind, i had to get his number and ring Sligo cop shop to finally get onto him...

can someone tell me what is best to do, i have changed a few parts in the car, booked nct and getting tax this week, but can i drive it even when car passes nct? god knows how long ill have to wait for the booking date, can i drive while car is booked for nct? my solicitor blindly ignores anything i ask her and just keeps telling me no tax no nct, end of story...

colm_mcm

You can drive it to the nct.

corktina

PSV inspector?

punisher5112

PSV is public service vehicle you sure wasnt rsa or revenue?

crazyFeet

car was towed to impound and inspected by an ex-mechanic garda Padraic Fallon in Sligo, when I rang i got asked 'what do you think is wrong with it' and got told that no, there is no report to prove inspection was carried out but still your car is not allowed on the road due to modifications

colm_mcm

Did they tell you what the modifications are?

jca

colm_mcm wrote: »

Did they tell you what the modifications are?

I'm sure you can hazard a guess, a done deal special....

IP freely

Surely they cannot just go around taking peoples cars off the road without any sort of explanation?

I would demand to know the exact reasoning why, seems like they were overly harsh with you here OP, maybe there was a previous marker against the car from previous owners?

IPF

colm_mcm

IP Freely?

IP freely

colm_mcm wrote: »

IP Freely?

Well spotted Sherlock.

slimjimmc

colm_mcm wrote: »

You can drive it to the nct.

I wouldn't be so sure. The law was changed a few years ago and the exemption allowing you to drive without a valid NCT is conditional on having been refused an NCT certificate. To me that indicates you can only drive away from the NCT centre but not to it, as odd as it seems.

(c) on the day on which a test certificate in respect of the vehicle had been refused, or

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2013/en/si/0303.html

OP the law permits you to drive for up to 10 days without displaying an insurance disc (but you must be insured, as you apparently were). That's to allow time for the insurer to issue documentation, so you're ok on that front. However there is no such leeway for Motor Tax or NCT and you are committing an offence by driving without those discs, even parking the car on a public road requires tax and insurance.
You can't tow it either without tax so if you want to be certain you're legal you probably need to have it trailered/trucked to the NCT centre.

However, I agree it's strange the car was seized without any explanation.

jca

slimjimmc wrote: »

I wouldn't be so sure. The law was changed a few years ago and the exemption allowing you to drive without a valid NCT is conditional on having been refused an NCT certificate. To me that indicates you can only drive away from the NCT centre but not to it, as odd as it seems.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2013/en/si/0303.html

OP the law permits you to drive for up to 10 days without displaying an insurance disc (but you must be insured, as you apparently were). That's to allow time for the insurer to issue documentation, so you're ok on that front. However there is no such leeway for Motor Tax or NCT and you are committing an offence by driving without those discs, even parking the car on a public road requires tax and insurance.
You can't tow it either without tax so if you want to be certain you're legal you probably need to have it trailered/trucked to the NCT centre.

However, I agree it's strange the car was seized without any explanation.

I think it's self explanatory, the car was being used on the public road without tax or Nct and also with no insurance disc displayed. It got seized and impounded. End of story,about time too.

corktina

I think the exemption on NCT indeed only applies where a cert has been refused, the assumption being that you have three months before expiry to test it and thus it should still have some test left when going to the test. Thus you may drive away from the test and to repairs if your car has been deemed unroadworthy (but not unsafe) but may not drive without any NCT.

slimjimmc

jca wrote: »

I think it's self explanatory, the car was being used on the public road without tax or Nct and also with no insurance disc displayed. It got seized and impounded. End of story,about time too.

Oh I agree it's blatantly obvious why the car was seized, but I thought the first post said there was no explanation for seizure. Having re-read it I can see it doesn't say that, merely there's no report of why the car is deemed not roadworthy.

slimjimmc

corktina wrote: »

I think the exemption on NCT indeed only applies where a cert has been refused, the assumption being that you have three months before expiry to test it and thus it should still have some test left when going to the test. Thus you may drive away from the test and to repairs if your car has been deemed unroadworthy (but not unsafe) but may not drive without any NCT.

Nah, that not the reason. Even if you fail an early test your existing cert is still valid until the next due date and (if not deemed unsafe) you can drive around to your heart's content until then. If the car is unsafe you can't legally drive until the danger is corrected it but the current cert still remains valid.

corktina

ah I meant to say that was the intention of the rule... it's the only way it makes any sense to me (not that it makes any sense :-)

Guy:Incognito

IP freely wrote: »

Surely they cannot just go around taking peoples cars off the road without any sort of explanation?

It wasn't displaying tax, insurance or nct discs .

IP freely

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

It wasn't displaying tax, insurance or nct discs .

I'm talking about the guy saying the car isn't roadworthy without saying exactly what isn't roadworthy about it.

IPF

Dangel4x4

IP freely wrote: »

I'm talking about the guy saying the car isn't roadworthy without saying exactly what isn't roadworthy about it.

IPF

The car had no NCT, so it follows that it's not roadworthy.

Another way to put it would be: if the car was roadworthy, it would have an NCT.

Simples :cool::cool:

slimjimmc

Dangel4x4 wrote: »

The car had no NCT, so it follows that it's not roadworthy.

Another way to put it would be: if the car was roadworthy, it would have an NCT.

Simples :cool::cool:

Or the seller never bothered doing the test. No NCT does not mean a car is not roadworthy, just not road legal. You can even pass an NCT with no tax/insurance.
Though in the OP's case I suspect the previous owner knew the mods wouldn't pass.

colm_mcm

This isn't the same mx5 you were looking for nct parts for 4 months ago is it ?

http://www.adverts.ie/car-parts-accessories/wanted-mx5-miata-mazda-parts/4786343

Dangel4x4

slimjimmc wrote: »

Or the seller never bothered doing the test. No NCT does not mean a car is not roadworthy, just not road legal.

Yeah right.

Sure I won't bother renewing the NCT on my car when it's up next month. If I get stopped I'll educate the Garda on the difference between road-legal and roadworthy, and I'll be on my way.

Or I might get my car impounded like the OP...

djimi

Dangel4x4 wrote: »

Yeah right.

Sure I won't bother renewing the NCT on my car when it's up next month. If I get stopped I'll educate the Garda on the difference between road-legal and roadworthy, and I'll be on my way.

Or I might get my car impounded like the OP...

I dont think that it was implied that you could use it as an excuse. But its a fair comment that road legal and roadworthy are not necessarily the same thing. I can have a perfectly roadworthy car that has not yet passed the NCT and is therefore not road legal, and likewise I could have a car that has a valid NCT cert but that has developed a major issue since the test that would render it not roadworthy.

Dangel4x4

Road-legal, roadworthy - it's all just semantics and you know it.

If you don't have that little piece of paper on your windscreen to say that your car met some minimum standard in the recent past, the Gardai have the power to make your life miserable as your car shouldn't be on the road without said piece of paper. A Garda isn't a mechanic so I don't expect him to perform an NCT on the roadside to satisfy some pedant who thinks his car is ok. Call that whatever you want, but that's the way it goes. The way some people were going on, you'd swear the NCT was hard to pass or something... "Can't be bothered to do the test" isn't an excuse, is it?

djimi

Its not semantics at all. A car can have a valid NCT but if a Garda pulls it over without working headlights or with dangerously bald tires for example then there is a chance you wont be driving home in it.

Its a major isssue with the NCT; too many people in this country now equate road legal (ie valid NCT) with roadworthy, when in reality the two could have little bearing on each other.