Car tax threatening letter received

Our man in Havana

Got an interesting letter in the post this morning. It was a red reminder telling me that my car that i have in my shed for the last 6 months is out of tax since the end of Nov 04.

The letter said that if I failed to pay up the tax within 10 days or send back the form saying why I am not using it, they will report me to the Gardai and have me prosecuted.

AFAIK it is not unlawful for me to keep an untaxed car so long as it is not on a public road? Also, I don't belive that they (the dept of environment) have any powers to compel you to complete the form sent. Can anyone clear this up?

Should I be expecting a visit from my local Garda soon? What can they do to me? I don't think they can do much.

Regards
007

lomb

there *may* be legislation that u have to tell them where the car is. best not to risk it and send back the form. they probably have a right to know if a car has been crushed/ sent out of the state or is untaxed on the road. i must say i owned an irish car which i left in a uk scrapyard a few years ago and have heard nothing. i still have the log book.

seamus

You cannot be prosecuted unless you are using an untaxed vehicle on the public road.

The Gardai may arrive at your house, all you have to do is say that you haven't driven it for 6 months, and they'll go away.

There may be an onus on you to declare non-use once a year or something (I'm not sure), but you are not required to fill in a motor tax renewal or appication form unless you wish to tax your vehicle.

edmund_f

perhaps a polite phone call to your local county council's motor tax section will be able to clarify, personally have not got a cule... remember something about the car having to be up on blocks i.e. 'off' the road, but that may have been the UK. you can get the number in the green section of your phone book or

http://www.environ.ie/DOEI/DOEIHome.nsf/wvNavView/LocalAuthorities

hope it helps

Interceptor

Just blow your nose in the letter and throw it in the bin with the five letters the TV license people send to try and intimidate people into parting with their hard-earned dosh. The cops are not going to call and there is no obligation on you to do anything - I get these all the time and they go staright into the recycling bin.

'c

pickarooney

No idea about Ireland, but in a lot of places you need to remove the number plates if the car is not in use.

mike65

I have this image of 'c on his back porch chewing tobacco with a shotgun leaning against the fence. I dunno why..!

Mike.

edmund_f

"that's my Da's shootin' car, three more payments and it ours"

Must be a Simpsons quote to cover pretty much everything..

Interceptor

mike65 wrote:

I have this image of 'c on his back porch chewing tobacco with a shotgun leaning against the fence. I dunno why..!

Mike.

Lauralee, quit wrasslin' with yore brother n' git me anuther beer. Dang kids kickin' up a fuss in ma trailer park, I'm gonna whup ya now where'd I put them jumpleads..

I just don't have any patience with the people who turn the wheels of administration in this country.

BTW chewing tobacco makes your teeth all brown, the cops won't let me have a gun since my earlier rifle accident and I knocked my fence down when I crashed a Fiesta through it last year but haven't been arsed to fix it, so WRONG!

'c

Interceptor

edmund_f wrote:

"that's my Da's shootin' car, three more payments and it ours"

Must be a Simpsons quote to cover pretty much everything..

'I done-busted my elbow-bone' and 'They things 'kin go off even after they is dead' being my favourite Cletus quotes. And I look a little like him too.


'cptr

egan007

There is no way in hell the guards are going to visit the house of everyone who has a car registered and untaxed!

ambro25

seamus wrote:

There may be an onus on you to declare non-use once a year or something (I'm not sure),

I believe so, at a Gardai station - but only once up & until you want to tax it again (see below).

seamus wrote:

but you are not required to fill in a motor tax renewal or appication form unless you wish to tax your vehicle.

Definitely correct + must obtain declaration from Gardai that it's been off the road between dates such-then & such-now (just a box to tick & get signature from station) when you want to tax it again.

Our man in Havana

I shall just do nothing so? Have a nice bit of paper to ligt the fire:D

Seth Brundle

I got one when my E30 went off the road last year. Binned it and never heard anything since!

Kersh

I get a lot of them too, cos I rotate 3 cars. I usually answer them with reason being I have 3 cars and I rotate them....BUT,
Last time I went to the garda station to get an off the road form signed, the garda asked me why my car was off the road (it was getting a gearbox fitted and had been off the road 8 months), and when I told him why it was off the road he smartly replied that it doesnt take 8 months to fit a gearbox, so I smartly answered back that I had other cars to use, and that shut him up. You would swear it was a confession he had to sign.

cranoo

Its none of the guards business why your car was off the road, he is just witnessing your signature on the tax form

alastair

I had to get the Guards to sign the off-the-road section of the tax renewal form this morning (bought it privately before christmas and didn't sort out insurance until last week). They asked had I not been driving it, and I said I hadn't (all true). They didn't ask where I had it parked up - which was on the public road outside the house, but the tax office guy (quite the joker) asked me had I been parking it on the roof of the house. All went well for me in any case. Didn't need to produce an NCT for the tax disc, despite all the dire warnings on the form about needing one, which is grand, because I don't have a current NCT - just a booking for next week.

bbbbb

apparently you're supposed to fill out one of these (section 7)
https://www.motortax.ie/mtoapp/pdf/RF100A_en.pdf

Silvera

In the UK, owners of cars which are not in use have to complete what is known as a 'SORN' (i.e. 'vehicle not in use' declaration, and pay a small fee).

AFAIK, there is no equivalent requirement in Ireland ...........yet !

Just send the tax form back with a note explaining that the car is off the road..........or give them a call. That's what I would do.

Silvera.

Seth Brundle

The system in the UK will automatically send you a fine if your tax is out of date. If your vehicle is off the road then tough - you should have completed the sorn.
I also saw a few times a year ago vans parked at the side of NI dual carriageways with their rear doors opened and two cameras staring out. On the side of the van it said tax detection or something. It reads the number plate and checks if tax is out!

Our man in Havana

That would never work becuase of the numbers of untaxed tractors and other such vehicles. The protests would be akin to the poll tax riots of yore.

stratos

I get one of those forms every year for my summer car. I just send it back saying summer car. I would say the form is just computer generated. I presume we will have the s.o.r.n. system here soon that they have in England.