Foreign registered vehicles

A

Ash

Guest
In my area there's a lot of cars belonging to foreign nationals, particularly Latvians, Lithuanians and Poles working in the vicinity.
Many of the cars have been around for quite a number of months, in varying degrees of roadworthiness.
I wonder a couple of things:
how long does a car have to be here before it has to be re-registered in Ireland; and
even while not registered in Ireland, are cars from abroad liable for examination under the NCT; and
bearing in mind a statistic I heard last week that approx 20% of vehicles on the roads are uninsured, how many of these uninsured vehicles fall into the non national category?
Please dont mistake this as a veiled anti immigration rant or anything else other than a serious query.
 
I'd worry more about the many NI & UK cars being driven by those resident here.
 
Here is some information about what you're supposed to do.



If they have owned the car for longer than 6 months they don't need to pay VRT but do still need to pay motor tax and have insurance. However, given that these tend to be higher than other European countries (purely anecdotal this, based on colleagues over the years from mainly France and Germany) I know many people just don't bother to register their cars when they move over here. If you say you're just here on holidays there's not much can be done afaik. For a while it was quite common for the gardai (I think, could just have been the relevant tax people) to go to companies such as Oracle and Gateway who had large mulit-national workforces and take the reg numbers of any foreign cars in the carparks there. They would then go into the company and ask to see the owners of those cars and request the correct documentation from them. Don't know if this is still done or not.

I assume once a car is registered and paying motor tax it will be subject to the normal NCT rules.
 
Car could be impounded

Customs and excise can (and have) impound a car where owner has failed to re-register and is resident in Ireland.

Regarding insurance, I doubt (but willing to be corrected) that it is possible to obtain insurance from an Irish company for a non-Irish registered car.

The car could of course have valid insurance from the country of registration, though in general an additional premium is payable if the car is out of the home country for an extended period of time (same would most likely apply if you were to take your car to France for 10 months).
 
Black Windows

Is it legal in this country to have black windows in ones car. You may notice that a lot of the LV and the LT registered cars have black windows.

Surely the front windscreen and two front side windows should be clear glass.
 
Re: Black Windows

I have a friend who is a Garda. He told me once that most foreign nationals dont have insurance and dont obey the speed limits. Also if they are brought to court they plead they dont understand English and have to have a translator for them. Extra cost to the Garda. As a result of huge costs he told me they ( Gardai) were told to avoid dealing with non nationals except when absolutely necessary. in other words if they dont cause an accident , leave them alone. I agree with those comments about the LIT and LT cars with black windows, but maybe they can see out ok. To be honest I am more concerned about the driving (and I am not being racist here) of other immigrant nationalities. Last week on a roundabout in Dundalk a lady driver ( African) cut a roundabout, on the front passenger seat two small kids were playing, no seat belts. She sailed through the roundabout without looking or stopping. If it was a minor roundabout it would be bad enough but it was on the main Dublin/Belfast road at Harvey Normans. Hardly the least busy roundabout in the country. I was stopped at the time waiting for to enter the roundabout when this car approached on the inside and went straight through to 2nd exit. Not even a basic understanding of the rules of the road. I had a passenger and she couldn't believe it either.
 
foreign cars

I read on another site that Revenue officers sometimes wait outside industrial estates for foreign cars exiting, check their documentation, and impound cars that don't comply.

I personally have seen a Garda stop a Lithuanian-reg car and take out her notebook - obviously intent on investigating the car/driver !
 
Re: foreign cars

Kildrought,

Just for info, it is possible to be insured in Ireland from an Irish insurance company on a foreign registered car.

I have done it a couple of times, the latest last week.

I'm not sure if it is sustainable long term but it is certainly possible for at least 12 months

efm
 
setanta

"I have a friend who is a Garda. He told me once that most foreign nationals dont have insurance and dont obey the speed limits. "

I take exception to this, have you got numbers or stats to back this up?

You'll find that most non-nationals are not the ones who end up wrapped with their cars around a tree or down a ditch in middle of the night involved in one car accidents when driving well above the alcohol limit.

Also in todays Independent you'll be reminded that this country's rules of the road book is 10 years old, hasn't been updated since and that's what your fellow country men study to get their license on.
 
Foreign Nationals Driving

I would agree with the comment in relation to the tax and insurance details on the non national cars. What I have noticed about them driving is that the LT/LV types with the blacked out windows usually speed with no regard for anybody wheras the African ones usually travel about 2 miles an hour.

A Latvian type vehicle was constantly parked outside my house but on the roadway. However, I noticed it was not taxed and did not carry an insurance disc. I knocked in and told them to move it, that it was illegally parked. They didn't want to move it, but I once I mentioned that I would be involving the Gardai if it was there again, it promptly disappeared. I am sure they think I am a nark for complaining, but I dont really care.

A girl in work this week commented how a house on her road in Navan was rented to two polish guys who work in a nearby garden centre and bring home the trucks from work. She commented on the speeds that both were doing in a housing estate and said she would call in at the weekend and have a word. However, about two days later she noticed that they had ploughed into a girl in a renault clio going to work within the estate. They were obviously insured as they were driving garden centre vehicles.

Perhaps though, its not an issue about the nationality that speeds but rather that they are all appear to be young males in their twenties. It was a Latvian vehicle that caused the death of the young woman in the horrible crash on the M50 earlier this year when their car crossed the central verge having been spotted driving erratically at speeds of over 100mph driven by a young male.

I would be most annoyed if I thought the Gardai purposely chose to ignore these people and let them off with no insurance or tax.
 
Foreign Nationals Driving

What about the Irish Nationals who drive foreign registered cars???

I have a neighbour who spends about 6 months of the year in Spain and drives a Spanish registered vehicle - the insurance, road tax and the cost of the vehicle itself being much cheaper than in Ireland.

I saw him recently parked on the zig-zag lines beside a pedestrian crossing and told him he was lucky he didn't get a ticket as that was a very dangerous place to park.

His response was that he wouldn't care if he got a ticket or not as it was a Spanish registered vehicle and he wouldn't have to pay anyway!
 
Re: Foreign Nationals Driving

Wavejumper: I too was surprised by the statement from this Garda. As for the rest. How many Latvians/Lituanians have been involved in accidents ( some unfortunately fatal) in Donegal last year alone?
 
Re: Foreign Nationals Driving

Can I ask how some people here claim to know the nationality of other drivers on the road other than, say, deducing this from foreign plates? A few people have mentioned "African" drivers. Do they stop them to ask them or something?
 
Re: Foreign Nationals Driving

Good point Clubman - my neighbour who drives the Spanish registered vehicle is Irish!
 
Re: Foreign Nationals Driving

Ok Clubman you win. Hands up here . Black drivers driving 1992/1994 Totota Corollas are not necessarily African.
 
Re: Foreign Nationals Driving

True - in fact black people driving any car, or engaging in any other activity for that matter, are not necessarily African unless one ascertains this for sure in some other way.
 
Re: Foreign Nationals Driving

Neighbour of mine was driving behind a 2mph-er and hit them when they suddenly stopped. When asked by said women driver for a 'quick settlement' neighbour went to the Garda in Dundalk to report it and were told that this that the sixth case in the last month with this particular driver!
 
Re: Foreign Nationals Driving

Neighbour of mine was driving behind a 2mph-er and hit them when they suddenly stopped.

I always assumed that in a case like this the driver in the rear was supposed to retain control of the car and ensure that there was an adequate stopping distance between their's and the car in front?
 
Re: Foreign Nationals Driving

A Latvian type vehicle was constantly parked outside my house but on the roadway. However, I noticed it was not taxed and did not carry an insurance disc.
Click to expand...

foreign vehicles do not need to display insurance certs and cannot be taxed in this country. ive never looked too closely but the lt/lv reg plates seem to follow the german style where the road tax / nct equiv is part of the number plates
 
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