Insurance(s)

chris d

Hey Motors board, any info on the following conundrum is welcome.

Being from the North im planning on getting a car from my local mechanic & getting insurance up there using my mam's address. Whom i still tend to visit (or live with if you're the insurance company).

Least that's the plan.

My g/f is a dubliner and i just realised, will she be able to get insurance on the car?

Maybe it's in the Good Friday Agreement. (joke)

Anyone have experience with a similar circumstance?

Cheers.

L1011

You'd need to pretend she's living there too to get her insured on it.

On a more serious note, if you actually had to claim on the insurance for an incident that happened when "visiting" the south; or got stopped by the Customs lads (now out every single weekend), you'd be completely screwed.

chris d

Nutz. But cheers for the reply.

Why would i be screwed though? There's nothing to say i dont live at my Ma's. Post goes there, bank account, licence are both addressed there.
I work in the South, but live in the North situation.

L1011

If it was something minor, nothing.

If there was a few thousand in it, they'd definitely question why you were there and start investigating. If they found you were ordinarily resident in the south (e.g. 5 days over 7 for working here) you'd generally be in breach of the policy. I'm only allowed out of the Republic 90 days on year on mine (and do come close to that) - I've never seen one that would allow more than that.

bazzachazza

My current policy says I'm only covered for 30days outside of Ireland as MYOB quite rightly says the investigatior would ask where you worked etc and it would come out that you spend more than allowed outside N.I. .

L1011

Come to think of it, insurers down south anyway always ask for where the car is 'ordinarily kept' rather than where you actually live. If its the same up north you'd be lying from the off.

Also, isn't insurance in the north significantly more expensive than down here anyway? Especially with the girlfriend on the policy it might be cheaper to have it insured down here anyway!

MugMugs

Your talking about an Insurance company here. Not the CIA.

How can they prove that you didnt merely drive your vehicle from the risk address to the accident location ?

They cant because they dont have time machines.

All they can do is survey your presence in specific regions post accident but that isnt enough for them to cancel your policy and certainly wont get them out of a claim.

Fact of the matter is, it is all WAY too much hassle to police this becuase it is unpolicable.

OP - There is no way of being done. Customs cant touch you and if you really want to stay within your insurance conditions, go home every 30 days for a cup of tea with Mammy and drive back South again.

Ps - Your GF CAN get insured on your vehicle as a named driver despite her residence. She does NOT have to be registered as living in your home address.

She would also be covered to drive your vehicle under her Third Party extension should she own and insure her own vehicle and her policy permits.

Esel

MugMugs wrote: »

There is no way of being done. Customs cant touch you

Wrong. They can, and will, if they catch you. They sometimes look for foreign cars regularly parked overnight.

MugMugs wrote: »

Ps - Your GF CAN get insured on your vehicle as a named driver despite her residence.

A resident of the State can not drive a temporarily imported vehicle.

L1011

In Ireland, insurance companies are probably better at detecting where people are and what they're doing than our equivalent of the CIA would be (that being the Gardai of course).

Its not worth the risk, basically. You WOULD be breaking the terms of your insurance and customs certainly can touch you - anyone who thinks otherwise is being horrifically naive. You'd likely be covered under the 'personal ties' exemption for registering the vehicle but proving this is never easy.

MugMugs

esel wrote: »

Wrong. They can, and will, if they catch you. They sometimes look for foreign cars regularly parked overnight.

A resident of the State can not drive a temporarily imported vehicle.

Are you honestly trying to say that if a non resident is using a foreign vehicle in Ireland that customs can sieze? That makes no sense.... Thats like saying I go to the UK in my car and it gets taken off me.

Thats crap. I know plenty of people from over the border driving in the republic and when stopped by Customs waved on.

And you are wrong. A resident of the state CAN be insured on a non national vehicle in the home country of the vehicle using their "foreign" address.

I will put money on that.

Esel

MugMugs wrote: »

Are you honestly trying to say that if a non resident is using a foreign vehicle in Ireland that customs can sieze?

Where did I say non-resident? The OP is a resident, btw.

MugMugs wrote: »

And you are wrong. A resident of the state CAN be insured on a non national vehicle in the home country of the vehicle using their "foreign" address.

You don't seem to comprehend well. I said a resident cannot drive a temp. imported vehicle. I said nothing about insurance.

chris d

I reside all over the place at my whimsy. Well, in dublin, belfast or antrim depending on the day...

Thanks for all the replys lads. I guess it wasn't gonna be that black and white, but looks like buying south would be the simplest option. I just need to make friends with a mechanic in the next few months to make sure i dont buy a dud.

MugMugs

esel wrote: »

Where did I say non-resident? The OP is a resident, btw.

You don't seem to comprehend well. I said a resident cannot drive a temp. imported vehicle. I said nothing about insurance.

I comprehend very well.

The fact remains, your wrong.

A resident CAN drive a temp imported vehicle.

L1011

MugMugs wrote: »

I comprehend very well.

The fact remains, your wrong.

A resident CAN drive a temp imported vehicle.

You'd be wrong there. Clearly you comprehend very poorly.

Unless by "imported" you mean "vehicle first registered outside of Ireland but now registered in the state" - which I doubt.

galwaytt

MugMugs wrote: »

I comprehend very well.

The fact remains, your wrong.

A resident CAN drive a temp imported vehicle.

Sorry, but you're wrong and MYOB is correct - an Irish resident cannot drive a foreign registered vehicle.

Seperate

MugMugs wrote: »

All they can do is survey your presence in specific regions post accident but that isnt enough for them to cancel your policy and certainly wont get them out of a claim.

It is very much enough to get them out of a claim. If they can get a signed statement from surrounding residents that the car is kept away from the risk address at least 3 nights of the week - then they can go through a legal process to get the policy voided. Known as "ab inito" in insurance talk.

The policy holder gets back the premium they paid, and its like the policy never existed. The gardai can then prosecute for driving with no insurance.

The investigators (if they get a suspicion), will very much follow this up before they pay out any kind of sum. Its common enough to happen. Doesn't just apply to address, can be any kind of lies - license/age/claims history etc.