my car was impounded. advice please?

duffbeer2009

at about 11am on the 10th of march i was driving into athlone when i came upon a garda checkpoint (traffic corps).
the guard looks in my window and says my insurance disk is out of date (02/10). i explain that i purchased new insurance on friday the 26th of febuary and had changed insurance companies, my new company had asked for proof of NCB etc to be sent to them before they sent out the new disk.
i told the garda that i had sent all relevant documentation to my new company on tuesday the 2nd of march and i was issued with a disk on friday the 5th of march, however they sent out a disk with the wrong reg. my car is 06-d-xxxx and they sent out one for 09-d-xxxx.
i called the insurance company and they asked that i return the incorrect disk and they would issue me with a new one asap. disk was returned on monday the 8th of march.
i showed the guard the page i printed off the web to show that it was all paid for and it also had my policy number on it.
he then said that he was impounding the car because it was coming up on his check as an uninsured vehicle. he told me to remove anything of value as he was calling a removal truck to take it away.
20 mins later im standing on the side of the road with my briefcase and a set of golf clubs as my car is loaded onto the truck!!!!
i ring my new insurance company and tell them what has happened and they confirm that i am fully insured since the 26th of feb. i walk over to the guard and ask him to talk to the girl on the phone but he just tells me to stand off and that i wont be able to get my car back without a valid disk.
i call my dad and he drives me to athlone garda station where i plead my case. the guard at the front desk takes the page i printed off the web and dissappears into the back, he returns 10 mins later and said that this had all been a terrible mistake and i will have my car back shortly.
an hour later he tells me itsout in the car park and that in future i should have a valid insurance disk displayed.

has anyone every come across a situation like this??? surely i should have received an apology at least??? should i take this further???

thanks in advance

seanybiker

You got your car back just leave it at that. Do you really want to draw unwanted attention to yourself just to get an apology.

corktina

I would complain to the Garda Commisuioner and give details of the gard concerned...thats ridiculous.

Victor

They can still prosecute you for not displaying the disk.

I'd leave it be.

MunsterCycling

Abuse of power and total lack of common decency, complaint to the Garda Ombudsman and to Phoenix Park (not that they'll give a fu€k)

MC

robtri

its p*ss poor behaviour by the garda...
and yes you should have an apology for what happened...

but being honest, i would just take it on the chin, whether you had insurance or not, non display of a valid disc is a prosacutable offence....

Cabaal

hellboy99 wrote: »

I'd leave it be.

I would too, you didn't have an insurance disc display you still could be got for that

PCPhoto

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Abuse of power and total lack of common decency, complaint to the Garda Ombudsman and to Phoenix Park (not that they'll give a fu€k)

MC

there are too many people out there with similar stories - except the others are faking it in order to get past the checkpoint, I say the Garda was right - it was an unfortunate state of circumstances.

if you really feel pi$$ed off about it its the insurance company you should be looking for an apology from - they are the ones that fecked you over and caused you stress and hassle - and embarrassment of calling your dad to help....I think what the garda did was right - given the amount of people driving without tax and insurance at the moment.

MunsterCycling

What is really the funny thing here I suppose is the attitude of the OPs insurance company, they should taken more action to cover their client.

alias no.9

PCPhoto wrote: »

if you really feel pi$$ed off about it its the insurance company you should be looking for an apology from - they are the ones that fecked you over and caused you stress and hassle

Couldn't have said it better, they are the ones that let you down. The Garda did what he did based on the available credible evidence. The person on the phone could have been the OP's mum for all the Garda knew and if I were a Garda, I certainly wouldn't be releasing anything on the basis of something printed off from the web.
Time was when insurance companies issued temporary disks to new customers to cover a reasonable period where documents were being sorted.

robinph

The non displaying of an insurance disc cannot be that serious a missdemeanor as there is no requirement for any two wheeled vehicles to display them, nowhere to put it being the problem there though. The gardai are perfectly capable of checking remotely to see the basic details of your insurance without needing to see the bit of paper though, but as you had the supporting documents with the policy number on you at the time they do seem to have gone a bit OTT.

Insurance companies fault, but Gardai didn't need to impound it for the 10 days past the old ones expiry surely when it would have been simple to check if the new policy existed.

Zubeneschamali

The lesson I'll take from this is that if an insurance company asks me to send back a bad disc so that they can issue a good one, I'll say "no, you send me the good one, and then I'll return the dodgy one... I'm not driving without a disc".

the_syco

IMO, if you're going to complain, wait until you get the new disc before you do so.

MagicSean

robinph wrote: »

The non displaying of an insurance disc cannot be that serious a missdemeanor as there is no requirement for any two wheeled vehicles to display them, nowhere to put it being the problem there though. The gardai are perfectly capable of checking remotely to see the basic details of your insurance without needing to see the bit of paper though, but as you had the supporting documents with the policy number on you at the time they do seem to have gone a bit OTT.

Insurance companies fault, but Gardai didn't need to impound it for the 10 days past the old ones expiry surely when it would have been simple to check if the new policy existed.

The Garda did check remotely and the car came back uninsured on the system because the insurance company hadnt updated the details. The Gardaí cant take chances on situations like this. If the op hadnt been insured and drove down the road and ran over a kid there'd be a lot of trouble heading his way.

robinph

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

The lesson I'll take from this is that if an insurance company asks me to send back a bad disc so that they can issue a good one, I'll say "no, you send me the good one, and then I'll return the dodgy one... I'm not driving without a disc".

Except the disc that was sent back would have been considered as much proof of the insurance as the printout from the web by the sounds of it, seeing as it was for a different vehicle.

gaz wac

got stopped on sunday..no tax or insurance, garda was very nice about the whole thing ( just bought it saturday )....you were very unlucky...but yea, your beef is with the incurance company!!

robinph

k_mac wrote: »

The Garda did check remotely and the car came back uninsured on the system because the insurance company hadnt updated the details. The Gardaí cant take chances on situations like this. If the op hadnt been insured and drove down the road and ran over a kid there'd be a lot of trouble heading his way.

I think those checks will actually only give the details that were valid when you renewed your tax disc now. Was a while ago since I was followed down the road by them and then stopped after they had checked my insurance details now. I don't think they get updated by the insurance companies, just by you when renewing your tax.

Zubeneschamali

robinph wrote: »

Except the disc that was sent back would have been considered as much proof of the insurance as the printout from the web by the sounds of it, seeing as it was for a different vehicle.

A guard at a checkpoint is far more likely to stop a car with no disc than a car with a disc with a typo on it.

stealthyspeeder

The Insuranse company should be doing everything they can to avoid their customers getting into that situation. They must be aware that this can happen if procedure is followed by the guards.

Having said that, the system and procedure that the guards use is flawed. A fully paid up, taxed insured car, should not be taken off its righful owner, leaving them stranded due to some beurocratic techicality. ANPR cameras can check if a car is taxed and insured in seconds with an online database. The fact that that incident happened to the OP in this day and age is disgraceful in my opinion.

Mr. Presentable

stealthyspeeder wrote: »

The Insuranse company should be doing everything they can to avoid their customers getting into that situation. They must be aware that this can happen if procedure is followed by the guards.

Having said that, the system and procedure that the guards use is flawed. A fully paid up, taxed insured car, should not be taken off its righful owner, leaving them stranded due to some beurocratic techicality. ANPR cameras can check if a car is taxed and insured in seconds with an online database. The fact that that incident happened to the OP in this day and age is disgraceful in my opinion.

Yeah, but his problem is with his insurers, not the Gardai. They checked and it came up as uninsured, thus the insurer has not provided the status of the OP to the Gardai. ANPR cameras are no use if the information is wrong/missing in the first place.

JimmyCrackCorn

Victor wrote: »

They can still prosecute you for not displaying the disk.

Yes you can and giving the guard a bad day is a good way to make sure he does do you for it.

cpoh1

I think the garda is at fault here.

He wasnt displaying a disk but he had proof of insurance via his printed insurance details. If the garda was unsure of this information a quick check would have sufficed. The way I see it he showed no compassion or regard for the op and could have dealt with the situation much better.

Non-display of insurance disc is a €120 on the spot fine, he was perfectly entitled to issue that penalty, impounding the car with reasonable proof the car was insured is bad policing, garda resources and a waste of the ops time.

Mr. Presentable

cpoh1 wrote: »

I think the garda is at fault here.

He wasnt displaying a disk but he had proof of insurance via his printed insurance details. If the garda was unsure of this information a quick check would have sufficed. The way I see it he showed no compassion or regard for the op and could have dealt with the situation much better.

Non-display of insurance disc is a €120 on the spot fine, he was perfectly entitled to issue that penalty, impounding the car with reasonable proof the car was insured is bad policing, garda resources and a waste of the ops time.

But the Garda did check, and the car came up as uninsured.

Alun

nipplenuts wrote: »

But the Garda did check, and the car came up as uninsured.

I've seen on the UK traffic cop shows that where there is a discrepancy between their database and what the guy is claiming to be the truth (and it sounds in any way plausible) that the cops either call the insurance company themselves to double check or get someone at their control centre to call and report back to them. No reason why they shouldn't do the same here, especially if there is evidence of their database being out of date and/or inaccurate.

Jip

cpoh1 wrote: »

I think the garda is at fault here.

He wasnt displaying a disk but he had proof of insurance via his printed insurance details.

Anyone can modify a home printed document so I would never trust them. If the OP got the original insurance disk I would assume he also got the insurance cert, why didn't you have this alongside the printed form, the cert would have been better proof than the print out, albeit with a incorrect reg.

But I don't understand why the garda could not have spoken to the insurance company to save all involved alot of time and hassle, that was just poor form.

MagicSean

How could he talk to the insurance company on the side of the road?

Jip

We have this little things called mobile phones now.

MagicSean

Gardaí arent provided with them.

Jip

Doesn't matter, the OP more than likely had one. Any more pedantic obstacles you can think of ?

stealthyspeeder

Alun wrote: »

I've seen on the UK traffic cop shows that where there is a discrepancy between their database and what the guy is claiming to be the truth (and it sounds in any way plausible) that the cops either call the insurance company themselves to double check or get someone at their control centre to call and report back to them. No reason why they shouldn't do the same here, especially if there is evidence of their database being out of date and/or inaccurate.

Common scam in the UK is get insurance, pay monthly, get the certificate then cancel the payments. The insurance companies have a special number set aside for police queries. When the police ring up

k_mac wrote: »

How could he talk to the insurance company on the side of the road?

using their hi tech mobile phones :rolleyes:, they can ascertain whether the insurance is valid.

Much better system than a bit of paper in the window IMO.