Car insurance expired

Shinners23

Hi there,
I recently moved house.... in the mean time my insurance on my car was up/ didn't receive the warnings as I had moved house... my car was parked on a street in the city centre. i have a shop in city centre so i had just parked the car to unload some items.... i got into the car and an under cop came, flashed his badge and told me my disc was out by 3 weeks... i honestly didn't know. he informed me that he would have to cease the car.. i pleaded with him to give me a day or two to produce... he said no.....what happens now? i will get a summons but what next? i've always been on time paying my insurance and tax. it was just due to moving house i didnt get notice. will this be a good enough defense? it turns out it was only out by 24 hours even though the disc was 3 weeks

Our man in Havana

1 year ban and a huge fine await you. Courts take a very dim view of this. Ignorance is no defence.
Also you should have told your insurance company of your change of address.

oldyouth

Not what you want to hear, but insurers are not obliged to send you a renewal notice. It is just a 'courtesy' that they do it at all, as well as wanting your money.

If you can prove you have had continuous insurance prior to this, it may help your defence but that is just my thoughts on it

maidhc

If your certificate was out by only 24 hours and you plead that you need the car badly for a good reason you may get off with 5 penalty points.

Reloc8

The issue will be whether you are Disqualified for a year or not (the court has a discretion). You should probably talk to a solicitor as your chances of avoiding this are better with good representation.

You can presume you will be convicted, get 5 penalty points and a large fine (anywhere between €750 to €2,000 depending on specific facts and your circumstances).

seamus

oldyouth wrote: »

Not what you want to hear, but insurers are not obliged to send you a renewal notice. It is just a 'courtesy' that they do it at all, as well as wanting your money.

The rules around this have changed and insurers are obliged to contact you at least 15 days before your insurance expires to either invite you to renew it or inform you that they will not offer you a renewal.

If the address is wrong though, that's your problem.

Our man in Havana

If the address is wrong though, that's your problem.

Indeed.

Also a change of address could possibly mean an increase in premium. Maybe that was the reason for not informing them of a change of address?

drkpower

Haddockman wrote: »

1 year ban and a huge fine await you. Courts take a very dim view of this. Ignorance is no defence.
Also you should have told your insurance company of your change of address.

That is by no means the certainty that you suggest. You have an irritating tendency in many cases to reply with one-liners to OPs which can be misleading. And potentially upsetting & detrimetnal to OPs who are no doubt already under pressure. If good legal advice is banned on this forum, I hope bad legal advice is too....;).

Many many people do not get an automatic ban for driving without insurance; much depends on the circumstances and the judge.

Reloc8

Haddockman wrote: »

Indeed.

Also a change of address could possibly mean an increase in premium. Maybe that was the reason for not informing them of a change of address?

Way to presume the worst of somebody/drag in a completely irrelevant and antagonistic issue *applause*

rob230te

Depending on the judge you could be lucky. I made the mistake of driving on a Sunday when insurance ran out on Friday.

Brought certs from previous 4 years into court as well as new insurance starting on the Monday. Explained to judge that I honestly got the dates wrong.
Got €400 fine and no points. Didn't have a solicitor but would recommend getting one if you haven't been in court before.

Clean driving history would probably help too.