Fined for having no Tax - Just bought

steven22

Do not know if this is in the right forum but anyway:

So I returned home yesterday and found a 'Final Reminder' letter for a fine for 90 euro which was once 60. I honestly did not see the fine on the windscreen it must of blown away. Anyway I bought a car on 14th December and this fine was dated 16th, I didnt recieve the logbook until after Christmas.

I am assuming a reminder went to the previous owner and the Final Notice only came to myself.

Do I have any chance of appealing this fine and if so what documentation would I need ?



Thanks

Stheno

Most likely not, it appears the seller sent the change of ownership form in with the date of sale on it, hence the letter coming to you for the offence two days later.

doOh

Buy tax from day u bought it and go to gardai or city/county council and say that car is new to you and u couldnt buy tax without logbook, they will cancel it for u

slimjimmc

Two thing to remember for future reference:

Traffic wardens and Gardaí can issue penalties for motor-tax offences, but Gardaí do not issue paper tickets so it unlikely you missed seeing it as it probably wasn't there.

You can pay motor tax without the VLC/VRC (aka logbook). All you need to do is complete the renewal form (fill the bit about previous owner period so you don't have to back tax for the period before you bought the car) and hand over the dosh.

It's unlikely you'll get off without any fine but since there's a good chance the original notice went to the previous owner before the change of ownership was processed you might get an opportunity to pay the original €60 fee instead of €90. Try contacting whoever issued the penalty (Garda or Warden) and find out if they can help you out.

You could also contact the Garda Fixed Charge Processing Office (FCPO) in Thurles.

doOh

When i bought my car couple years back i received 2 tax tickets when waiting for logbook. When i received it i payed tax and went to council and they gave me form to fill and then after a week letter came saying that my tickets were cancelled

si_guru

Here is a method to avoid that fine.

Do not use a car that has no tax!

challengemaster

Bought on the 14th, fined on the 16th....So, you were using the car without tax and just assumed you could because you just bought it? Enjoy your fine.

Funfair

si_guru wrote: »

Here is a method to avoid that fine.

Do not use a car that has no tax!

challengemaster wrote: »

Bought on the 14th, fined on the 16th....So, you were using the car without tax and just assumed you could because you just bought it? Enjoy your fine.

OMG its a tax issue he has not a murder charge give the guy a break

doOh

anyone read what I wrote ??!!

tinofapples

Funfair wrote: »

OMG its a tax issue he has not a murder charge give the guy a break

Agreed.

Tigger

doOh wrote: »

anyone read what I wrote ??!!

i did

Tea drinker

si_guru wrote: »

Here is a method to avoid that fine.

Do not use a car that has no tax!

Doesn't he legally have a grace period before taxing the vehicle?
If it was impossible to tax the vehicle (due to routine change of ownership) and he needed it, then surely the system can make an allowance? If not the system is faulty and we taxpayers need to submit a request for change! These systems are for our benefit, not to be abused by people who don't understand what they are for.

racer1

I have often been stopped by Gardai and my tax was out by a week and nothing said. I think there is a grace period of 10 working days. You cant tax a car without a logbook and that can take a week to come back. As other posters have said tax the car if you have not taxed it for from when you bought it and go to Gardai/Counci and explain the situation. Theyu should cancel your fine.

challengemaster

There's no grace period, it's a myth.

If you're driving without tax you deserve a fine

Viper_JB

si_guru wrote: »

Here is a method to avoid that fine.

Do not use a car that has no tax!

Just as well captain hindsight is here to save the day.

reaper180

when they send out the tax renewal form,, it says your tax expires on the last day of e.g january,, please pay prior to or during february,, so theres a bit of grace there

-Chris-

There is no leeway officially/legally, only discretion from the Garda or Parking Warden.

slimjimmc

Tea drinker wrote: »

Doesn't he legally have a grace period before taxing the vehicle?
If it was impossible to tax the vehicle (due to routine change of ownership) and he needed it, then surely the system can make an allowance? If not the system is faulty and we taxpayers need to submit a request for change! These systems are for our benefit, not to be abused by people who don't understand what they are for.

No, there is zero legal grace period before taxing the vehicle. Perhaps you're mistaking this for the 10day grace period which allows you to not display an insurance disc while you're waiting on it to come from your insurer (you must still have a policy in place though).

It's not impossible to tax the vehicle due to routine change of ownership, in fact it's very easy; just follow the exact same process you would follow if you went into the Tax office to tax the car at any other time (with or without registration docs).

reaper180 wrote: »

when they send out the tax renewal form,, it says your tax expires on the last day of e.g january,, please pay prior to or during february,, so theres a bit of grace there

Ahh yes, this old myth and tbh I can see where the confusion comes from. The grace you see on the renewal form only allows you have the entire month to pay motor tax without incurring arrears. At no stage are you permitted to use the car in a public place without current motor tax, so if you were stopped at any time in that month a Garda could quite rightly prosecute you if he so chose.

Tea drinker

slimjimmc wrote: »

No, there is zero legal grace period before taxing the vehicle. Perhaps you're mistaking this for the 10day grace period which allows you to not display an insurance disc while you're waiting on it to come from your insurer (you must still have a policy in place though).

It's not impossible to tax the vehicle due to routine change of ownership, in fact it's very easy; just follow the exact same process you would follow if you went into the Tax office to tax the car at any other time (with or without registration docs).




Ahh yes, this old myth and tbh I can see where the confusion comes from. The grace you see on the renewal form only allows you have the entire month to pay motor tax without incurring arrears. At no stage are you permitted to use the car in a public place without current motor tax, so if you were stopped at any time in that month a Garda could quite rightly prosecute you if he so chose.

So if you buy an untaxed car after 3 pm in the day and can't get to the tax office, you would pay for a tow truck or leave the car there until you got the tax? Does that sound like a reasonable system to you? How many people here do this?

It's our country and we pay the cops and the motor tax office and the tax, if we don't like we should take it up with the other representatives whose salary we pay.

slimjimmc

Tea drinker wrote: »

So if you buy an untaxed car after 3 pm in the day and can't get to the tax office, you would pay for a tow truck or leave the car there until you got the tax? Does that sound like a reasonable system to you? How many people here do this?

As it stands at the moment what you are required to do is not use the vehicle on a public road. How you do it is up to you but if you take the risk and get prosecuted you have to accept the outcome.

I'd say most people just drive it home and understand that if they do get stopped that the vast majority of Gardaí are very reasonable in this situation and will exercise their discretion which the law allows. So, unless you're really taking the p155 (only just bought it 3 weeks ago), you'll most likely be ok with a gentle reminder to get it taxed asap.

Tea drinker wrote: »

It's our country and we pay the cops and the motor tax office and the tax, if we don't like we should take it up with the other representatives whose salary we pay.

No argument here.

the_barfly1

OP, tread carefully in this thread, maybe wear a hard hat to protect you in case any of the other users fall from their incredibly high horses...

To respond to your query- tax the car (you'll have to have it back-taxed for december), call into your local garda station and explain the situation. Make sure you tell the garda that the car is now taxed, and he/she will most likely resolve the issue.
The gardaí aren't out to punish us for stupid things like this and would only be more than happy to oblige upon seeing that you now have everything in order.

Although judging by some of the responses in here, theres a few posters that wouldn't be happy unless you were made do hard time for it.

dunkindonut1

same thing just happened to me today! i just bought a car on the 15th of January and was hoping to get to the co. council tomorrow (1st of feb) to get tax for the year and unfortunately got a fine today (last day of the month!!!)for 60 euro.the tax ran out end of nov so i couldn't renew it online because i needed to explain that i only bought it in jan. do you think they would be any way lenient about the fine??

dr.fuzzenstein

steven22 wrote: »

. I honestly did not see the fine on the windscreen it must of blown away.

That's what I said!:D
(No good though, law being a behind or something like that...)

challengemaster

dunkindonut1 wrote: »

same thing just happened to me today! i just bought a car on the 15th of January and was hoping to get to the co. council tomorrow (1st of feb) to get tax for the year and unfortunately got a fine today (last day of the month!!!)for 60 euro.the tax ran out end of nov so i couldn't renew it online because i needed to explain that i only bought it in jan. do you think they would be any way lenient about the fine??

You'd still have had to pay the tax for January anyway, so why were you waiting? Take it on the chin tbh

Tea drinker

Back when I was a young lad I went to tax the car (which had been off the road for months for repair) in Mullingar tax office, it was like the last 2 days of the month or so. The guy behind the counter says "ah sure it's the end of the month, come back next week"
Garda stopped me on the way out of town and got court the whole works.

biko

Damn

Tea drinker

biko wrote: »

Damn

Yeah a few days later, we showed up looking for the guard who stopped us to work it out. We had just re-torqued down the head on the car so rather than leaving the (borrowed) huge expensive wrench in the car we brought it into the station. We got a few WTF looks carrying a huge metal bar into the station, asking to talk to so and so.
Talk about making the wrong impression.

Tea 1000

challengemaster wrote: »

There's no grace period, it's a myth.

If you're driving without tax you deserve a fine

Posts like this make the Motors forum a complete disaster and lower the whole tone. What kind of advise is that? It's not, you're just lashing out from your high horse because some guy bought a car and assumed, like many of us, that you need to have the log book back in your name before you can tax it.
He'll get away with it if he takes the advise from DoOH. And he deserves to get away with it, as his case is an honest one.
2 days FFS... you'd swear he did something serious, like murder a bus load of school kids or not pay his TV license...