Insured to drive??

byhookorbycrook

Had NCT today-need to get a new tyre before I get my cert. I was allowed to drive home etc. All of which prompts my question. If under the NCT my car didn't pass, does that make it unroadworthy and how does that impact on insurance??

breanach

First you are covered by insurance to drive YOUR car to a test centre even if the cert is out of date(ONLY ON THE DAY OF THE TEST) I would presume that you cant take the piss with this as in if the car is out by months ,also if you are waiting on your appointment to come up ,i.e if your appointment is next week have the txt they send out on your phone if the cops pull you over!

Most insurance companies will have a cut off point THE BEST OPTION IS TO INFORM THEM that it failed and u will be getting passed ASAP.


B

FreudianSlippers

Moved from Legal Discussion.

MugMugs

Sooooo post 2 is bull. You're not covered in the event that the accident was caused by not having the NCT. Your tyre blows, you crash, they could refute your own damage claim and recover any third parry claim. The best people to speak to are your insurers.

seamus

Most insurance policies require that the policyholder maintains the car in a roadworthy mechanical condition. This doesn't mean that you must be "road legal" as in have the car taxed, NCTed, etc, in order to be covered.

It doesn't necessarily imply a requirement to have an NCT cert. A car without an NCT can be roadworthy just like a car with an NCT can be unroadworthy.

In any case, you are always legally covered to drive (i.e. you cannot be done for driving without insurance) even if you don't have an NCT cert.

However as MugMugs points out, in the event of an accident where a primary or contributory factor is poor maintenance on the vehicle, the insurance company can refuse to pay out on a comprehensive policy and can optionally seek to recover 3rd party costs from you.

This is the case whether or not you have an NCT. However, not having an NCT may put you on the back foot and you may have to do more work to assert that your car was roadworthy despite the lack of NCT.

Nissan doctor

Is this not making a massive issue out of something that is so simple...

Just get a new tyre and get your NCT cert...simple as that!

There is bound to be a tyre place within sight of most NCT centers.

CiniO

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Is this not making a massive issue out of something that is so simple...

Just get a new tyre and get your NCT cert...simple as that!

There is bound to be a tyre place within sight of most NCT centers.

I wouldn't say it's as simple as you are saying.

What I remember from browsing some legislations, you are legally entitled to drive a vehicle without NCT on a test date to the test centre, and in case of failed NCT anywhere else on that day.
Gardai don't have power to prosecute you for driving without NCT in such circumstences.

However in those cases car might be not roadworthy, and by so insurance company might refuse to pay in case of an accident.

That's my understanding.

PS. Nearest tyre place from my NCT centre is about 2 miles. I'm sure it's possible to have an accident on such distance.
On the other hand, you shouldn't really need to fail NCT to know tyres are dangerous. That's something every driver should be able to check himself/herself, and actually should be doing it like at least once a week or sth.

Nissan doctor

CiniO wrote: »

PS. Nearest tyre place from my NCT centre is about 2 miles. I'm sure it's possible to have an accident on such distance.
On the other hand, you shouldn't really need to fail NCT to know tyres are dangerous. That's something every driver should be able to check himself/herself, and actually should be doing it like at least once a week or sth.

It is, but no more or less likely then it was on your way to the NCT in the first place. But with regards to the insurance and being worried about not having cover due to a bald tyre or whatever, if that was the case, your insurance has been invalid since when the tyre was last legal.

I just don't get the mind set of panicking about insurance because you failed the NCT, 100's of cars fail the NCT every day. Just get the fault repaired and continue....

The real danger of course is not having no NCT or invalid insurance either, its having no idea that you have been driving on a bald tyre, IMO the OP should be more worried about that.

CiniO

Nissan doctor wrote: »

It is, but no more or less likely then it was on your way to the NCT in the first place. But with regards to the insurance and being worried about not having cover due to a bald tyre or whatever, if that was the case, your insurance has been invalid since when the tyre was last legal.

I just don't get the mind set of panicking about insurance because you failed the NCT, 100's of cars fail the NCT every day. Just get the fault repaired and continue....

The real danger of course is not having no NCT or invalid insurance either, its having no idea that you have been driving on a bald tyre, IMO the OP should be more worried about that.

Absolutely agree with you about that.

But it looks like there is still a risk.
Assume you think your car is legit and drive it to NCT centre to pass with feeling it's definitely going to pass.
During the test they discover something and car fails (anything like loose suspension balljoint, or some problem with brakes, etc. - just something you wasn't aware wasn't right).
So you drive straight from NCT centre to the garage to fix the problem, but unfortunately crash on the way.

Is insurance company likely to refuse to pay for the claim, and recover third party claim they paid to someone from you, because at the moment you were driving the car was not roadworthy, and you knew about it, as you were told it at nct centre, even though you were legally driving a car without NCT?

Nissan doctor

CiniO wrote: »

Absolutely agree with you about that.

But it looks like there is still a risk.
Assume you think your car is legit and drive it to NCT centre to pass with feeling it's definitely going to pass.
During the test they discover something and car fails (anything like loose suspension balljoint, or some problem with brakes, etc. - just something you wasn't aware wasn't right).
So you drive straight from NCT centre to the garage to fix the problem, but unfortunately crash on the way.

Is insurance company likely to refuse to pay for the claim, and recover third party claim they paid to someone from you, because at the moment you were driving the car was not roadworthy, and you knew about it, as you were told it at nct centre, even though you were legally driving a car without NCT?

If this was the case surely it would be well documented that cars muct be towed to a garage for repair if they have failed an NCT as insurance will be invalid.

I don't think you'd be refused cover if it only failed for a normal fail issue. If your car is actually dangerous to drive the NCT will fail the car as dangerous and put a 'failed dangerous' sticker on it. If you choose to drive in this situation then I recon you'd be well into legal issues.

CiniO

Nissan doctor wrote: »

If this was the case surely it would be well documented that cars muct be towed to a garage for repair if they have failed an NCT as insurance will be invalid.

Are you trying to say that unless NCT fail is accompanied by statement that vehicle is dangerous to drive and should be tower, then car is considered roadworthy?

Like my last example when my car failed on rear arm bushes loose, it was just fail, but they didn't indicate that vehicle is dangerous to drive.
Does that mean vehicle was considered roadworthy?
It clearly states in my insurance policy, that vehicle must be roadworthy, and I would think that loose rear arm bushes would make this vehicle unroadworthy.

Even more coming back to what it all started with, if the tyres were bald, NCT tester would fail the car, but wouldn't issue a statement it is dangerous and should be towed. Surely car with baldy tyres isn't roadworthy, so anyone driving from NCT centre to the garage to get new tyres, would drive against insureance policy t&c and therefore risk being refused to pay for a claims.

Nissan doctor

I guess unroadworthy could be considered as in a condition that is extremely likely to cause an accident even without an input from the driver, like a cracked axle or something that could collapse without warning.

Worn bushes or tyres could certainly contribute to an accident, but not cause one IMO.

Its complicated though. I'm just saying, there is an almost 50% fail rate for 1st NCT tests and all those cars are not being allowed by NCT/government/RSA/garda or whoever to drive around with no insurance.