Driving without insurance.

spud_2010

Hi,

I recently recieved two summons for driving without insurance and failure to produce a insurance ceertificate.

I checked with my insurance company and on the date I was stopped I was insured. I was stopped on the 5th and insurance exipered on the 16th.

Can anyone help me with how to proceed with this? will i have to go to court? will a letter from the insurance company prove i was covered?

I think the reason i recieved the summons was because when the guard checked whether i was insured it had by that stage expired.

I did not provide the insurance cert at the station, this was a genuine error on my part as i was unaware i had to, I did provide my licence within ten days as i was driving without that.

Thanks anybody!!

coylemj

spud_2010 wrote: »

I checked with my insurance company and on the date I was stopped I was insured. I was stopped on the 5th and insurance exipered on the 16th.

Why did you need to check with the insurance company - didn't you have a cert. which showed when the policy expired?

You will have to go to to court but if you have a cert which shows you were insured on the day in question, you need to to the court early, find the Garda named on the summons and talk to him/her before the court, show them the cert and when the case is called there shouldn't be an issue about coverage but you may be fined a small amount for not producing.

If you can't find the Garda because he/she arrives at the last minute, wait for the case to be called, step forward and identify yourself, wait for the Garda to give evidence, then hand him the cert. and ask him to verify that you were covered on the day. He should tell the judge that you appear to have been covered at which point the judge will strike out the 'no insurance' summons and will usually apply the probation act to the non-production summons or levy a small fine. The judge may ask you why you didn't produce so have your excuse ready, the fine or lack of will be decided by your response.

If you feel that will be too much to tackle or if you can't come up with a cert. which shows you were covered, get yourself a solicitor.

angeline

Because you failed to produce the insurance certificate you are automatically summonsed for No Insurance and Failure to Produce Insurance Certificate. You could try calling to the Garda in question and showing him/her the Insurance cert before the court date. Failing that just bring the Insurance cert with you to court. The summons for No Insurance will be struck out if you were insured but you will be asked why you did not produce the cert.

spud_2010

Thanks guys, I talked to a guard and got a similar response.
The reason I checked with the insurance company was because I cancelled the policy shortly after due to work arrangements,I was paying direct debit and couldn't afford at the time,so although the insurance cert would say it is expiring in march this year,it was cancelled on the 16th of July.
As I said it was a genuine error on my part to not produce it, the check point I was stopped at was a learner driver check and I didn't have my full license with me,I produced that within the ten days at the station but was never asked to produce an insurance cert at the time.
Leaving me in this situation!

MagicSean

spud_2010 wrote: »

Thanks guys, I talked to a guard and got a similar response.
The reason I checked with the insurance company was because I cancelled the policy shortly after due to work arrangements,I was paying direct debit and couldn't afford at the time,so although the insurance cert would say it is expiring in march this year,it was cancelled on the 16th of July.
As I said it was a genuine error on my part to not produce it, the check point I was stopped at was a learner driver check and I didn't have my full license with me,I produced that within the ten days at the station but was never asked to produce an insurance cert at the time.
Leaving me in this situation!

That doesn't make any sense. If you renewed in march you would have had a cert until March of next year, even if you cancelled. From the sounds of it you renewed your policy, cancelled payment, were driving without insurance, got caught, paid your overdue amount and got the cover backdated to the date of renewal.

coylemj

MagicSean wrote: »

That doesn't make any sense. If you renewed in march you would have had a cert until March of next year, even if you cancelled. From the sounds of it you renewed your policy, cancelled payment, were driving without insurance, got caught, paid your overdue amount and got the cover backdated to the date of renewal.

Insurance companies do not issue backdated cover for motor policies, recipe for disaster and fraud.

Whatever happened to reasonable doubt?

He was stopped at a checkpoint, didn't realise he had to produce the cert as well as the licence (probably because he assumed tha Garda was satisfied with the disc on the windscreen), then a few days later he cancelled the policy because he couldn't afford to keep up the payment.

In order to cancel the policy he had to surrender the cert and disc so that's why he needed to check with the insurance company after the event to check that he was insured on the date specified on the summons.