Motor tax - paying online and disc

H3llR4iser

Hi fellas,

The motor tax is almost up and I obviously have to pay it; It is the first time in my name (the one that's going out was in the previous owner's name).

I would go to the tax office, pay and get the disc but time is a bit of a problem; Of course I can pay online but, as far as I've been reading, the disc will take quite a bit to come in the mail.

What do you folks suggest? If I pay it online and get to a checkpoint, will the Gardai be able to check with the relevant office and see that I did indeed pay it? Personal experiences and examples are welcome above the "sure you'll be grand!" attitudes

Thanks!

mitosis

In my experience of online, the disc takes a couple of days only.

Proxy

Yes, and just print out the page at the end to do you as proof. When/if you get pulled, you have 10 days to present tax proof in a station.

Matt Simis

Just pay it online and print out the confirmation etc.

Bannasidhe

Both my OH and I pay online all the time and it only takes a couple of days. We only had an issue once - no sign of OH's disc after a week, she got in touch with them and a new disc was issued immediately. The two discs arrived the same day.

Yakuza

If you renew now (assuming you meant by "almost up" that it runs out at the end of this month) you will have the disc within a week , plenty of time before the current one expires.

djimi

Ive never had a tax disc take more than 3 days tops to arrive in the mail.

Also unless your current disc is out by a couple of months or more then Id say there is almost no chance of any Garda bothering you at a checkpoint. I regularly leave until the end of the next month to tax my car, have been stopped several times and the worst Ive ever gotten is "are you aware that your tax needs to be paid"! Parking on a public street might be more of an issue, but even then I wouldnt worry if its only out by a few days.

Of course, none of this is legally binding advise; you could get stopped in the morning by the one Garda who actually will take it further!

ABajaninCork

I always pay online, as I can't take the queues! Print out the confirmation, put a copy in the glove box and off I go. Never been pulled.

OTOH - some friends of mine were pulled over by Gards. The car was taxed, but their printer wasn't working, so no confirmation. Gard refused to believe them and issued a summons and fine for no tax. They had to take the credit card statement proving tax was paid, before they pulled the ticket.

Guess you can't be too careful...

akelly02

paid mine online this morning ( been out since the first om such a bad-ass)

print the page. max it takes is 4 working days

Dempo1

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Hi fellas,

The motor tax is almost up and I obviously have to pay it; It is the first time in my name (the one that's going out was in the previous owner's name).

I would go to the tax office, pay and get the disc but time is a bit of a problem; Of course I can pay online but, as far as I've been reading, the disc will take quite a bit to come in the mail.

What do you folks suggest? If I pay it online and get to a checkpoint, will the Gardai be able to check with the relevant office and see that I did indeed pay it? Personal experiences and examples are welcome above the "sure you'll be grand!" attitudes

Thanks!

A little tricky if this is your first time paying, that is if your details are fully registered with the motor tax office. In order to pay online you have to have a PIN number which is issued with your reminder( you will only get a PIN number if the vehicle is fully registered in your name). Once you have a PIN number you can pay online, print a receipt and this will cover you, the discs take no longer than 3 days going on my experience, its also worth pointing out, you are required to pay car tax online on or prior to months end before the current tax disc expires. I am open to correction on this but this is my reading on the reminder notification.

donalg1

Only ever takes a couple of days to get mine at the most and I always do it online. I do print the confirmation page just in case but its never an issue anyway.

bazz26

Anytime I pay online the new disc usually arrives in less than 5 working days. Thankfully, I haven't been to a motor tax office in years.

Top Dog

Dempo1 wrote: »

its also worth pointing out, you are required to pay car tax online on or prior to months end before the current tax disc expires. I am open to correction on this but this is my reading on the reminder notification.

I think you're wrong. You can pay the tax up to the end of the month in which its due. So for example if the current disc expires at the end of October, then you have until the end of November before the PIN will expire. I've taxed online when the disc has been a couple of weeks expired and never had an issue.

bazz26

Yep afaik, the online pin expires at the end of the month of when the tax is due.

djimi

ABajaninCork wrote: »

OTOH - some friends of mine were pulled over by Gards. The car was taxed, but their printer wasn't working, so no confirmation. Gard refused to believe them and issued a summons and fine for no tax. They had to take the credit card statement proving tax was paid, before they pulled the ticket.

Guess you can't be too careful...

How long was the disc on the windscreen out of date? I cant imagine that too many Gardai would be bothered writing up a ticket for someone who is only a few days/couple of weeks past their current disc date. Any more than a month and I could see why they might not believe that the tax was in the post alright...

kensutz

bazz26 wrote: »

Yep afaik, the online pin expires at the end of the month of when the tax is due.

Nope, mine was in arrears for over a month as I was away and taxed it with arrears. You have 3 months before it expires.

djimi

Dempo1 wrote: »

its also worth pointing out, you are required to pay car tax online on or prior to months end before the current tax disc expires. I am open to correction on this but this is my reading on the reminder notification.

You have a month after the date on the disc to pay online.

bazz26

kensutz wrote: »

Nope, mine was in arrears for over a month as I was away and taxed it with arrears. You have 3 months before it expires.

That must be something that changed recently so as before you could not renew the tax online if you had to pay arrears.

ABajaninCork

djimi wrote: »

How long was the disc on the windscreen out of date? I cant imagine that too many Gardai would be bothered writing up a ticket for someone who is only a few days/couple of weeks past their current disc date. Any more than a month and I could see why they might not believe that the tax was in the post alright...

Was only a couple of weeks out of date. No, I couldn't believe it either!!

Our man in Havana

You can pay up to 3 months arrears online.

cjt156

I always pay mine online now & the disc usually arrives with 2-3 days. I always wait until the end of the month following expiration too, as you are entitled to, and the PIN works just fine.

Many moons ago, before this new-fangled interwebness business, I got a ticket on my parked car for non-display on a Bank Holiday Monday, first of the month - the tax having expired less than 12 hours previously (it was in the post, swear). So never underestimate the potential for a Guard or Traffic Warden to ruin your day!

Top Dog

cjt156 wrote: »

Many moons ago, before this new-fangled interwebness business, I got a ticket on my parked car for non-display on a Bank Holiday Monday, first of the month - the tax having expired less than 12 hours previously (it was in the post, swear). So never underestimate the potential for a Guard or Traffic Warden to ruin your day!

Jaysus! They must have been seriously pi$$ed at having to work a bank holiday to ticket a car where the tax was only expired a day! :eek: