Off The Road for 2 Years... What to do.

Paddy Fields

My car has been off the road for 2 years. First step is I need to insure it then step 2 is the NCT has expired so that needs to be done then lastly it has to be taxed.

My question is once I have my insurance cert and disc and I go out on the road just to get to the NCT centre then get stopped by the Gardai will they lock me up and throw away the key when they see the date on the tax and NCT discs? Okay I'm kidding but you know what I mean. Anybody been in this position as I can't see that I have a choice and have to hit the road in a car that has 2 discs that are 2 years out of date.

Thanks all.

colm_mcm

Tax it for 3 months, you don't need nct to get tax

Paddy Fields

Thanks... That was my original plan. I found a motor tax renewal form a few days back and there was a section where it looked for the number of your NCT cert. Might have been an old form but that's what changed my plan!!!

colm_mcm

Just leave that blank.

Paddy Fields

Okay, thanks. While I'm at it... How long do you normally have to wait for your NCT test?

colm_mcm

I got one within a week. If you're flexible about what centre you go to you shouldn't be waiting long.

CiniO

As others said you can tax a vehicle no problem once it's insured.
That question on the form relates to "Certificate of roadworthiness" which applies only to commercial vehicles.

However you can't drive it legally on the road without NCT. You obviously might get away with it, if you get pulled over have your NCT appointment confirmation ready.
But legally you are not allowed to drive the car, and only option is to have it towed on the towing truck to the NCT centre.

Paddy Fields

That was my biggest fear that some over-officious copper might tell me that I should have had it towed to the test centre. The bloody car only has 18,000 miles on the clock and even looks brand spanking new.

slimjimmc

CiniO wrote: »

As others said you can tax a vehicle no problem once it's insured.
That question on the form relates to "Certificate of roadworthiness" which applies only to commercial vehicles.

However you can't drive it legally on the road without NCT. You obviously might get away with it, if you get pulled over have your NCT appointment confirmation ready.
But legally you are not allowed to drive the car, and only option is to have it towed on the towing truck to the NCT centre.

If he has motor tax and insurance he can drive to the test centre..

(c) which is being driven to a test centre, for the purposes of having a test, or a re-test, carried out, for which an appointment had been made prior to the time of such driving,

and if the car fails the test he can continue driving around as much as he likes for the rest of that day.

(d) on the day on which a test certificate in respect of the said vehicle had been refused,

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2000/en/si/0368.html

CiniO

slimjimmc wrote: »

If he has motor tax and insurance he can drive to the test centre..

No he can't.
Those regulations don't apply anymore.

20. The Road Traffic (National Car Test) Regulations, 1999 ( S.I. No. 395 of 1999 ), the Road Traffic (National Car Test) Regulations, 2000 ( S.I. No. 368 of 2000 ), the Road Traffic (National Car Test) Regulations, 2001 ( S.I. No. 32 of 2001 ) and the Road Traffic (National Car Test) (No 2) Regulations, 2001 ( S.I. No. 298 of 2001 ) are hereby revoked with effect from 1 January 2002.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2001/en/si/0550.html


The most current regulations in regards NCT are those:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2009/en/si/0567.html
with further amendments.

Here's the complete list of all regulations relating to NCT. All pre-2009 were revoked.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ResultsTitle.html?q=road+traffic+%28national+car+test%29+regulations&Simple_Search=Acts&Simple_Search=SIs


Curretly those are the only exceptions for NCT:

(5) This Regulation does not apply to a vehicle—

(a) first registered prior to 1 January 1980,

(b) which is used solely on an off-shore island,

(c) on the day on which a test certificate in respect of the vehicle had been refused, or

(d) which is owned or operated by the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces.

Which means that what you said below is true.

and if the car fails the test he can continue driving around as much as he likes for the rest of that day.

So if OP fails his NCT he can legally drive as much as he likes for the rest of the day.
But he can not get to NCT centre in the first place on his wheels legally.

slimjimmc

CiniO wrote: »

No he can't.
Those regulations don't apply anymore.
:
:
:
So if OP fails his NCT he can legally drive as much as he likes for the rest of the day.
But he can not get to NCT centre in the first place on his wheels legally.

Glad to see it changed, t'was a crazy rule. Thanks for digging that up.