Garda help (car insurance)

tomdickorharry

hey there,

is there any garda out there who could tell me what information they have access to in regards car insurance, My father was stopped while his car was in the garage for 3/4 days, He was only 3rd party at the time so no "driving other cars extension" so he had to temp swap his insurance over to my old car, he either never received any documentation or he lost it :rolleyes: (it was about 6months ago now)

He now has a court summons for not presenting the insurance/license and not having a license/insurance at the time because he completely forgot to go to the garda station to produce them with all the hassle of getting his own car repaired and then pay a colossal price for the repair after my mother hit it on the driveway,

if he brings his current policy and his licence to court can they just check the policy number on a super computer and see that the insurance had been swapped ? or does he have to ring his insurance company and get them to send out a copy of the cover ? or what happens here ?

how much of a fine is he looking at for not producing these items ?
thank you very much
Tom

carzony

tomdickorharry wrote: »

hey there,

is there any garda out there who could tell me what information they have access to in regards car insurance, My father was stopped while his car was in the garage for 3/4 days, He was only 3rd party at the time so no "driving other cars extension" so he had to temp swap his insurance over to my old car, he either never received any documentation or he lost it :rolleyes: (it was about 6months ago now)

He now has a court summons for not presenting the insurance/license and not having a license/insurance at the time because he completely forgot to go to the garda station to produce them with all the hassle of getting his own car repaired and then pay a colossal price for the repair after my mother hit it on the driveway,

if he brings his current policy and his licence to court can they just check the policy number on a super computer and see that the insurance had been swapped ? or does he have to ring his insurance company and get them to send out a copy of the cover ? or what happens here ?

how much of a fine is he looking at for not producing these items ?
thank you very much
Tom

Get the insurance company to send you out the insurance certificate, Also print a photocopy of his license and obviousally bring the actual license, go to court, show the guard the certificate and license and it should be struck out

As for not producing? I think as long as he has evidence of insurance and a license they won't make an issue out of not producing, Maybe someone can clarify this?

whomitconcerns

as the previous poster said get the insurance comp to send details to prove he was insured at the time, and his licence to show he was licensed at the time.

But to be honest if you spun that story to the guards no wonder there was a summons, it looked like he was an unlicensed uninsured driver at the time, and when asked to prove it he didnt bother. I would tread carefully (and leave out the lame excuses, he forgot, was busy, mother crashed car, lost insurance details, forgot licence, etc..it all sounds like lies)

Cee-Jay-Cee

whomitconcerns wrote: »

I would tread carefully (and leave out the lame excuses, he forgot, was busy, mother crashed car, lost insurance details, forgot licence, etc..it all sounds like lies)

If he's asked by the judge then he needs some sort of excuse. I think saying 'I simply forgot' is easiest and least messy.

whomitconcerns

yeh but...i forgot the insurance...i forgot my licence....i forgot to go to the garda station...its not ideal..but i guess the best you can say.

But did he also forget to move the insurance at all...Are you sure he was insured?????????????

ScouseMouse

I have presented my documents at a station and they were lost. Simple as that. They made a note on a piece of paper and then forgot to log it. She was busy at the time.

Get your documents together, have a letter/policy from the insurance company showing you were insured on the date along with everything else and on the court day, show them to the guard.

It worked for me. When the case was called, the guard asked the judge to strike it out and he did.

Was a pain in the ass but as there is no record of you presenting, then the guard can only assume you did not have them.

MugMugs

Hi OP.

Your father as already stated can get proof of cover from his Insurer at the time.

On the day of the case, tell him to approach the Garda before they go in and show the Garda all of this.

He should discontinue the matter and you won't have a pi$$ed off judge annoyed at what could have been resolved outside no being.

CiniO

tomdickorharry wrote: »

He was only 3rd party at the time so no "driving other cars extension"

What has one thing to do with another?

michael999999

What would the penalty be for driving with no insurance?

MugMugs

michael999999 wrote: »

What would the penalty be for driving with no insurance?

A ban.

meathstevie

Not necessarily, half a full ration of points and a few hundred Euro fine more likely.

michael999999

meathstevie wrote: »

Not necessarily, half a full ration of points and a few hundred Euro fine more likely.

I know someone in a similar situation, has fully comp insurance on he's car. Head gasket went, got van from garage for a few days and thought he's fully comp would cover him on it. The traffic core pulled him and seized the van. Hes waiting to hear from guards last I heard. Genuine f**k up!

scamalert

These things happen dont think he will get fined or anything,is your father old? best bet as said get certs from insurance license copy and top it off with receipt or note from the garage where his own car was fixed at that time,also if court isn't due for a while,get him to contact the guard that stopped him,and provide with all the details,in that case they will go easy on him in court and wont try to push anything.As for the guard if its local station,just go and ask at the desk to arrange a meeting to discuss the matter.After all they are humans,and if the story is as told they will understand it.

coylemj

michael999999 wrote: »

I know someone in a similar situation, has fully comp insurance on he's car. Head gasket went, got van from garage for a few days and thought he's fully comp would cover him on it. The traffic core pulled him and seized the van. Hes waiting to hear from guards last I heard. Genuine f**k up!

Fully comp doesn't necessarily imply that you can drive other cars. It says on your cert what you can drive and if he was insured to drive other cars, he should have carried the cert with him, it would have shown to the Garda that he was covered to drive other vehicles.

I suspect the van had no insurance disc so without that and with your friend having no cert. on him to prove otherwise, the cops were well within their rights to assume that he wasn't insured.

OP, to answer your question, there is no so-called 'super computer' where the Gardai can check but the insurance company will have a record of the temporary transfer of the policy so they shouldn't have a problem cutting a cert. to show that your father was covered on the day.

dh0011

most insurance policies allow you to drive private cars not vans. I assume that is how the lad f88ked up

coylemj

dh0011 wrote: »

most insurance policies allow you to drive private cars not vans. I assume that is how the lad f88ked up

Good point, hadn't thought of that. Axa says as follows in the 'driving other cars' section of their policy document...

This extension applies only to private passenger vehicles. It does not include vans, car-vans, jeeps with no seats in the back or vans adapted to carry passengers