First car in ireland

skuscuoglu

Hi,

I recently moved to Ireland, planning to buy a second hand car. But I do not have any insurance before in my name for any car, so i am not sure how can i get the car from the seller's location to my house, once I decide to buy one. Do you know how it works regularly?

Anan1

First shop around for quotes for the type of cars you're interested in, then take out the policy over the phone when you want to drive your new car home.

skuscuoglu

So, I can get a policy on the phone. If garda stops me, I will not have anything to show them. How will it work?

Anan1

skuscuoglu wrote: »

So, I can get a policy on the phone. If garda stops me, I will not have anything to show them. How will it work?

You'll have 10 days to produce proof of insurance at a Garda station you nominate.

bazz26

Yes, unfortunately what car you buy me well be terminated by what you can afford to insure so you need to get insurance quotes on a sample of cars you are interested in. The last thing you should do is buy a car and then find out you cannot afford to insure it.

Unfortunately having a foreign driving license and not having insurance before in your own name will probably mean that your insurance premium will be high enough I would imagine so you may have to look at small engine compact cars until you build up your No Claims Bonus on your own policy.

CiniO

bazz26 wrote: »

Yes, unfortunately what car you buy me well be terminated by what you can afford to insure so you need to get insurance quotes on a sample of cars you are interested in. The last thing you should do is buy a car and then find out you cannot afford to insure it.

Unfortunately having a foreign driving license and not having insurance before in your own name will probably mean that your insurance premium will be high enough I would imagine so you may have to look at small engine compact cars until you build up your No Claims Bonus on your own policy.

He possibly can use his NCB from previous country he lived in.

H3llR4iser

skuscuoglu wrote: »

Hi,

I recently moved to Ireland, planning to buy a second hand car. But I do not have any insurance before in my name for any car, so i am not sure how can i get the car from the seller's location to my house, once I decide to buy one. Do you know how it works regularly?

Having gone through a similar ordeal myself less than two years ago, here's what I'd recommend:


1. Go to donedeal.ie and make a search for cars with a maximum engine size of 1.4L; Anything above that, most insurers will just refuse to even quote you;


2. Narrow down the list of potential candidates, excluding modified vehicles and anything that has something "flashy" in its name, e.g. "sport", "super", "gt", "rs" and so on - Irish insurers WILL claim the car is "high performance" even if it's a 1.2, just because it's called "sport";

3. Further narrow the list down to the cars you like/can afford, and mark down the registration numbers;

4. Go to a few insurance websites and try running quotes with your profile and these registrations; You'll find out that many will just refuse to quote you, but don't get discouraged, try others;

5. Some people will tell you "ah sure you have to CALL them, more than once, different voice different quote" but, in my experience, it's useless - they always gave me the exact same figures as the websites (including an outrageous quote of 4000+ euro from Axa to insure a 1.4 Renault);

As for taking home the car, it's tricky business. I can tell you that, without the shadow of a doubt, most people simply bring the car home with no insurance, then sort it out; But I can't recommend you do the same, so really up to you.

The safest course of action would probably be to identify a car, get an insurance quote and its reference number (most insurance companies will give you quotes that are valid for 7 days, meaning you can call back within this period and actually subscribe the quoted policy), go see the car and, in case you get it, call the insurance and subscribe.

bazz26

CiniO wrote: »

He possibly can use his NCB from previous country he lived in.

He probably can but probably will not count as much with insurance companies here especially if from outside the EU.

bazz26

H3llR4iser wrote: »

5. Some people will tell you "ah sure you have to CALL them, more than once, different voice different quote" but, in my experience, it's useless - they always gave me the exact same figures as the websites (including an outrageous quote of 4000+ euro from Axa to insure a 1.4 Renault).

I'd imagine given the OP's circumstances that a lot of the online quoting systems will simply tell him that they cannot give a quote and to ring them directly for further assistance.

CiniO

bazz26 wrote: »

He probably can but probably will not count as much with insurance companies here especially if from outside the EU.

I'm not sure about outside EU, but my first insurance policy here in Ireland started with 40% NCB.
I was in the same situation as OP. Found car to buy. Purchased it. And bought policy online there on the spot to be covered to drive it home.
Policy I applied for was online. I filled in I had 4 years no claims driving. They accepted it, and asked me to post them proof of NCB from my home country (Poland) within 30 days, which I did. So year later I was already on full NCB 50% here.

circadian

bazz26 wrote: »

He probably can but probably will not count as much with insurance companies here especially if from outside the EU.

It's been a while since I worked in insurance but as long as the NCB and licence were transferrable then it worked out the same as an Irish driver with an Irish NCB. May have changed but I don't see why it should affect the premium.

It's either accepted or not.

bazz26

Well a former colleague of mine from Asia had terrible trouble a few years ago transferring his NCB from home. Maybe it has changed since.

H3llR4iser

bazz26 wrote: »

I'd imagine given the OP's circumstances that a lot of the online quoting systems will simply tell him that they cannot give a quote and to ring them directly for further assistance.

Even in that case, for the most part I had the very same response from the "agents" on the phone; They are clearly using the same system.

The ones that didn't come back with "I'm sorry, but due to company policies on new customers I can't provide you with a quote", gave me such figures that it was beyond clear they didn't want my business - as high as the 8,000 mark...

renofan

OP clearly stated s/he has never had insurance before in their name so why all the posts on NCBs??

CiniO

renofan wrote: »

OP clearly stated s/he has never had insurance before in their name so why all the posts on NCBs??

Tbh my understanding of OP was that he doesn't have insurance in Ireland. Not necesserily that he never had insurance anywhere else.

circadian

bazz26 wrote: »

Well a former colleague of mine from Asia had terrible trouble a few years ago transferring his NCB from home. Maybe it has changed since.

It really depends where they're coming from. Japan is usually accpeted, sometimes Korea.

corktina

CiniO wrote: »

Tbh my understanding of OP was that he doesn't have insurance in Ireland. Not necesserily that he never had insurance anywhere else.

Read it again...I thought the same as renofan

ProudDUB

This is what the OP said.

"But I do not have any insurance before in my name for any car"

I also took that to mean that he does not have any insurance history anywhere, not just Ireland.

Btw OP, I don't want to add to your troubles, but don't forget that when you are shopping around for a car, you won't be able to take the car for a test drive, as you won't be insured to drive it. If you have a full Irish license, garages may let you take it for a test drive, as you'll be covered by their garage insurance. But if all you have a foreign license, or a learner permit, they won't. Have you a friend or a family member or a mechanic who could go with you?

Thargor

In case anyone else thought this was a history thread about the first ever car in Ireland there's more info here:

http://www.thedublinforums.com/showthread.php?992-Earliest-car-in-Ireland&
http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/motors/news/2013/0508/391133-irelands-first-car-comes-home/

CiniO

corktina wrote: »

Read it again...I thought the same as renofan

ProudDUB wrote: »

This is what the OP said.

"But I do not have any insurance before in my name for any car"

I also took that to mean that he does not have any insurance history anywhere, not just Ireland.

I've seen that.
For some reason I have a feeling that OP is a person from EU continent, and he is just confused how to arrange first car purchase, as Irish insurance system is indeed confusing for people from Continent, where it's the car which is insured, not assigned to any specific driver.
And I have a feeling he possibly had car and insurance somewhere else before.

Btw OP, I don't want to add to your troubles, but don't forget that when you are shopping around for a car, you won't be able to take the car for a test drive, as you won't be insured to drive it. If you have a full Irish license, garages may let you take it for a test drive, as you'll be covered by their garage insurance. But if all you have a foreign license, or a learner permit, they won't. Have you a friend or a family member or a mechanic who could go with you?

That's a pain.
I had the same problem when buying my first car in Ireland, but I chanced it. I just drove a small bit around small town. I wouldn't buy a car without test driving it.
Obviously I'm not advising OP to do the same, as driving without insurance is illegal.