Penalty points with a foreigner

from_atozinc

Hi,

I just got a letter saying I have penalty points, was the camera job with a picture of the reg plate. I checked out the time and date and i was not driving,

the person who was driving was a good colleague of mine from Denmark, he was here for a couple of days on holidays and I gave him the lend of my car, told him about this and he has no bother paying the fine so I just have to send the letter back saying he was driving

Thing is, how am i fixed insurance wise, I kinda just gave him the car without checking the exact ins and outs of insurance(I have open insurance and a full Irish license, he has insurance in his home country and a full danish License). If I send him the letter about these points, will there be a further investigation done regarding insurance to see if he was fully allowed to drive my car etc.

celica00

will the points then actually stick to his license then? considering he is from Denmark and has probably a non irish driving license?

from_atozinc

celica00 wrote: »

will the points then actually stick to his license then? considering he is from Denmark and has probably a non irish driving license?

cudnt tell ya, he said he has no problem paying fine or points etc as he was the one driving

Nody

from_atozinc wrote: »

Thing is, how am i fixed insurance wise, I kinda just gave him the car without checking the exact ins and outs of insurance(I have open insurance and a full Irish license, he has insurance in his home country and a full danish License). If I send him the letter about these points, will there be a further investigation done regarding insurance to see if he was fully allowed to drive my car etc.

The police don't care about your insurance and the insurance company can't find out out from the police so nothing will happen in that regard. The points will be written off due to foreigner's driver's licence once the fine is in and the case will be closed.

slimjimmc

I doubt there will be any further digging into the insurance question but you could double-check what your policy schedule says about allowing others drive your car. If you bought an "open drive" extension to allow anyone over 25 drive your car then he should be covered under your policy (subject to the T&Cs). Alternatively if his own policy covers him to drive foreign cars while abroad then that's ok too, though I'm not sure if such cover exists in reality.

from_atozinc

Nody wrote: »

The police don't care about your insurance and the insurance company can't find out out from the police so nothing will happen in that regard. The points will be written off due to foreigner's driver's licence once the fine is in and the case will be closed.

thanks, are you fairly certain on this ?

mgbgt1978

Technically the points will be held 'on file'.
This means if your Danish Buddy ever gets an Irish Licence the points will be automatically applied to it........how likely is this ?

from_atozinc

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

Technically the points will be held 'on file'.
This means if your Danish Buddy ever gets an Irish Licence the points will be automatically applied to it........how likely is this ?

not likely


will they also look for proof to make sure he was in country at time like flight details, hotel receipts etc ?

mgbgt1978

I don't know.
I'm sure somebody on here has had a similar experience and will let you know.

http://rsa.ie/RSA/Licensed-Drivers/Penalty-points/How-it-works-why-it-matters/

small bit more info here.

celica00

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

Technically the points will be held 'on file'.
This means if your Danish Buddy ever gets an Irish Licence the points will be automatically applied to it........how likely is this ?

Really?

So if a foreigner with a non irish drivers license gets points it basically doesn't count? and after 2 years they are gone anyway?

slimjimmc

celica00 wrote: »

Really?

So if a foreigner with a non irish drivers license gets points it basically doesn't count? and after 2 years they are gone anyway?

It doesn't count in the sense they can't touch his non-Irish licence but it can affect him if he exchanges it for an Irish one.
Points held on file are not gone after 2 years, they stay dormant and only become active if he gets an Irish licence and then the 2 year countdown starts. Accumulate enough points and you could find yourself banned as soon as you get an Irish licence.

Henry Ford III

Is this relevant folks?......

Irish Halo wrote: »

The Road Traffic Act, 1961 (section 56, subsection 3) says


Basically subsection 1 says you can't drive uninsured.

There appears to have been very few upadtes to that wording other than the fine seems to have been increased to €5,000 in 2006 (Part 1 ref number 17)

Marcusm

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Is this relevant folks?......

Yes, although it's unlikely that they will necessarily check the insurance position when the foreign driver is notified to RSA.

roverrules

from_atozinc wrote: »

not likely


will they also look for proof to make sure he was in country at time like flight details, hotel receipts etc ?

What an odd question, if they did, I'd assume its relatively easy for you or him to provide proof!

from_atozinc

roverrules wrote: »

What an odd question, if they did, I'd assume its relatively easy for you or him to provide proof!

Why is it odd ?

Just asking the obvious stuff.

joujoujou

slimjimmc wrote: »

[...] Accumulate enough points and you could find yourself banned as soon as you get an Irish licence.

Even worse. There was a case (IIRC) when someone collected decent amount of points on his "virtual" licence (Irish resident with foreign licence) and has been banned from driving in a court.


Back to OP - out of curiosity - how likely is that RSA would send fixed penalty notice abroad? Anyone knows?