Legalities of Car Wrapping

pajero12

Hi Guys,
Looking to change my car in the very near future, and have a particular car in mind, It's a great spec, Relatively low mileage and it's been very well minded as i know its history since it was brought in. Only problem I have is the colour, It's silver *yawn*
Question is, Is it legal to completely change the colour of the car with a wrap? Like say go for a sky blue or something different, Or is that opening a can or worms with NCTs and the gardai etc?

Thanks
Joe

Pov06

Change the colour and declare the colour change. Simple as.

pajero12

Pov06 wrote: »

Change the colour and declare the colour change. Simple as.

And It's fairly straight forward to do that?

LawlessBoy

As far as I know it is legal, and does not have to be declared. Its not classed as a permanent color change so does not need to be changed on the logbook

Pov06

pajero12 wrote: »

And It's fairly straight forward to do that?

Yes,

Just fill out this form and bring it to your local motor tax office:
https://www.motortax.ie/OMT/pdf/RF111_en.pdf

LawlessBoy wrote: »

As far as I know it is legal, and does not have to be declared. Its not classed as a permanent color change so does not need to be changed on the logbook

Regardless if it's permanent or not, it should be changed, otherwise it's pointless for the Department of Transport to have information about colour.

Alanstrainor

Pov06 wrote: »

Yes,

Just fill out this form and bring it to your local motor tax office:
https://www.motortax.ie/OMT/pdf/RF111_en.pdf



Regardless if it's permanent or not, it should be changed, otherwise it's pointless for the Department of Transport to have information about colour.

Do you have any reference for this claim? I was under the impression that a wrap is a temporary thing and does not require a declaration.

Pov06

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Do you have any reference for this claim? I was under the impression that a wrap is a temporary thing and does not require a declaration.

Spray job is also temporary if you respray it the next morning

The Motor Tax Office say you must declare a colour change when you tax the car the next time, so that's exactly what you must do.

obezyana

I was informed by a Guard that the colour is not a hugely important issue when it comes to a vehicle. My car is silver but it is down as gold on the logbook.

ironclaw

obezyana wrote: »

I was informed by a Guard that the colour is not a hugely important issue when it comes to a vehicle. My car is silver but it is down as gold on the logbook.

Bit of an issue if someone calls in a car reg and it comes back a different color, hence much more difficult to find in a stream of cars. I'd rather have my documentation in order as it leads to less questions. I can't really see any benefits to not telling them

Alanstrainor

Pov06 wrote: »

Spray job is also temporary if you respray it the next morning

The Motor Tax Office say you must declare a colour change when you tax the car the next time, so that's exactly what you must do.

That's a bit of a nonsense statement though...

Some of the Irish car wrapping sites disagree, not that this is a concrete on this issue:

Do I need to change the colour in my log book?

The Motor tax office should only be informed when you have made a permanent colour change. As vehicle wraps are temporary there is no need to advise them of your wrap.
If the Garda do a registration number check they may stop you and ask questions regarding the colour. It is very easy to demonstrate that the vinyl is temporary and not the true colour - simply lift your bonnet.

http://www.carstyle.ie/faq.html
http://wrap.ie says similar.

Surely van/taxi/bus owners encounter this all the time. And would know what the answer is?

obezyana

ironclaw wrote: »

Bit of an issue if someone calls in a car reg and it comes back a different color, hence much more difficult to find in a stream of cars. I'd rather have my documentation in order as it leads to less questions. I can't really see any benefits to not telling them

Indeed I agree hence the reason why I am changing the details on the logbook. The previous owners must have not noticed the error. The cop did say though it doesn't matter to them if the actual colour matches the logbook.

frozenfrozen

make sure you declare the increase in power if you're painting the car red or adding a go faster stripe

Dia1988

What's the colour of this Polo?

pajero12

frozenfrozen wrote: »

make sure you declare the increase in power if you're painting the car red or adding a go faster stripe

Ha Good One..........

Alanstrainor

Dia1988 wrote: »

What's the colour of this Polo?

Horrible.

obezyana

frozenfrozen wrote: »

make sure you declare the increase in power if you're painting the car red or adding a go faster stripe

Don't forget the Nurburgring sticker that adds another 200bhp

pajero12

Thanks for the helpful replies lads, Would prob declare it anyways.

pajero12

Wouldn't have considered a wrap in the same category as the other mods you've posted?

Pov06

Alanstrainor wrote: »

That's a bit of a nonsense statement though...

Some of the Irish car wrapping sites disagree, not that this is a concrete on this issue:

http://www.carstyle.ie/faq.html
http://wrap.ie says similar.

Surely van/taxi/bus owners encounter this all the time. And would know what the answer is?

All I can say is - try to claim from comprehensive insurance in the event that you damage your car.

Chances are if the colour is declared incorrectly they will tell you that it will cost more to respray the car a certain colour and they won't touch the car.

...and I won't even begin talking about those mirror chrome wraps which reflect sunlight and blind other drivers.

The form clearly states that you need to declare a colour change if it is different from the last time you taxed your car. Simple as really. It doesn't really count for buses and vans since they don't get full colour changes. Normally they change the back of the van or a portion of the side.

Gumbo

Pov06 wrote: »

Yes,

Just fill out this form and bring it to your local motor tax office:
https://www.motortax.ie/OMT/pdf/RF111_en.pdf



Regardless if it's permanent or not, it should be changed, otherwise it's pointless for the Department of Transport to have information about colour.

Pov06 wrote: »

All I can say is - try to claim from comprehensive insurance in the event that you damage your car.

Chances are if the colour is declared incorrectly they will tell you that it will cost more to respray the car a certain colour and they won't touch the car.

...and I won't even begin talking about those mirror chrome wraps which reflect sunlight and blind other drivers.

The form clearly states that you need to declare a colour change if it is different from the last time you taxed your car. Simple as really. It doesn't really count for buses and vans since they don't get full colour changes. Normally they change the back of the van or a portion of the side.

Do not declare a change of colour for a car that's wrapped.
For one thing it will be logged against the car and then you will have to explain to any potential buyer why every car check site has red flagged your car due to colour change and then you have to explain why it's down like that and try convince people it wasn't crashed.

Do not declare it. It's not required and the section is there for permanent transfers of colours, not wraps which are classed as temporary.

Insurance will have nothing to do with it as you don't need to re spray the wrap. They cover the original colour of the car. How many times have you been asked when quoting your insurance what colour it was

Alanstrainor

Pov06 wrote: »

All I can say is - try to claim from comprehensive insurance in the event that you damage your car.

Chances are if the colour is declared incorrectly they will tell you that it will cost more to respray the car a certain colour and they won't touch the car.

...and I won't even begin talking about those mirror chrome wraps which reflect sunlight and blind other drivers.

The form clearly states that you need to declare a colour change if it is different from the last time you taxed your car. Simple as really. It doesn't really count for buses and vans since they don't get full colour changes. Normally they change the back of the van or a portion of the side.

Who said anything about not declaring it to the insurance company?

Plenty of vans/taxis etc going around that are Hailo yellow, or completely wrapped in a different colour for a company. But underneath these wraps the cars are the same colour, so I still can't say I agree with your point. Do you have any experience with wrapped cars or info to help this?

OP talk to the wrapping company and see. They will certainly have dealt with this, as it surely would affect most of their customers. I bet they'll say there is no declaration necessary as the colour change is not permanent, you can ask further for details as to where they've gotten the info.

Wossack

Pov06 wrote: »

..
Chances are if the colour is declared incorrectly they will tell you that it will cost more to respray the car a certain colour and they won't touch the car.
..

*citation needed

Daaryl

Dia1988 wrote: »

What's the colour of this Polo?

It would be down as multi colored then :P

Pov06

kceire wrote: »

Do not declare a change of colour for a car that's wrapped.
For one thing it will be logged against the car and then you will have to explain to any potential buyer why every car check site has red flagged your car due to colour change and then you have to explain why it's down like that and try convince people it wasn't crashed.

Do not declare it. It's not required and the section is there for permanent transfers of colours, not wraps which are classed as temporary.

Insurance will have nothing to do with it as you don't need to re spray the wrap. They cover the original colour of the car. How many times have you been asked when quoting your insurance what colour it was

There is no such thing as a temporary colour change. A colour change is a colour change. A spray job can be temporary if I respray the car with rattle cans tomorrow morning...

If you are worried about explaining colour changes to potential buyers then don't change it in the first place.

I have spent most of today getting insurance quotes and each time I told them my reg they verified the details I.e "that's a silver Ford Focus, 1.8 TDCI right?"

Do not take wrapping company words as Gospel. They are the same lads who have no problem tinting front windows in limo black tint.

As for the harlequin Polo, the colour would be declared as the chassis colour.

bucketybuck

Pov06 wrote: »

Change the colour and declare the colour change. Simple as.

Pov06 wrote: »

Regardless if it's permanent or not, it should be changed

Pov06 wrote: »

The form clearly states that you need to declare a colour change if it is different from the last time you taxed your car. Simple as really.

Simple as, simple as. But not once in this thread have you given anything except what you think should be the case. You have not once given any evidence of what is legally required, so do you have a cite for your claims here?

Brasso

Pov06 wrote: »

There is no such thing as a temporary colour change. A colour change is a colour change. A spray job can be temporary if I respray the car with rattle cans tomorrow morning...

If you are worried about explaining colour changes to potential buyers then don't change it in the first place.

I have spent most of today getting insurance quotes and each time I told them my reg they verified the details I.e "that's a silver Ford Focus, 1.8 TDCI right?"

But a wrap is like a sticker, if I put a white sticker on the back of my car do I have to declare a colour change to white? A wrap could peel away so it's different from paint, which is really permanent.

Pov06

bucketybuck wrote: »

Simple as, simple as. But not once in this thread have you given anything except what you think should be the case. You have not once given any evidence of what is legally required, so do you have a cite for your claims here?

Hang on a minute, you're the one running around claiming you don't need to declare colour changes because wrap companies say so!

Read the change of particulars form. If your car colour has changed, you have to declare it. You will have false documentation otherwise, like your tax disc.

Answer a simple question, does wrapping a car change its colour? If yes then you need to declare it.

Small stickers don't count because the main colour is still the same.

keithclancy

Dia1988 wrote: »

What's the colour of this Polo?

Colour: Bon Jovi

mgbgt1978

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Surely van/taxi/bus owners encounter this all the time. And would know what the answer is?

Plenty of Taxi drivers with a Yellow Hailo wrap getting hassle from the Guards for not declaring a Change of Colour. Not all of them, but enough to make it a 'Talking point' amongst them.
Here in limerick one particular Taxi firm has convinced a lot of their drivers to get a Wrap in the company colour (yellow too, as it happens). Practically every one of them have had a warning from the local guards to do a 'change of colour' declaration.
It's usually explained that it makes it easier to trace a car that may be a potential witness (or involved in a crash) if the correct colour is listed on the DoT Database.
They have all been told that there is no such thing as a 'Temporary change of colour'....the car's colour is whatever it is while it's driving/parked in a public place

delahuntv

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

Plenty of Taxi drivers with a Yellow Hailo wrap getting hassle from the Guards for not declaring a Change of Colour. Not all of them, but enough to make it a 'Talking point' amongst them.
Here in limerick one particular Taxi firm has convinced a lot of their drivers to get a Wrap in the company colour (yellow too, as it happens). Practically every one of them have had a warning from the local guards to do a 'change of colour' declaration.

Sorry, but that is utter bull.

The colour is the primary colour of the car. Even a large yellow sticker doesn't change the primary colour.

For a full wrap that you intend to leave on for a year or more, it's probably best to declare change in colour as by not doing so, it just gives reason for you to be stopped as gardai use anpr systems that tell make, model and colour. - Wrong colour showing = suspicious / possible clone = excuse to stop you.

sunnysoutheast

keithclancy wrote: »

Colour: Bon Jovi

I believe that car used to be described as "Harlequin".

Tom Murphy in Waterford used to have one in the showroom window years ago before they moved, we'd see it walking back home from town.

I've never seen one driving round, always thought it was a promo thing.

power pants

so many opinions yet nobody with any hard facts :pac:

bucketybuck

Pov06 wrote: »

Hang on a minute, you're the one running around claiming you don't need to declare colour changes because wrap companies say so!

Read the change of particulars form. If your car colour has changed, you have to declare it. You will have false documentation otherwise, like your tax disc.

Answer a simple question, does wrapping a car change its colour? If yes then you need to declare it.

Small stickers don't count because the main colour is still the same.

I haven't claimed a single thing, and you will not be able to show any post where I said you don't need to declare anything, clearly you think I am somebody else.

But once again you are making declarative statements and have completely failed to back them up with any cites. So, where is your evidence?

Pov06

bucketybuck wrote: »

I haven't claimed a single thing, and you will not be able to show any post where I said you don't need to declare anything, clearly you think I am somebody else.

But once again you are making declarative statements and have completely failed to back them up with any cites. So, where is your evidence?

When I said you I didn't mean you personally. I was targetting the "ah sure it's grand" group in general.

The clear evidence is the fact that your tax disc displays the colour of your car. The fact that a form exists to change your colour which requires you to send in your valid tax disc in order to get it changed so the colour matches.

Car wrapping companies are nobody in terms of the legality. Like I said earlier, they are happy to take your money and limo tint your front side windows even though it's 100% illegal yet people still say "but car wrapping company X said it's legal".

There is no such thing in the world as a permanent paint job, you can spray a car differently the same way you can rip a wrap off. It doesn't change the fact that a colour change has occurred.

mgbgt1978

delahuntv wrote: »

Sorry, but that is utter bull.

The colour is the primary colour of the car. Even a large yellow sticker doesn't change the primary colour.

For a full wrap that you intend to leave on for a year or more, it's probably best to declare change in colour as by not doing so, it just gives reason for you to be stopped as gardai use anpr systems that tell make, model and colour. - Wrong colour showing = suspicious / possible clone = excuse to stop you.

What's utter bull ????
A wrap is changing the colour of the whole car....it's not just a sticker, which nobody, apart from yourself, even mentioned.
A partial wrap is another story altogether (which is not even discussed here ).
What is utter bull is your assertion that it's OK to leave a car wrapped in a different colour for less than a year, but once you go over the twelve month mark you should probably declare a colour change.
If you can show any legislation to back up that ridiculous assumption feel free to post a link.

....as for 'possible clone'. It would want to be a fairly crappy clone if they couldn't at least get the colour right :rolleyes:.

Pov06

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

What's utter bull ????
A wrap is changing the colour of the whole car....it's not just a sticker, which nobody, apart from yourself, even mentioned.
A partial wrap is another story altogether (which is not even discussed here ).
What is utter bull is your assertion that it's OK to leave a car wrapped in a different colour for less than a year, but once you go over the twelve month mark you should probably declare a colour change.
If you can show any legislation to back up that ridiculous assumption feel free to post a link.

....as for 'possible clone'. It would want to be a fairly crappy clone if they couldn't at least get the colour right :rolleyes:.

Sure they don't seem to understand. Let them drive around and see what happens. It seems like 95% of Motors posters are driving around with undeclared wrapped cars.



What colour is this car? Black? No lads it's red, can't you see? It's just a wrap, clearly the car is red.

Gumbo

Pov06 wrote: »

There is no such thing as a temporary colour change. A colour change is a colour change. A spray job can be temporary if I respray the car with rattle cans tomorrow morning...

If you are worried about explaining colour changes to potential buyers then don't change it in the first place.

I have spent most of today getting insurance quotes and each time I told them my reg they verified the details I.e "that's a silver Ford Focus, 1.8 TDCI right?"

Do not take wrapping company words as Gospel. They are the same lads who have no problem tinting front windows in limo black tint.

As for the harlequin Polo, the colour would be declared as the chassis colour.

No thanks, I'd rather not take the advise of the wrapping company but I will take the advice of a motor tax senior staff officer

endacl

keithclancy wrote: »

Colour: Bon Jovi

If you mean 'shyte', say 'shyte'.

mgbgt1978

https://www.motortax.ie/OMT/pdf/RF111_en.pdf

As the form linked to above explains;
"you must use this form if details relating to you or your vehicle have changed since the vehicle was last taxed."

That "last taxed" could be 2 days ago, so the change of particulars must be notified "as soon as possible after the change occurred"....not in 12 months time or whenever you feel like it.
A colour change includes a full body wrap, therefore the vehicle details should be amended as soon as possible.

Whether I, or anybody else here, am happy with this is irrelevant. It's just the way it is.

neilthefunkeone

Company I'm with have 20-30 White vans wrapped in blue with company logos. All tax discs say white.. Motor check comes back white.

I'm sure they looked into the legality's.. But as they are leased maybe its the leasing company that should have changed it.. But obviously no issue as some vans are years old..

Wonder can you put color as 'kinda Navy with a red stripe and a pink logo over purple' on the book

mgbgt1978

kceire wrote: »

No thanks, I'd rather not take the advise of the wrapping company but I will take the advice of a motor tax senior staff officer

Unless he/she is a full-time Guard (who works part-time in the motor tax office) you might as well take advice from anybody on this forum.
The motor Tax staff neither make the law nor enforce it.

pippip

mgbgt1978 wrote: »

https://www.motortax.ie/OMT/pdf/RF111_en.pdf

As the form linked to above explains;
"you must use this form if details relating to you or your vehicle have changed since the vehicle was last taxed."

That "last taxed" could be 2 days ago, so the change of particulars must be notified "as soon as possible after the change occurred"....not in 12 months time or whenever you feel like it.
A colour change includes a full body wrap, therefore the vehicle details should be amended as soon as possible.

Whether I, or anybody else here, am happy with this is irrelevant. It's just the way it is.

Sorry can you point to where in that form is states a full body wrap is an official colour change?

mgbgt1978

Ah here, if the colour of the vehicle has been changed then it's a different colour.....whether its painted on or stuck on :rolleyes:.

....and what exactly do you mean by 'official' ?????

Pov06

pippip wrote: »

Sorry can you point to where in that form is states a full body wrap is an official colour change?

A colour change is a colour change. It doesn't matter if you spray the car, wrap the car or even sand the car to bare metal.

biko

Wrapping is not a colour change. It's a huge feckin' sticker that covers the entire car.

Pov06

biko wrote: »

Wrapping is not a colour change. It's a huge feckin' sticker that covers the entire car.

Oh right okay.

What's the point of wrapping a car then, if the colour doesn't change? :pac:

Has your car been modified in any way? No sir.

*some time later*

Hi Mr. Insurance, please fix my car, it's a silver Corolla but it left the factory a bit blue for some reason. No modifications at all sir.

Bio Mech

Pov06 wrote: »

A colour change is a colour change. It doesn't matter if you spray the car, wrap the car or even sand the car to bare metal.

What if I drive through a muddy field and the car gets filthy? Should I declare a colour change to brown to be safe? It might not rain for a few days.

dr.fuzzenstein

Dia1988 wrote: »

What's the colour of this Polo?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/VW_Polo_III_Harlekin.JPG

I think it's called Blleeeuuurghhh!

Bio Mech

Pov06 wrote: »

Oh right okay.

What's the point of wrapping a car then, if the colour doesn't change? :pac:

Has your car been modified in any way? No sir.

*some time later*

Hi Mr. Insurance, please fix my car, it's a silver Corolla but it left the factory a bit blue for some reason. No modifications at all sir.

Insurance and a log book declaration are two completely different matters. You can't apply the same logic to both.

biko

Wrapping a car is not modifying it. You are not changing the chassis, engine nor adding parts for performance.
You are just putting a huge sticker on the car that you can peel off at any time and the car is back to normal.

I would hazard that plastidip is also ok to not declare. It's the same idea, a temporary plastic film covering the paintjob.

Pov06

biko wrote: »

Wrapping a car is not modifying it. You are not changing the chassis, engine nor adding parts for performance.
You are just putting a huge sticker on the car that you can peel off at any time and the car is back to normal.

I would hazard that plastidip is also ok to not declare. It's the same idea, a temporary plastic film covering the paintjob.

If tinted windows are classed as a modification then so is wrapping a car.

It doesn't matter to insurance companies if your modifications increase power or change handling.

I'm not here to argue lads, but all I see is a bunch of posters telling me that I have no factual proof when I clearly showed you a form for colour changes and you all think you are right because that's what you think is right.

And the whole peel off thing is a joke. Sure I can put on a bigger turbo and an intercooler on my car and then take it off later. It's not a permanent change shuuure :pac: Everything on the car can be taken off by this logic.