Do the gardai care about the address you use for insurance?

stainluss

I was stopped by gardai earlier this week and gave my Dublin address when they took my details for not having insurance details on me. I told them I would bring the cert to the relevant local station in Dublin. I've just realized my non-Dublin address is on the insurance cert (I moved up here recently on a part time basis but the car is still at home at least 4 days per week; don't know how I can prove this, though).

Will they be interested in investigating this further or do they usually just care about the insurance cert itself?

veetwin

No. Once you produce a valid insurance certificate you have met your legal obligation.

coylemj

To answer the question in the thread title, the Garda who stopped you may take the view that you supplied a false name & address to obtain insurance - I see what you said about moving up to Dublin on a 'part-time' basis but the fact is that everyone knows that insurance is cheaper with a country address. You gave a Dublin address but have insurance with a country address - you'll probably get away with it but be aware that if you have a serious accident and go to claim, the insurance company will probably do some digging, figure that you are now based in Dublin and didn't declare it and they will repudiate the policy.

slimjimmc

coylemj wrote: »

To answer the question in the thread title, the Garda who stopped you may take the view that you supplied a false name & address to obtain insurance - I see what you said about moving up to Dublin on a 'part-time' basis but the fact is that everyone knows that insurance is cheaper with a country address. You gave a Dublin address but have insurance with a country address - you'll probably get away with it but be aware that if you have a serious accident and go to claim, the insurance company will probably do some digging, figure that you are now based in Dublin and didn't declare it and they will repudiate the policy.

Imo the chances an insurer would repudiate the policy would be low, though they may reduce any payout if the address was a material factor such as in a claim for theft or vandalism. In any case even though the OP is in Dublin a lot the car is still based at the address given on the insurance policy so it's even less likely to be an issue.

kirving

coylemj wrote: »

....but the fact is that everyone knows that insurance is cheaper with a country address. You gave a Dublin address but have insurance with a country address...

I spend 4 nights a week in Galway, and 3 in Dublin, but do most of my driving around Dublin. For the past 2 years, the insurance company has insisted that the address I use for cover is the Galway one as the car spends 4 nights there. I even had trouble getting the Dublin address as my postal address.

Galway is more expensive for my by 15-20% though.