Declaring a vehicle off road

iPhone.

I'm a bit confused by the new declaration of a vehicle being off road.

I have a van which was taxed up until the end of March. It's been off the road for all of April, Engine BER so I'm driving another van since.

I went to the Motortax.ie website today to declare the van off the road, it says you can declare it off road for up to 12 months. I'll either use it for parts because new van is the same model or maybe sell it to someone who already has an engine.

The thing is Motortax website is looking for me to pay arrears for April before it will allow me to declare it off road.

I'm not well up on all this tbh so I was just wondering if anyone who's knowledgeable about this. Whats the best way to go about it, pay the arrears and declare offroad for 12 months? If I end up just using it for parts do I still need to declare it offroad for the year. Or do I need to declare it off road at all, can I just leave it sitting there and plunder it for parts when needed even its there longer than 12 months?

Hopefully my questions make sense!

Prenderb

I think if you're going to part the vehicle and permanently take it off the road that's an end of life vehicle. The law now says that such vehicles must be dealt with at an Authorised Treatment Facility where you'll get a certificate of destruction.
More info here:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/motoring_1/buying_or_selling_a_vehicle/how_to_dispose_of_an_end_of_life_vehicle.html

CiniO

It's too late now to declare it, as you already found out.
You should have done that before end of expiry of tax, so before end of March.

You have few options.

1. Tax it now (within next 1 hour and 20 minutes) for 3 months that will be April, May, June. Then before end of June you can declare it off the road.

2. Wait until tomorrow, and tax it then or on any day of May which will cost you extra to pay for arrears for April + 3 months tax (May, June, July) and then declare it off the road before end of July.

3. Don't do anything and strip vehicle for parts as you are planning.

There's no point in declaring vehicle off the road, provided you are not going to be using it on the road yourself and taxing it again yourself in the future.

CiniO

Prenderb wrote: »

I think if you're going to part the vehicle and permanently take it off the road that's an end of life vehicle. The law now says that such vehicles must be dealt with at an Authorised Treatment Facility where you'll get a certificate of destruction.
More info here:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/motoring_1/buying_or_selling_a_vehicle/how_to_dispose_of_an_end_of_life_vehicle.html

Maybe that law says that, but there is no enforcement of this rule whatsoever.

iPhone.

Thanks for the replies folks.

CiniO, I won't ever be putting the vehicle back on the road, It'll be either used by me for parts.Does that mean I can just leave it and not bother with the declaring part, pointless paying three months tax on something I'm never going to use on the road again.

Also if someone else down the line decided they wanted to put it back on the road, is it just a matter of me signing the log book over to them and they then tax it from that point onwards or would I be liable for tax for the monhs/years previous to that even though I never have it on the road again?

Crasp

Just "sell it" to a family member or friend, then get them to declare it off the road.

You could always buy it back from them if you really wanted the logbook in your name

iPhone.

Crasp wrote: »

Just "sell it" to a family member or friend, then get them to declare it off the road.

You could always buy it back from them if you really wanted the logbook in your name

Thanks Crasp - what happens at the end of the 12 months, do you declare it again or what's the story?

Seems like a right pain in the hole for something I'm only ever going to use for parts and never drive on the road again ever.

alta stare

Your not going to drive it again so just let it be. You say you won't be driving it ever again so why worry if it's taxed or declared off the road.

iPhone.

alta stare wrote: »

Your not going to drive it again so just let it be. You say you won't be driving it ever again so why worry if it's taxed or declared off the road.

Because I'm confused by it all. I didn't have it on the road this month either but when I went to declare it off road they want me to pay a minimum of 3 months tax just to then be able to declare it off the road, very confusing.

Skatedude

vehicle must be currently taxed before you can declare it off the road, quite simple really, not sure why there is confusion.

Otherwise people will keep declaring their vehicle off the road as long as they are not stopped for tax.

mickdw

iPhone. wrote: »

Because I'm confused by it all. I didn't have it on the road this month either but when I went to declare it off road they want me to pay a minimum of 3 months tax just to then be able to declare it off the road, very confusing.

The system now requires you to declare off the road in advance. Its to stop people running around without tax and then getting sign off road later by garda. Now you either tax it or declare it off in advance. It is a bigger offence to be caught on road while declared off.
In your case however, if you are not returning it to road while in your ownership, there is little problem in leaving it sit.
In uk where they operate a similar system, if you own a vehicle, it's either declared off or you must pay the tax- they sent out automatic fines.Here, you have to be on the road or going back on the road to be liable.

iPhone.

Skatedude wrote: »

vehicle must be currently taxed before you can declare it off the road, quite simple really, not sure why there is confusion.

Otherwise people will keep declaring their vehicle off the road as long as they are not stopped for tax.

can't see how that would apply to someone declaring it off road for 12 months in advance. If its declared off road and you get caught driving it you deserve to be fined, but being asked to pay for three months tax just to enable you to declare it as being off road is a bit mad.

You could essentially and in all innocence find a situation where for example you go to a garage to have your car repaired on the last day of the tax month, the guy in garage gets back to you a day or two later and says, sorry its BER. If you then want to declare it off road you have to pay a minimum three months extra tax for nothing when you have already been paying tax and obeying the law all along.

CiniO

iPhone. wrote: »

can't see how that would apply to someone declaring it off road for 12 months in advance. If its declared off road and you get caught driving it you deserve to be fined, but being asked to pay for three months tax just to enable you to declare it as being off road is a bit mad.

The whole tax system is bit mad, and those declarations are in general total nonsense.
But anyway - reason behind it, is that you are meant to declare it off the road before tax expires.
Once tax is expired, you can't declare it off-the-road anymore.
That's why you need to pay tax first, wait till the last month it expires and then you can declare it.
It makes sense in a big nonsense

You could essentially and in all innocence find a situation where for example you go to a garage to have your car repaired on the last day of the tax month, the guy in garage gets back to you a day or two later and says, sorry its BER. If you then want to declare it off road you have to pay a minimum three months extra tax for nothing when you have already been paying tax and obeying the law all along.

Well in a last day of tax month, you have two options.
You either pay tax, or declare car off the road.
If on that day you are bringing car to the garage, you are probably best off to declare it off the road regardles.
If car is fixed on 1st of next month, you just tax it.

Once car is declared off the road, this declaration can be interrupted at any moment, simply by just taxing the vehicle.

iPhone.

mickdw wrote: »

The system now requires you to declare off the road in advance. Its to stop people running around without tax and then getting sign off road later by garda. Now you either tax it or declare it off in advance. It is a bigger offence to be caught on road while declared off.
In your case however, if you are not returning it to road while in your ownership, there is little problem in leaving it sit.
In uk where they operate a similar system, if you own a vehicle, it's either declared off or you must pay the tax- they sent out automatic fines.Here, you have to be on the road or going back on the road to be liable.

Thanks, that's what I wasn't clear on, if I could just leave it off the road as I'm never going to drive it on the road again myself or would I still be liable for tax or something else I wasn't aware of like a fine for not notifying I was keeping it off road.

You've pretty much answered what was confusing me. thanks again.

savagethegoat

you wont be liable for any tax or fine on it unless you decide to put it back on the road yourself.