Transfer of Ownership and Motor Tax Arrears

fsbgav

I bought a car 2-3 years ago, that the previous owner had never received the paperwork for.

When I tried to register the vehicle in my own name, I had to contact Shannon/Rosslare(?) who sent me a form that I had to get stamped by a main dealer to say they had inspected it and verify the VIN I was giving was as on the vehicle.

As the car was and is not driveable, I never got round to it as it would mean that I would have to hire a trailer again, take a day off work, yadda yadda yadda. So as I knew I wouldn't be returning it to the road for some time I never bothered (I know silly me!).

Now I'm worried that if I try and register it now in my name, I'll end up getting stung for 2-3 years worth of arrears of Motor Tax, as it has never been registered in my name and has never been declared off the road by me. It's got a big engine (over 3 litre) so we're talking possible thousands of euros if I'm going to be liable.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Any advice would be greatly received. Please constructive advice only. I'm aware I've been bloody silly not registering it sooner, so please no "it's your own fault mate, tough luck" type responses.

What prompted this was another of my vehicles, a commercial jeep which was declared off the road, I forgot to renew the off road declaration and now have to pay a month's arrears and 3 months minimum road tax. It's not too much as its a commercial (about €100 or so) but if I have to pay arrears on the other car it'll bankrupt me!

Cheers

fsbgav

Atlantic Dawn

Register in your name and then immediately "sell" it to someone else after the doc arrives and then a few weeks later if funds allow wink wink buy it back.

Del2005

The arrears disappear on a change of ownership then all you need to do is register it in your own name and then pay the tax, I'd advise waiting 5 days to register it

fsbgav

Thanks for the reply Atlantic Dawn and Del2005, much appreciated.

Atlantic Dawn, Is that definitely known to work or is it just anecdotal?

Del2005, is there evidence published to say that arrears disappear on change of ownership? Why do you advise waiting 5 days to register it?

Steve

fsbgav wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Atlantic Dawn and Del2005, much appreciated.

Atlantic Dawn, Is that definitely known to work or is it just anecdotal?

Del2005, is there evidence published to say that arrears disappear on change of ownership? Why do you advise waiting 5 days to register it?

This question gets asked here at least once a week. It works.

uck51js9zml2yt

fsbgav wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Atlantic Dawn and Del2005, much appreciated.

Atlantic Dawn, Is that definitely known to work or is it just anecdotal?

Del2005, is there evidence published to say that arrears disappear on change of ownership? Why do you advise waiting 5 days to register it?

Transfer of ownership deals with arrears. The new owner pays tax from month of purchase or had 21 days to declare it off the road.

Special Circumstances

Some insurers will refuse your business if they get wind of the situation. Several posters have mentioned difficulties insuring cars that were sat up for a while. (Some insurers refuse to believe that anyone would legitimately have more than one car, and automatically assume something nefarious was going on)

Resetting the ownership as described above may be a good idea from insurance point of view too.