No NCT, Insurance or Tax on Car

quinnd6

Hi I'm faced with a problem.

I have a car that hasn't been used for a few years and needs to be repaired. I rang quotedevil to see if I could get it insured after being repaired, I'm a learner driver. The guy from Quotedevil said that as the car hasn't been NCT'd in years I wouldn't be able to get it insured. I also found out that I can't get it NCT'd because it isn't taxed or insured. So basically I'm stuck in limbo and can't do anything with the car. I wanted to get it on the road again but I can't. It seems I'm screwed. Can't get it NCT'd because it's not insured. Can't get it insured because it's not NCT'D. Is there anything I can do to rectify this problem and use the car again?

Seth Brundle

Get a tow truck to bring it to NCT

quinnd6

How much would it cost to get it towed there and back approximately?

Duke O Smiley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119556294#Comment_119556294

Depends on how far you live from your nearest NCT centre.

Anyway, you could start by taxing it online. In the section where it asks for insurance details, you can put in anything and it makes no difference. I'm sure if you rang around a few insurers you would find one to insure it. Then drive it up to the NCT with tax and insurance in the window.

zg3409

Ask a mechanic to collect it, make it road worthy and put it through the test. Mechanics have special insurance, in theory they would need to collect it with a trailer but a local mechanic will probably not and they might have a good deal with local tow truck.

As a learner driver the type of car will have a massive impact on insurance. You want something with a 1.0L engine and a firm insurance quote before you buy anything. I suggest you get your full licence before getting a car and insurance. You cannot drive without supervision anyway and the fastest way to a full licence is taking lessons in driving instructors car and using driving instructors car for the test. Only with a passed test would I consider getting a car and even then only if you really need a car as they are crazy expensive to insure and maintain.

Personally if the car you have is not cheap to insure better to sell it and get cash for lessons.

coylemj

I also found out that I can't get it NCT'd because it isn't taxed or insured

Where did you hear that? There is no mention of tax or insurance on the NCT checklist - link below. They can turn you away if they don't like your registration plate or if you don't bring the registration cert. but there is zero mention of tax or insurance.

Motor dealers accept trade-ins every day where the tax, NCT and insurance have expired. Apart from the cowboys ('sure it will sail through the NCT'), most of them will get those cars NCT'ed before selling them on.

https://www.ncts.ie/Media/5iaecn2j/preparing-for-your-nct.pdf

And see Q.10 in the FAQs, no mention of tax or insurance..... How can I best prepare for the NCT and what documents should I bring?

https://www.ncts.ie/1123/

elperello

It's not that you can't get the car NCT'd without tax and insurance your problem is that you can't drive on the road without tax, insurance and NCT.

Don't be tempted to take a chance, either get a garage/mechanic to prepare and present the car for NCT or arrange a tow truck yourself separately.

Another issue that may cause a problem is whether you declared the car off the road when you stopped using it. To avoid paying back tax you can "sell" the car to a relation or friend thus wiping out the arrears.

Buffman

OP, as others have said there is no requirement for either insurance or motor tax for the NCT.

I've been in that situation before with a 'new to me' car that was off the road for a good while before I got it and had nothing.

So the process is:

Book NCT. Get car towed to NCT centre (Charge based on distance normally but don't expect any less than €75 these days).

Pass NCT.

Email photo of NCT certificate to insurance and follow up with a call to pay and insure the car. It really helps to speed up things if you have a quote lined up ready to go already.

With your insurance policy number, go online and tax the car.

You're now legal and can drive the car away from the NCT center. You legally only have to display insurance disc after 10 days of taking out a policy and there is an exception for non-display of a tax disc when the vehicle is taxed. Although you will presumably have proof of both in your email if needed.

If it fails the NCT, it's another tow away to be fixed and repeat, so it's best to be as confident as possible that it will pass to save on expense.

In your case I presume you're going to get a mechanic to fix the car, so as others have suggested, it would be a lot less hassle and possibly cheaper for you to get him to NCT it also.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119561951#Comment_119561951

There's no insurance that will cover driving a vehicle without an NCT. Garage insurance polices will allow them to drive an uninsured car, trade plate let's them drive an un taxed vehicle but both require the vehicle to be road worthy. A car without an NCT can never be road worthy as it can't legally be on the road except for a few exemptions.

The OP needs to get the car towed to a garage, if it's been parked up years it'll need work before the NCT, and then towed to the NCT then hope it can be driven away.

2ndcoming

As usual wildly over the top stuff here. Technically everyone driving into an NCT centre is liable to be arrested based on some of this horsesh1t. As the first sensible person said get a mechanic to collect it and put it through the nct for you. Then suss the insurance situation. If keeping it transfer the ownership to a family member then to solve the tax issue - it should have been declared off the road when it last ran out.

Most pertinent question is model, age and engine. If it isn't worth keeping or selling it's a scrapper and none of the above will apply.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119580899#Comment_119580899

My trade insurance doesn’t require cars to have an NCT. And anyone in the motor trade such as a mechanic will have no problem driving a car with no NCT to an NCT centre.

Realistically nobody pays to get their car towed to or from an NCT

quinnd6

It's a 2008 Renault Clio.

I didn't declare it off the road unfortunately no. I couldn't even find the logbook. It was my late father's car.

Car99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119582219#Comment_119582219

When you change the car in to your name all tax arrears will be cancelled.

quinnd6

Ok well that's at least good to hear, thanks.

Ginger83

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119582219#Comment_119582219

That could be a great starter car if you can get a good quote on insurance. Some older ones were 1.2 if I remember correctly but yours might be 1.1

I would guess around €1500-€2k depending on condition so definitely not a scrapper

flexcon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119580899#Comment_119580899

I don't think that's true.

My insurance company (123.ie via RSA) informed me recently that the car needs to be road worthy to be insured, and does not need an NCT disc if my NCT has expired while owning and having existing insurance on the car. I checked my insurance booklet and it does say "roadworthy condition".

So this wouldn't help the OP situation but it's good to know that insurance is still valid without NCT if a policy was already taken out when the car had a valid NCT. This seems to be a policy thing rather than any legislation.

I mean it makes sense considering the NCT backlog, now at 4 months waiting! even during covid I remember on the radio insurance companies saying they had no issue with the extension of NCT due to backlog and theaa Conor saying most insurance polices mention roadworthy.

Interesting topic though.

EDIT: found this to kinda back up what I was told

https://www.123.ie/customer-care/before-you-insure/getting-a-quote/can-i-get-a-quote-if-my-car-has-no-nct

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119584880#Comment_119584880

And how many people have a lift to make sure that their car is roadworthy? My car passed its NCT in March and I thought that I'd been checking my tyres weekly, turned out that the inside of 2 tyres where dangerously worn after a fecked up alignment before my NCT.

So I had a dangerously defective vehicle and I've an idea of what to look for. How does someone who can only put in fuel verify that their car is roadworthy? How do they check their bushes, brake lines etc?

They even say that you will have issues if something that is checked in the NCT causes an RTC, everything safety related is checked during the NCT so you only have insurance to get past a checkpoint.

flexcon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119585789#Comment_119585789

That’s the point of the NCT. We all cannot know when our cars are roadworthy, without an NCT you take that interpretation into your own hands.