What happens you have to present proof of insurance to Garda Station?

LittleBrick

Hi,

I was stopped yesterday driving a loaner car. It has tax and NCT, and garage insurance, but i hadn't transferred my own insurance. I told the Garda that stopped me that I was covered under the garage insurance because i presumed i was, but turns out I wasn't. He told me to present proof of garage insurance covering me today to the garda station.

However, I checked with garage and because I have "drive other cars", I was legally covered anyway. So I brought my own insurance cert as proof to the garda station instead. As this isn't garage insurance like I originally indicated, could I still get a court summons for misleading the Garda or anything? It was a genuine mistake on my part, and I was legally covered, just not in the way I initially had believed!

Lewis_Benson

D4iving of other cars usually assumes that there is an insurance policy for that vehicle also, check with your insurance company of this is in your policy terms and conditions.

LittleBrick

The other insurance policy is the garages trade policy.

CalamariFritti

As long as you can produce cover for the period you'll be grand. Guard probably won't even remember or taken a note what you stated there and then. Either way they're not going to go like "'ye you were covered, but you lied to us, fine and 10 months driving ban"

JVince

You are fine. Garda just looking to see you were covered for insurance. They can check the policy instantly and see you are covered for driving other cars.

As you have now produced the insurance, nothing further will happen.

CramCycle

Bring your own insurance cert, so long as the car is covered you will be grand, for example mine covers me for any road worthy car 2.4L . Even if the garda asks (they won't, they just want to know you were insured), you can say, I thought it did but my own insurance covers me anyway.

coylemj

Seems a bit lax on the part of the garage to lend someone a car with potentially no insurance.

OP, did the garage ask to see your insurance cert. before they gave you the loaner car? Were you not covered while driving because the car was only covered for demo drives with a sales person onboard?

If you didn't have 'driving other cars' cover and there was an accident, you would have been summonsed for driving with no insurance and, as the owner of the vehicle, the garage would have been ultimately liable for any civil claims. MIBI would have paid out as the car was uninsured but they would have sued the garage for any monies paid.