Engine spec from insurance company different than log book

It’s probably an import and got registered incorrectly. I think the people you need to contact are the Driver & Computer Services Division

Also remove your vin from here too..don't have vins floating around the internet.

listermint wrote: »

Also remove your vin from here too..don't have vins floating around the internet.

...and same to the poster who quoted the VIN.

User1998 wrote: »

It’s probably an import and got registered incorrectly. I think the people you need to contact are the Driver & Computer Services Division

Absolute shower of muppets working in Shannon or vrt section.
I purchased a BMW 430i from a dealer in Dublin. A few days later noticed reg cert and invoice for sale said 2993 cc petrol. When I tried to insure the car the insurance database was coming up 430d as only 430 with 3 litre engine is a diesel.
Dealer tried to resolve by giving me a build sheet from bmw showing it as a 2 litre petrol, 430i is only badge designated to set it apart from a 420i.
Anyways hitting my head off of a stone wall. Somebody when registering car went into drop down and selected 2993 cc engine size because v5 said 430i 😭.
Cannot get a reply from Shannon due to covid, insurance company have amended details as I showed them all my paper proof. Now local vrt office say that there could be more vrt owed as car was classified incorrectly. It is a 2016 car imported in 2018.
I can't sell the car either because everybody that does a cartell check thinks its diesel.
You could not make this **** up

coylemj wrote: »

I had a Mk V Golt GT 170 bhp but Shannon had it down as a 140 bhp. Both models were 1,400 c.c. so it was a clerical error somewhere. I highlighted the discrepancy every year to my insurer at renewal time and they accepted it as the higher model.

My point being that if you tell your insurance that the car is more powerful, they'll have no problem jacking up your premium. Telling you that they can't do anything about it when your car is a lower spec. is BS.

Absolutely. The 430i petrol is a higher rating so they could see it was a genuine error, 430d is cheaper to insure

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

No one Hardly anyone with a less powerful car is going to declare it as more powerful so it makes common sense for them to accept it when it happens.

FYP

Pixelbastardo wrote: »

But if we're talking about fairness from insurance companies, then showing them the log book should be enough to correct the clear error thats been robbing me for the last 3 years.

By 'log book' do you mean the registration cert? Surely that shows what's on the system in Shannon and is the same as what comes up on the screen in the insurance company when they input your reg. no?

Pixelbastardo wrote: »

Yes the registration cert. Not sure, but i rang the VW shop that the car was sold from 2 days ago, and it comes up as the right engine on their system funny enough. But always wrong engine when talking to insurance or ordering a part using the reg sometimes get the wrong part..

It's no surprise that the VW dealer has the correct details, they're get their data from the plant which manufactured the car. Whereas insurance companies and anyone using the reg no to (e.g.) order parts is picking up the (incorrect) details that are stored in the registration database in Shannon.

Your problem is that someone in Shannon seems to have allowed all petrol Golf GTs to default to the 140 bhp model i.e. they couldn't be bothered to discriminate between the various models.

Can I follow up on the question I asked in post #21 above, it relates to what you said in post #20 where you implied that the correct details are shown in the registration cert. That's sounds very peculiar because the cert should be exactly the same as what's in the database in Shannon.

Pixelbastardo wrote: »

Yeah, the cert shows the correct 1.4 80BHP spec. Well anyway i emailed shannon today (since their phoneslines are down). Sent them a picture front and back of cert along with the front of the car with the bonnet up, clearly showing the registration and engine. Along with explaining the whole issue with the insurance company's. I wonder if its even possible to get it fixed now, i mean the car is from 2008 so im assuming others have attempted to sort the issue in the past.. idk but when i contacted shannon afew years back i got nowhere with them. This time im going to press the issue more and wont let them give me the run around.

What power has the VLC got in P.2? Having the spec right doesn't matter it's the power that counts.

Pixelbastardo wrote: »

Well after contacting shannon, they're saying get in contact with "revenue on ros.ie" as they would have issued the documents on day one..

The run around has started again.. but ill contact ros today and see.

Yes, the revenue issued the cert. And it shows the correct spec. So the best they can do for you is to forward the details of your car to Shannon again.

Del2005 wrote: »

Since it's 80bhp on the VLC get onto the insurance ombudsman. Their system is wrong and you've been over charged for years, Shannon or revenue have nothing to do with it as the vehicle is correctly registered.

I don't the insurance ombudsman has a role to play here.

If the OP goes to Mick's Garage to buy a pair of wiper blades and enters his reg. no., it will show the the incorrect model.

I was in the same situation as the OP, I had a 2007 Golf GT Sport 170 and the insurance companies said it was a 140. What appears to happen is that the folk in Shannon classify all Golt GTs of that vintage as 140 bhp because they're all 1,400 c.c. which means that the annual tax is the same for all of them.

So as far they were concerned, they were all the same. And they weren't bothered to create new models in their database for the 80 and 170 bhp models. When Revenue notified them of a new registration for a petrol Golf GT, it got registered in Shannon as a 140 by default because there was no other options. That's my theory. My GT 170 had 125 kW in the VLC so both the OP and I had the correct power recorded by revenue but Shannon registered both of us as a 140.

Shannon has to fix the problem, it's nothing to do with the insurance ombudsman or the insurance business generally.

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

You do, of course, have a right to make your case to the insurer through their complaints procedure, but if you get nowhere, your only option is to leave at renewal date.

At the moment, his only 'option' is to get rid of the car. Because every insurer is looking at the same database. Which is overstaing the power of his car.

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

Your issue is with the vehicle and it's documents. Resolve that and insurers will reflect the correct situation in their quotations

Disagree, the problem is with the database. The vehicle's document (the VLC) correctly states his car's power.

You work in the business.... do insurers each have a live link to Shannon to check vehicles by reg. no? Or do they do a bulk import to a database server (managed by an insurance consortium) and periodically update it with new registrations?

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

My point is that even if an insurer has incorrectly classed any vehicle for rating purposes, that's their own business. You don't have to accept their offer. You can raise the issue with them, but if they won't budge, that's the end of the matter.

That’s a pretty fatalistic (‘take it or leave it’) response. I tried the reg. of my 2007 Golf GT 170 (which I sold in 2010) on Mick’s Garage, AIG and Axa and it’s now showing as a 170 bhp - my insurers always told me it was a 140 bhp - so the guy who bought it from me or a subsequent owner got the database corrected.

Every year when I was renewing, I reminded my insurer that it was a 170, not a 140 and they accepted my word. Hardly surprising when they were charging me more. But the OP is unable to do this in reverse.

Perhaps you could ask your colleagues at work how someone can get the database updated? The OP has a VLC which is at odds with what comes up on the screen when an insurance agent is giving him a quote.

OP, can you put your registration number into Mick's Garage and see if your model details are correct.

If they are, your problem is that the insurance business has a database with bad data. Good luck with getting that fixed (see previous post) and Shannon can't help you. If Mick's Garage says that you have a 140 bhp model, your problem is with Shannon.

Del2005 wrote: »

The problem is entirely on the insurance companies because their database is incorrect. The vehicle is registered correctly on the VLC so the insurers database is wrong and it's up to them to fix it or get whoever entered the details to fix it. How can Shannon or Revenue fix the an issue when their systems have the correct information?

We don't know if Shannon has the correct data. The OP could try his registration on a non-insurance website like Mick's Garage, that will tell him what's in the Shannon database. I wouldn't go knocking on the insurance regulator's door until that was established.

Shannon doesn't care if the OP's car is 80, 140 or 170 bhp because they all have the same rate of annual tax. Whereas, for obvious reasons, the insurance companies do care. So I'd be inclined to guess that Shannon is the source of the error.

Henry Ford III wrote: »

A friend of mine got a brand new car some time ago. The trim level was incorrectly specified on the VLC and had it been left as was the car would have been worth less when it is moved on eventually.

The answer there was to get the dealer send back the incorrect VLC to Shannon and have them issue a corrected one. That was done and all was well.

I suspect that this case is exactly the same.

OP told us the VLC shows the correct specs (post #1) .....

Pixelbastardo wrote: »

Log book shows all correct specs, reg, etc. Its a proper pain in the arse.

I just went back through his posts and noticed this….

Pixelbastardo wrote: »

But always wrong engine when talking to insurance or ordering a part using the reg sometimes get the wrong part..

the last part suggests that the fault lies with Shannon because it means that the error is not confined to a database being used by insurers. Revenue supplied Shannon with the correct data but they registered it as the wrong model, they treated every petrol Golf GT from 07 and 08 as 140 bhp. Exactly what they did with my 2007 Golf GT. Which a subsequent owner managed to get corrected.

Henry Ford III wrote: »

The OP is wrong in that case. If the cars details were correctly input day 1 none of this would be happening.

Strictly for what it's worth I suspect the engine code is wrong.

He's not wrong, I had exactly the same problem with a petrol 2007 Golf GT. See post #31 above for my theory as to the cause.

Mine was 170 bhp which (as with the OP) Shannon claimed was 140 bhp. The VLC showed the correct model and (125) kW rating but every year when I was renewing my insurance, I had to remind them that it was 170 and not 140. And I double-checked the schedule when they sent me the paperwork.

One of the subsequent owners has had it corrected - I did a dummy quote on AIG and Axa a few days go and I entered the reg. on Mick's Garage and it's now showing everywhere as 170 bhp.

Pixelbastardo wrote: »

Shannon got back to me saying,

"I have checked out the details with our Operations Team. They have advised me to advise you that the make and model description we sent the insurance companies for your vehicle is as follows:

Volkswagen Golf GT SP 1.4 80 BHP 5DR.

We don’t know where the incorrect information originated from.

This is an issue for your Insurance Company to rectify their records."

Read reply from shannon above, they seem clueless too.

Then it looks like the insurance companies have loaded the data from Shannon into a database which doesn't know about the GT 80 bhp model. So it's defaulted to the next model up the range. I bought my 170 GT in September 2007, it was only launched in May of that year so the insurance companies had it in their database as a 140 bhp.

Could you go into an insurance company website for a quote and see what it shows? You can give a fictitious e-mail address and phone number, some of them only send the quote to the e-mail address but AIG and Axa gave me onscreen quotes a few days ago.

Henry Ford III wrote: »

I've mentioned a specific example together with the solution. No guesswork involved.

How many times do we (OP and I, see posts #41 and #44) have to remind you....

Your friend's VLC was in error. Whereas the OP's VLC is 100% correct. So the solution you're referring to (dealer sends incorrect VLC to Shannon, to get it corrected) has no applicability in this case.