Car written off - claiming back motor tax

my husband crashed his car in september and it was written off by the insurance company and taken into their possession on 26th september. They also took the vehicle licensing cert. I had paid a full years car tax on the car at the end of August. The car was sent to the dismantlers. We contacted the insurance company about getting the tax back they said they never heard of it. Contacted motor tax office and they said we need a letter from insurance company saying they had the vehicle registration cert and a copy of a certificate of end of life of the vehicle from the insurance company we also needed to get the gardai to sign a form. We requested this cert from the insurance company a number of times and it was dealt with on a someone will ring you back kind of basis. It turns out they didnt know what we were talking about but finally figured it out and said they would get us a cert and send it out. We never got it and so the constant someone will ring you back thing started all over again. In the end in january a very rude person on the phone told me why didnt I ring the dismantlers myself and get it from them. I had never been informed of who the dismantler was but eventually got the name and phone number from the customer care person. I rang the dismantlers requesting the certifcate and they said they would send it out. I got it today and it is called a certificate of destruction it is dated 5th february and says that the car will be destroyed in accordance with the blah blah blah. Now this as far as I'm concerned is not what I need as surely it was destroyed in september and not on the 5th february. What can i do to get my money back?

Write to to 'The Complaints manager' of the insurance company invovled, by registered post and put your complaint in writing, asking for a response withing 3 weeks or you will contact the financial regulator. That should prompt a response.

I suppose if there was a delay, then teh reason for the delay needs to be identified. The destructors will only certify on date that they destruct. The car was somewhere in the interim.

This is taken from the Department of the Environment's website www.environ.ie

Refunds of Motor Tax

IMPORTANT: Tax discs must be surrendered immediately as refunds are generally calculated from the first of the month following the surrender of the disc. A minimum of three unexpired whole calender months must be left on the disc when surrendered.

Applications for refunds of motor tax can be made to you local motor tax office, on Form RF120, in circumstances when,

The vehicle has been scrapped/destroyed or sent permanently out of the state,
The vehicle has been stolen and has not been recovered by the owner,
A vehicle in respect of which a tax disc has been taken out has not been used in a public place at any time since the issue of the disc,
The owner of the vehicle has ceased, because of illness, injury or other physical disability, to use the vehicle,
The owner of the vehicle has ceased, because of absence from the state for business or educational purposes, to use the vehicle,
The owner of the vehicle has ceased, because of service overseas with the Defence Forces, to use the vehicle.

I would imagine that you should ask the dismantlers for the tax disc from the car and proceed from there.

I have the tax disc and need proof of when the car was destroyed. Does dismantler has to keep these kind of records? At this rate I'm half expecting to meet the car driving on the road somewhere.

A similar thing happened to me. My car was written off by another driver and was scrapped (Dec 2010) but was still tax for a furtehr 8 months. I continually contacted the other drivers insurance company for the proof of scrapage cerrtificate. Each time I called I was told they would chase it up and ensure a copy was posted. This went on until May of this year, when finally they were able to send me a photocopy of the certificate they had recieved. When i received the certificate it said scrapped April 2011! I was so shocked but I sent off all my paperwork to the Tax office anyway, advising of timelines. They were great, rang me within 2 days and advised that they see this all the time (delay in scrapping from date of accident) and all I needed to do was send or fax them a copy of the letter from the other drivers insurance company that has on it somewhere the date of the incident. I found this and sent it off and recieved my full 8 months tax back. Hope this helps