No car insurance
- Thread starter DebbieLyn
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A stint in prison is really appropriate, but given the state that the Irish Prison Service is in, it probably won't happen.
The country needs to get tougher on crime.
Judge will probably take into account what type of character you are, job, responsibilities, legal representation, any past record of similar, etc, etc, give you a stern warning and base a fine on what i've said. Then again, how long are you without insurance and why are you driving around without it? If you were acting the maggot you could have the holy book thrown at you. It is a serious offence.
Brendan Burgess
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DirectDevil
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AFAIK the possibilities include a penalty of 5 points and a fine up to €5,000 and or imprisonment for no more than 6 months.
I think that a driving disqualification is OPTIONAL instead of imposing penalty points.
For a first offence - as here - any disqualification is probably for 2 years.
What actual penalties are available might depend on when the offence happened as there were recent revisions in RTA law.
OP's reason for not having insurance will figure in the judge's thinking.
At a loose guess OP is looking at 5 penalty points and a fine of several hundred euros.
This would actually constitute a quite significant penalty as it has long term implications.
5 penalty points will cause OP significant problems in getting motor insurance in the future.
5 penalty points could also impede OP's ability to secure employment if their licence is not clean and or they cannot get insurance on a potential employer's motor insurance policy for a company car.
Imprisonment is not appropriate on the bare facts disclosed.
Anyhow, you have more chance of getting in to engineering in UCD than jail for something like this.....
If this was not a first offence - as this is - I might take a different view.
I think that a driving disqualification is OPTIONAL instead of imposing penalty points.
For a first offence - as here - any disqualification is probably for 2 years.
What actual penalties are available might depend on when the offence happened as there were recent revisions in RTA law.
OP's reason for not having insurance will figure in the judge's thinking.
At a loose guess OP is looking at 5 penalty points and a fine of several hundred euros.
This would actually constitute a quite significant penalty as it has long term implications.
5 penalty points will cause OP significant problems in getting motor insurance in the future.
5 penalty points could also impede OP's ability to secure employment if their licence is not clean and or they cannot get insurance on a potential employer's motor insurance policy for a company car.
Imprisonment is not appropriate on the bare facts disclosed.
Anyhow, you have more chance of getting in to engineering in UCD than jail for something like this.....
If this was not a first offence - as this is - I might take a different view.
I don't know.
What's that based on please?
Personally, I would consider your estimate of the outcome not just overly lenient, but something that does nothing to punish the wrong do'er, or set any form of real deterrent for the future. In fact, it probably would only encourage people to take a chance and not have motor insurance, it's so lenient and the chances of getting caught, reasonably low.
A large number of male drivers pay several hundred euro a year for car insurance (if not more), while two speeding offences get you 6 points, and are hardly considered a serious problem by a few drivers I know, who have them. As such, your "guesstimate" appears a very low price to pay, for doing something so wrong.
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Seems common enough.
€500 fine for no license and no insurance.
€250 fine for disqualified from driving and no insurance
€300 fine for banned driver with no insurance
The Restorative Road Safety Programme allows drivers to avoid stiffer penalties by making a charitable donation and taking part in the programme.
DirectDevil
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I didn't say loose guess for nothing !
There are too many variable factors unknown to us on the thread to opine definitively.
Also, each case will be dealt with on the day on it's full and particular facts.
However, Leo's examples at #11 go a long way to explaining what goes on.
DirectDevil
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To make two points separately on the broader issues arising.
1. ECONOMIC ARGUMENT.
Your argument relating to the economic incentive to chance driving without insurance is entirely right.
There are those who will choose deliberately to drive without motor insurance on the bases of a low chance of detection and, if there is an accident, that they are "covered" by the MIBI. That attitude is reprehensible. I distinguish people deliberately committing the offence from those who commit it through inadvertence - something that can and actually does happen. The "covered" by the MIBI argument is of course entirely devoid of merit.
If there is an accident those who have paid for motor insurance policies actually cover the economic cost of uninsured drivers' liabilities because the MIBI is funded by annual levies on all insurance companies underwriting motor insurance in Ireland. Put another way, those who take out motor insurance actually pay for the risk represented by those who don't.
2. RISK POOLING.
One of the basic principles of insurance is risk pooling.
For example, everybody takes out a policy of insurance against contingency X.
Some policyholders will sustain losses during the year and some will not.
The insurance underwriter can predict how many losses might arise within the pool but not which policyholders will be the unlucky ones.
Therefore, the misfortunes of the few who have a loss are covered by the fortunes of the many who have no loss.
They all pay their premiums against the risk of a possible loss and that is how it works.
Where people drive without insurance they are actually getting effective insurance cover from the rest of us because we pay for their risk but they are not contributing to the pool. Conceptually, if all paid in to the pool then the risk element is properly and fairly dealt with by being funded correctly by all who should be paying. This is all the more irritating given that motor insurance is compulsory under statute - RTA 1961 S. 56.
.
I feel that those who drive deliberately without insurance are actually committing an economic crime against those of us who do insure.
That all supports my thinking that those who do wrong, should be punished severely.
If there's a genuine reason for someone driving without insurance, then okay it's taken into account when sentencing, but let's all be honest here... There are very few genuine reasons which justify letting someone off the hook when they've done wrong.
If there's a genuine reason for someone driving without insurance, then okay it's taken into account when sentencing, but let's all be honest here... There are very few genuine reasons which justify letting someone off the hook when they've done wrong.