Michael McAleeranswers your questions
From C Carroll:
I am an Irish citizen, but lived in Britain for 12 years and still hold a UK driving licence, although I am now living in Ireland. Somebody in a similar situation told me recently that they had a problem when they tried to make an insurance claim for a crash.
Unknown to the individual, they had accumulated penalty points here in Ireland, which were not transferred to their UK licence.
However, upon the individual making the claim, the insurance company checked and was able to establish that this was the case. Consequently, they refused to pay out on the claim on the basis that the individual had not declared this information on their insurance application form. As a result, the individual was personally liable for replacement of their own and third party's car and hospital treatment expenses. Can this happen and is it legal?
If there are penalty points assigned to a driver, and these are not revealed on the insurance documentation then the insurers would seem to be within their rights. However, this is not the usual situation. As my colleague David Labanyi reported in Motors on July 18th, most insurers ignore the penalty point information when it comes to processing claims. As David reported at the time: "While inaccurate information can potentially invalidate an insurance policy, cases where claims are being refused on the basis of inaccurate penalty point information are unheard of to date, according to industry sources."
Points cannot be transferred to a British licence, but are held against the driver and will start to take effect once that person gets an Irish licence.
As for your own situation, if you are now residing in Ireland then you need to change to an Irish licence.
From B Doherty:
The query last week about a speeding fine being issued to the wrong address - after which the driver was summonsed to court for failure to pay, and the likelihood of four penalty points instead of two - has a more straightforward remedy than engaging a solicitor.
The Fixed Fines Office in Capel Street has the function of presenting a file on all such speeding offences to the judge in question.
Based on my own experience with an exactly similar error, the office can also explain the position to the judge, and explain that they do not wish to proceed with the case if payment is made in the interim.
Going to them with the summons and pointing out the address error is the way forward for that reader.
Thanks for the advice. We have passed it on to the reader in question. The crucial element will be whether the Garda believe the mistake was made by themselves, or was an attempt by the driver to mislead them.
From M Ryan:
I currently drive an 2005 Mark V Golf GTI and I am very pleased with it. I am thinking of changing and my preferences would be a 2006 BMW 130i M sport, or to hold out until January and buy either Golf Gti or a Civic Type R.
I tested the Civic last week with a dealer in Bandon and I was very impressed. The drive is much more hardcore than the Golf: the term I'd use would be hectic. It is a hot hatch and I would certainly consider one. Given the lead-in time and supply restrictions, one would need to be ordering one within the next few weeks.
This leads me on to the Golf and VW Operations in Ireland. Previously in Motors it was mentioned that VW in Germany was looking at taking over the Irish Operation of VW from MDL. MDL previously handled Mazda in Ireland, but when Mazda Ireland was formed there was price restructuring and models came down in price. Could this happen with VW here? Has there been any date set for this transfer of ownership?
The 130i is on sale here, but I have never seen one for sale on the used market. There may be an ex-demo you can pick up. As good as it may be, with a starting price of €53,000 for a new one, I wouldn't be rushing out to buy a 130i: new or used.
Between the Golf Gti and the Civic Type R, I'd personally opt for the Golf, but if you are looking for more hardcore hot hatch performance then the Civic may suit you best.
As for changes to the VW operations in Ireland, the parent company is taking over distribution here, but they are not due to take full control until October 2008. There may well be changes to pricing and specification then, but it's not worth waiting that long to change.
Send your queries to Motors Helpdesk, The Irish Times, Tara St, Dublin 2 or e-mail motorshelp@irish-times.ie