Can you drive a car without tax to the NCT? Moving a car legally in Ireland

Why driving an untaxed, uninsured or untested car is a problem

Three separate things have to be in order for a car to be used on a public road in Ireland: motor tax, insurance, and a valid NCT where the car is old enough to need one. Each is its own offence if missing. In general terms, driving an untaxed car in Ireland is an offence and the car can be detained. Driving without insurance is a serious offence that can lead to disqualification. Driving without a valid NCT carries 3 penalty points and a 60 euro fixed charge.

The insurance point is the one people underestimate. Tax and NCT are fines and points. No insurance is the one that puts you in court, and it is also the one where, if you hit someone on the way to the NCT centre, you are personally liable for every cent. Nobody is covering you.

Can you drive a car without tax to the NCT? The myth

The belief is that there is an exemption letting you drive an untaxed car straight to a pre-booked NCT, and a cousin of it says you can drive to the garage for the pre-test. We have looked for something official that says so and could not find it. Garda discretion at a checkpoint is not a rule, and in any case it does nothing about the insurance side: if the car has no insurance, the NCT appointment is irrelevant.

Our advice is simple. If the car is out of tax or out of insurance, do not drive it to the test, to the garage or anywhere else. Have it moved.

The clean solution: flatbed transport as a load

A car on a flatbed is a load. The truck is the vehicle in use, and the truck's tax, insurance and test cover the journey. The car being carried does not need tax, insurance or an NCT to be transported, any more than a fridge does. That is why car transport in Kilkenny is the answer to every version of this question.

The only things we need are the keys (or not, we have skates for a car that will not roll), somewhere to park the truck near the car, and an address at the other end. Automatic, four-wheel drive and electric cars all go on the flatbed with all four wheels off the ground. We never use a rope or a spec lift.

Buying a car online or at auction and getting it home

Moving a car bought online in Ireland is a question that comes up constantly. You have paid for a car on DoneDeal in Carlow or won it at an auction in Dublin. It may still have a tax disc in date, it is certainly not insured in your name until you ring your insurer, and the NCT may or may not be current.

• Before you collect, ring your insurer and have the car added or a new policy started from the date of collection. Get the policy number before you drive it an inch.
• Check the NCT date and the tax date on the discs. If either has lapsed, the car is going on a truck, not on the road.
• If you are buying at auction, assume the car cannot be driven away. Most auction cars have no current discs, and the yard will expect you to have transport arranged.
• Tell us the pick-up address, the Eircode of where it is going, and whether the car starts and rolls. We collect from Carlow, Waterford, Dublin and anywhere between, and the price is agreed before the truck moves.
• Complete the change of ownership promptly. Until it is done, the previous owner is still on the record for the car.

Declaring a vehicle off the road

If the car is going to be parked up for a while, declare it off the road rather than letting the tax quietly lapse. In general terms, from the motor tax rules: a declaration of non-use has to be made in advance, during the month the current tax runs out, and it covers a period of between three and twelve months. It cannot be backdated. If you have just bought the car and do not intend to tax it straight away, there is a short window after the change of ownership to make the declaration. Check motortax.ie for the current period. If tax has already lapsed with no declaration, arrears build up and have to be dealt with before the car can be taxed or declared again.

The important bit for this post: a car declared off the road is not to be used on the road at all during the declared period. If it has to go somewhere during that time, for a test, a sale or a repair, it goes on a truck.

Trade plates: what they are and why you probably cannot use them

Garages and motor traders can hold trade plates, issued by the motor tax office for a calendar year. In general terms they allow a trader to move an unregistered or untaxed vehicle on the road for trade purposes: testing during repair, showing a car to a buyer, delivering between premises, or going out to a broken-down car and bringing it back. They are not a general-purpose way to drive untaxed cars. Using them outside the trade reasons is an offence, and a private buyer cannot get them. If a dealer offers to drive your new purchase to you on trade plates, that is their call and their insurance. For a private sale, the answer is a transporter.

Transport an uninsured car: what to tell us when you ring

Ring Kilkenny Recovery Truck on 087 288 2280 or WhatsApp the same number. Tell us where the car is, where it is going, the make and model, whether it starts, rolls and steers, and whether there is anything unusual such as a seized brake, a flat battery or a car that has been sitting on grass for a year. With that we give you a price, and the truck leaves Three Castles when you say yes. Daytime, planned moves are the cheapest work we do, so if the car does not need to move tonight, book it for tomorrow.