FIGURES FOR the first five months of the year show that there is often a marked difference between figures for registrations and vehicles licensed at given times on Irish roads.
According to figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which refer to vehicles licensed for the first time for road use, 37,532 new cars were licensed with local authorities by the end of May, but figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) for the same period show that 42,030 new cars were registered.
According to the CSO, “licensing figures refer to vehicles taxed for road use only”. This would indicate that 4,498 cars were registered but untaxed by the end of May, or that as much as 10 per cent of the Irish car fleet was untaxed.
In terms of brands, the biggest difference between CSO figures for cars licensed and registrations is with Chevrolet, where there were 90 units, or 33 per cent of its fleet, not licensed for road use. A spokesperson for the brand said: “The difference of units in May might be hire drives that went on the fleets and were not immediately registered. All registrations for Chevrolet have been cars sold to the public or to fleet.”
Hyundai is a close second with a 23 per cent difference between CSO figures for licensing and SIMI registration figures.
According to Irish law, “you are obliged to pay motor tax to drive your vehicle [and to] display evidence that you have paid on the windscreen of your vehicle. Failure to display evidence that you have paid motor tax on your vehicle is considered a motoring offence and will result in a €65 on-the-spot fine issued by a traffic warden or the Garda. Gardaí are empowered to impound any vehicle that has not been taxed for a period of two months or more.
“If you are stopped by the Garda while driving and the road tax for that vehicle is out of date by two months or more, the Garda can seize that vehicle and impound it until such time as the owner can show proof that the motor tax has been paid for that vehicle, to include the date on which it was impounded (ie paying the arrears).
“The owner will be liable for all charges and costs incurred by the Garda in the removal and storage of the vehicle.”