PRESSURE IS mounting for an amendment to the rules of the Government’s car scrappage scheme, to allow for the qualifying car to have been insured by a person other than the registered owner as the primary insurer.
The rules of the scheme, as published on revenue.ie, state that the scrapped car must must have been insured for use on the road in the name of the registered owner for at least 12 of the 18 months prior to the date of scrappage.
However, this is at odds with the terms first published by Revenue before Christmas.
The original document, which still features on many manufacturers’ websites, stated that the scrapped car must have been insured for use on the road for at least 12 of the 18 months immediately prior to the date of scrappage.
It is this difference that is causing some owners concern – because their car was insured by a spouse or by their parents, they are not eligible for the scrappage allowance.
A spokesperson for the Revenue Commissioners told The Irish Times in a statement that the text on Revenue’s website had been changed to reflect the draft legislation published in the Finance Bill 2010.
Michael Hynes from Galway was refused scrappage on his 1992 Nissan Sunny because, despite being the registered owner, the car was insured in his wife’s name. His insurance company, he said, had told him that he could not insure two cars in his own name.
“Despite being a named driver on the car for 18 months, I was deemed ineligible for scrappage,” he said.
According to Stephen Doherty of Dave Doherty Insurance Brokers, in order for there to be insurable interest, the registered owner of the vehicle must insure the vehicle in their name.
They would then have to disclose to their insurance company that a named driver on the policy would be the main user.
“You don’t have to be the main driver of the vehicle, but you do have to insure it in your own name if you own it.
“Not many insurers look favourably on insuring vehicles where the registered owner is not the main driver, unless it is their spouse,” said Doherty.
Michael Horan of the Irish Insurance Federation told The Irish Times that there are instances wherein a husband or wife is the registered owner, but their spouse is the main policy holder.
“This doesn’t make the policy illegal but it does make it voidable.
“However, this seldom happens as there has been mutual consent between spouses at the time of filling in forms.
“I think there needs to be some amendment made to the scrappage rules just to clear this up,” said Horan.
Any wording of Revenue’s website or change to it is not a change in legislation, according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), as the legislation has yet to be enacted.
SIMI has made submissions to the Department of Transport looking for an amendment to the Bill and it is lobbying the Departments of Finance, Revenue and politicians in an attempt to get the rules of the scrappage scheme amended.
Alan Nolan, director general of SIMI, said that he is hopeful of a change to the rules to make the scheme more flexible.
“We know that Revenue and the Department of Finance are aware of the issue and are looking into it,” said Nolan. “Given that this [issue] is about genuine cases, we would hope that they will look favourably on it.”
It is hoped that the situation may be cleared up to some degree when the Finance Bill is published in the coming weeks.