Results of a poll carried out by AA Motor Insurance has revealed that motorists are running the risk of penalty points, fines and even disqualification from driving by allowing one or more of their NCT, tax or car insurance certificates to expire.
Of the 15,300 people polled 33 per cent admitted to driving with an expired NCT disc, 33 per cent without valid car tax, 4 per cent with an expired driver's licence and 2 per cent with an out of date insurance disc.
"We get honest motorists who let their certificates slip for perhaps a few weeks because they have been slow to re-tax the car or have delayed the NCT appointment." Says AA Director of Insurance John Farrell. "It is very serious to drive your car without insurance, and it adds hugely to the cost for all motorists, but at the same time a lot of people reported to us that they had simply forgotten to change the windscreen disc and driven with last year's one still on display."
While the survey spoke to AA customers there is a broader problem with a minority of motorists who are deliberately driving uninsured and in some cases displaying fake discs.
"As many as 5% of cars out there are uninsured at any one time." Says Farrell. "This is paid for by the rest of us and it is a serious issue. That sort of willful evasion is targeted by the Gardaí, and rightly so."