The Department of Transport has written to 1,117 car-owners warning

that their cars were previously classified as write-offs, and urging them to check the roadworthiness as a matter of urgency, reports the Irish Times

The owners of such vehicles have been instructed to take "urgent action" to ensure their car is safe and, if they have already sold it, to provide details of the new owners to the department. The move follows an investigation led by the Road Safety Authority that found written-off cars were being repaired and returned to the roads.

This happened because there was no complete State register of written-off cars to which write-offs could be reported. In the letter, the department notes that previously written-off vehicles may have been insured because most insurers do not check the vehicle's history.

As a result, insurers agreed to hand over their records on write-offs to the department on a voluntary basis and write-offs notified by insurers are now being listed on the National Vehicle Driver File. This will prevent write-offs from being taxed or resold. It is not clear how many of the 1,117 former write-offs were imported from the UK. The details of written-off vehicles are being forwarded on to the Garda

The extent of the problem first came to light over a year ago following an investigation by privately-owned car-checking website Cartell.ie, which allows prospective buyers do a background check on a vehicle... The Government is planning to introduce a vehicle roadworthiness check for imported cars as part of the Finance Bill 2009.


Irish Times