Details for 157k of estimated 250k fleet and motor trader vehicles provided to date
Approximately 90k fleet and motor trader vehicles are risking fines and a court appearance from the end of the week, if they are not added to the National Fleet Database (NFD), according to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI).
The deadline for this legal requirement is Thursday 30th November. After that date, any fleet owners/ managers or motor traders responsible for vehicles whose details have not been added to the NFD may face legal sanctions. Potential penalties include facing prosecution in the District Court and being subjected to fines of up to €500 per vehicle.
Details for a total of 157,547 fleet and motor trader vehicles have been added to the NFD to date, from an estimated 250k such vehicles operating across the country. This means that in the region of 37% of the affected vehicles are yet to be added.
The MIBI has been running a campaign with the Road Safety Authority (RSA) to encourage fleet owners or managers and motor traders to ensure their details have been uploaded to the NFD ahead of the upcoming deadline.
Vehicles of the type impacted by this legal requirement are regularly used by garages and motor traders who sell vehicles, as well as fleets of trucks, buses, coaches, taxis, construction vehicles, hire cars, delivery vans, utility vehicles, transport and logistic providers, service vehicles as well as the vehicles operated by retailers, service providers, semi state operations and more.
A dedicated online database, the National Fleet Database (NFD) was launched last year to enable the collection of this information. It is maintained by the MIBI, a not for profit organisation that was established to compensate victims of road traffic accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles.
The vehicle data on the NFD will be combined with the same information for private vehicles and used by An Garda Síochána to identify vehicles which are being driven illegally without insurance.
The legal requirement to provide this information on fleet and motor trader vehicles was set out in the recently enacted Road Traffic and Roads Act (2023).
“There are still a significant number of vehicles that are yet to be added to the database ahead of the 30th November,” said David Fitzgerald, CEO of the MIBI. “While the level of vehicles added to the NFD has progressed considerably this month, approximately 3 in every 8 fleet or motor trader vehicles are still missing, despite the deadline being only days away. When you consider the size of some fleets and the potential penalties involved, non-compliance could carry quite the significant penalty. Fines of up to €500 per vehicle could quickly add up. So we would encourage anyone who owns or manages any form of fleet vehicles, as well as any motor traders, to make sure they are in compliance and their vehicle details have been added to the NFD,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.
“We would urge any fleet owners and managers or motor traders who are yet to comply to upload their vehicle details to the National Fleet Database ahead of 30th November,” said Sam Waide, CEO of the RSA. “This is a legal requirement which is aimed at helping to make Irish roads safer. Any fleet managers/ owners or motor traders who may be impacted need to make sure their vehicles are included and they won’t face penalties for non-compliance,” Mr. Waide concluded.
Anyone wishing to upload their vehicle information can do so on nfd.mtpl.ie by 30th November.