The " Legally registered " trap !

The discontinuation of car registration stickers on car windscreens from next year will remove a legal trap that has ensnared many people in the past.   That registration sticker has been regarded as proof that the vehicle is legally registered and may be driven on this state's roads.

That may have been the case many years ago when all car owners were required to attend a RTA office and pay the registration fee - and have the sticker imprinted with the cash register receipt number.   Today, that transaction can be made over the phone or on the Internet using a computer, and as a consequence no such record of payment appears on the sticker.

In many cases payment for registration is made by personal cheque or use of a credit card, and in the event that this method of payment is not honoured, the registering authority simply cancels the transaction by the click of a computer key.   As a result, the vehicle appears to be legally registered and no attempt is made to recover that sticker or confiscate the car's number plates.

A second trap in this legal minefield concerns unpaid fines.  When the period of grace for paying a driving fine - or a parking fine - expires, recovering the money passes to the state office of debt recovery.   The offender receives demands and if these are ignored the usual procedure is to cancel that persons driver's license - and the registration of any motor vehicles in that persons name.    Once again, no attempt is made to recover either the registration sticker or number plates attached to that vehicle.

The risk passes to any person who buys a car from a private buyer and assumes that the sticker is a true record that the vehicle is legally registered - and that it shows what length of time remains until re-registration is required.   This new owner has a period of grace before transferring ownership is required - and may lose the legal protection of registration in the event of an accident.   Such an accident may involve costs that will cripple that person financially for the rest of their life.

The fact that in future there will be no deceptive registration stickers will remove a hazard.   Anyone buying a second hand car would be well advised to make their own enquiry to determine it's registered state - before even taking a test drive.