{"id":301309,"date":"2026-02-16T19:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/301309\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T19:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T19:21:09","slug":"nearly-20000-uninsured-vehicles-seized-by-gardai-in-2025-new-figures-show-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/301309\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 20,000 uninsured vehicles seized by garda\u00ed in 2025, new figures show \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 19,600 uninsured vehicles were seized by garda\u00ed<\/a> in 2025, according to new figures from the Motor Insurers\u2019 Bureau of Ireland<\/a> (MIBI).<\/p>\n

In total, 38,546 uninsured vehicles have been seized in the first 24 months since the introduction of the Irish motor insurance database<\/a> (IMID) system in 2024.<\/p>\n

The new insurance database allows garda\u00ed to check the insurance status of a vehicle using automatic number plate recognition technology or through their mobile device.<\/p>\n

The figures are contained in the IMID annual report for 2025, which shows 4,589,494 valid driver numbers have been added to the database.<\/p>\n

Over the past two years, 51,024 charges and summons have been issued to drivers without insurance since the new database was introduced, according to the report, with 25,009 of these issued in 2025.<\/p>\n

By the end of last year, a total of 3,646,638 vehicles were included on the IMID database.<\/p>\n

David Fitzgerald, chief executive of the MIBI, said the bureau was \u201cvery pleased to see the contribution and impact that IMID is making towards law enforcement\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDriving without insurance is against the law and it has been a problem in this country for quite a while. That is why IMID was set up \u2013 to make it easier for An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na to identify those who are breaking the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Noting that IMID allows garda\u00ed to identify uninsured vehicles in \u201cseconds\u201d, Fitzgerald said it has changed the \u201cwhole uninsured policing picture completely\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFake insurance certs or suggestions of mistaken identity can no longer be used by drivers to try to get away with breaking the law. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, the addition of driver numbers to IMID since last March has made it a waste of breath for drivers to even try the mistaken identity angle, with every driver number being tied to one specific individual for life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, Fitzgerald said there was \u201cconcern\u201d relating to fleet and motor trade vehicles, with the bureau believing there was still a significant number of individuals \u201cbreaking the law\u201d, having not yet added their vehicles to the National Fleet Database section of IMID.<\/p>\n

The IMID annual report shows 384,247 vehicles have been added to the National Fleet Database, a subsection for vehicles typically used by businesses and motor traders, which use a single insurance policy for multiple vehicles.<\/p>\n

The MIBI estimates there are thousands of fleet vehicles \u201cstill missing\u201d from the database.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to work with An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na and other IMID stakeholders this year to target that group and to remind all offenders that if you do not meet your legal motor insurance obligations, you face the real risk of being prosecuted, a process that IMID has made easier than ever for the garda\u00ed,\u201d Fitzgerald said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 19,600 uninsured vehicles were seized by garda\u00ed in 2025, according to new figures from the Motor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,72,61,5167,60,142552],"class_list":["post-301309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-an-garda-siochana","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-insurance","tag-ireland","tag-motor-insurance-bureau-of-ireland-mibi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}