Prior to the setting up of the central vehicle register in 1993, vehicle registration numbers were issued at local authority level. Under current procedures, where a vehicle registered prior to that date is not recorded on the National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF), a record can be created if the owner presents the original logbook or where details of the vehicle can be located either by the local motor tax office or in the archived files of the Driver and Vehicle Computer Services Division of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, which maintains the NVDF. The logbook is the official document for the vehicle and requiring it to be produced as proof of ownership reduces the potential for vehicles to be fraudulently registered to avail of the concessionary rate of motor tax applicable to vintage vehicles.
Vehicles are referred to the Office of the Revenue Commissioners in circumstances where the logbook is not available and where a record for the vehicle cannot be located. I am satisfied that the current process appropriately balances customer requirements with the need to safeguard the integrity of the National Vehicle and Driver File.
