was asked was my car a van

[998cc-keith]

took the legnum out today as its not my daily driver and pulled up to toll bridge and ya one goes is that a car or a van i was like eh a car and she made me lower rear window to prove it had seats etc or she was charging me as a van

[TopCat]

Well to be fair someone spotted a Legnum converted to commercial for sale recently. Now that sounds like a cool commercial!

[998cc-keith]

tat is a lad from vr4 club wo owns that,i was thinkng off doing it redues tax from 935 to 288 but i need my rear seats, but like its still a car really so like why would they want 4.30 though the toll brigde

[colm_mcm]

Because if you want to dodge a few grand in VRT and a few hundred in road tax by converting your car to commercial, you have to put up with higher toll charges and annual testing.

[TopCat]

Plus, by their nature, commercial vehicles tend to be heavier, and therefore do more damage to the road surface, requiring more road maintainence. That's why artic's are charged more again.

[Dragonheart]

Because if you want to dodge a few grand in VRT

Do you not pay VRT on commercial vehicles?

[TopCat]

VRT on a commercial is only €50 IIRC?

[colm_mcm]

Yup.
to compare, something like a Toyota Land Cruiser, the VRT on a passenger model is €20,000, VRT on a commercial is €50.

[Dragonheart]

Yup.
to compare, something like a Toyota Land Cruiser, the VRT on a passenger model is €20,000, VRT on a commercial is €50.

Makes sense really doesn't it, like everything else in Ireland at the moment.

[colm_mcm]

Heard of a guy who taxed a Supra commercially.

[Myfeckin FTO]

Heard of a guy who taxed a Supra commercially.

Yip - Strictly speaking you should be able to tax my 2 seater Zed as a commercial (though you might need to take out the strut brace to meet min unobstructed capacity). Would possibly beat having to pay €1566 in road tax.

[Dragonheart]

Whys that cause its 2 seater? Would you actually be able to do it though? It would also eliminate NCT, but I wonder would garages be willing to run an MOT on it as a commercial?

[colm_mcm]

you could commercially tax an FTO if you removed the rear seats and had a flat floor over them.
If the car was VRT'd as a passenger car already you don't have to black out the rear side windows (not that they're big anyway)
Annual DOE test and high toll charges would probably cancel out any tax savings. might make insurance more palatable though?

[Dragonheart]

High toll charges if you regularly use the toll, but if you dont, and are using it once every month like I used then it would prob work out better.
But what about trying to bring one in to pay VRT of only 50euro, OK so you'd have to have the seats taken out before it got here, and put a flat floor in, but could it be done? Theoretically of course?
There would also be the advantage of not having the torture of a seriously strict NCT, the fathers van passes the MOT every time and its good but there are some things that would absolutely not pass an NCT.

[colm_mcm]

dodging VRT would be nice. especially on a big engined car. The toll issue can be sorted by just using the automated basket jobbie.

[Dragonheart]

Good point ya, couldn't imagine too many people asking about an FTO being a commercial in a toll gate anyway. Prob get hit on the M50 though cause it goes by license plates doesn't it? Which if you have it taxed as commercial it'll be picking up on.

[colm_mcm]

A mate has a Combo van, he used to use the automated basket on the N4 for ages. Think they now have ANPR as the barrier won't lift for small vans anymore.

[Dragonheart]

They going bringing that into all toll so soon? No doubt they will at some stage. If it worked on the M50 then I cant see them holding off on it much longer. Apart from the fact it'll cost millions but it'd be the type of thing they'd do in a crisis.

[colm_mcm]

Its not ANPR in the style of the M50, I'd say more of a failsafe for the automated baskets to stop vans getting through.

They're putting up old fashioned toll barriers in Limerick and Mountrath at the moment so I doubt the M50 style system is going nationwide.

[Dragonheart]

Actually that reminds me, those barriers aren't all that safe you know, a girl I used work with before had one on the Fermoy toll come down on her after she paid, it went up and back down as she went through, it was only a plastic thing so it cracked as she hit it, but it still shouldn't have come down.
Where the Limerick ones going?

[colm_mcm]

You can see the Clonmacken toll plaza if you're heading from Dooradoyle to the Coonagh roundabout. It's only a couple hundred metres from the roundabout

[998cc-keith]

seen it when i was heading to ennis there 2 weeks ago

[Dragonheart]

Oh right so its not far from that new tunnel.

[colm_mcm]

Nope. you can see them building it as you head out towards Shannon from the Coonagh roundabout (the one where the massive Tesco is)