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Sorn / insurance
jacko - 15/3/11 at 05:44 PM

I think i know the answer but i will ask

If a car is sorned off road and in a garage does it have to be insured [ Old escort in bits etc ]

i think the answer is NO am i right

Thanks Jacko

blakep82 - 15/3/11 at 05:46 PM

doesn't have to be no, new rules say if its not sorned then it has to be insured. but that was a couple of weeks ago now. i heard something about it on the radio last week or the week before, but didn't hear the details on it, so might be different again

britishtrident - 15/3/11 at 06:03 PM

Sorned then no insurance needed,

A lot misleading information is circulation in the press --- Deliberate scare tactics?

David Jenkins - 15/3/11 at 06:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
A lot misleading information is circulation in the press --- Deliberate scare tactics?


What? Our beloved, honest media? As if that would happen...

Back to the question - I received my tax renewal form this morning and its envelope contained a leaflet about this... basically it's what you said - if it's SORN'd then no insurance is required.

karlak - 15/3/11 at 06:25 PM

I have never sorn'd a car before,

so,, I sorn'd my car which was tax due end of feb. If I re-tax/unsorn it May 1st.. Am i correct in assuming that this will now be my new yearly renewal date ?

stevebubs - 15/3/11 at 06:37 PM

quote:
Originally posted by karlak
I have never sorn'd a car before,

so,, I sorn'd my car which was tax due end of feb. If I re-tax/unsorn it May 1st.. Am i correct in assuming that this will now be my new yearly renewal date ?


Yes (unless you only tax it for 6 months, SORN it and choose a different date to restart later).

[Edited on 15/3/11 by stevebubs]

[Edited on 15/3/11 by stevebubs]

austin man - 15/3/11 at 07:36 PM

therfore does that mean if its insured no need to sorn it ?

thefreak - 15/3/11 at 08:02 PM

When does this come into effect?
Bought a car, it's got tax, it's in the garage but haven't insured it properly yet as I'm not driving it, but dont want to SORN it because I'll loose the tax (only refund for full months left) and it'll be on the road in the next 2 weeks. Just dont want to give the theiving b'stds of insurance companies their extorsion money just yet.

David Jenkins - 15/3/11 at 08:05 PM

The DVLA leaflet says "From early 2011"...

More info from DVLA

[Edited on 15/3/11 by David Jenkins]

thefreak - 15/3/11 at 08:13 PM

Was just going to post the exact same link.
Not really helpful though. Early 2011 is until when? April? Originally when I heard it was coming in, I thought it wouldn't really cause issues, but what a ball ache having to apply for SORN, loose 1/2 a month's tax, then when you're ready to put it back on the road - 1/2 way though a month, you loose another 1/2 a months tax as you need to tax it from the 1st.
Theiving gypsies.

wicket - 15/3/11 at 08:33 PM

Don't SORN/tax half way through the month, then you don't lose.

thefreak - 15/3/11 at 09:31 PM

Which in turn means dont buy a car mid-month if you intend to work on it for a month

Chippy - 15/3/11 at 10:48 PM

quote:
Originally posted by austin man
therfore does that mean if its insured no need to sorn it ?


Sorned has nothing to do with insurance, it's just about not having it taxed, if you don't tax it then you have to/should sorn it, otherwise the DVLA will send you a little letter and a fine. Cheers Ray

thefreak - 16/3/11 at 11:46 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Chippy
quote:
Originally posted by austin man
therfore does that mean if its insured no need to sorn it ?


Sorned has nothing to do with insurance, it's just about not having it taxed, if you don't tax it then you have to/should sorn it, otherwise the DVLA will send you a little letter and a fine. Cheers Ray


My understanding is it has everything to do with insurance now.
If you have a taxed car, you now need to have it insured.
If you dont want to insure it you need to delcare it SORN. If you dont declare it SORN and dont insure it, but still have it taxed, you get fined.
If it is declared SORN, you dont need it insured... unless you want to. You can still SORN it and have it insured for 3rd party f+t incase someone breaks into your garage and nicks it. If they do you'll be insured for theft etc

[Edited on 16-3-11 by thefreak]

Chippy - 16/3/11 at 10:26 PM

quote:
Originally posted by thefreak
quote:
Originally posted by Chippy
quote:
Originally posted by austin man
therfore does that mean if its insured no need to sorn it ?


Sorned has nothing to do with insurance, it's just about not having it taxed, if you don't tax it then you have to/should sorn it, otherwise the DVLA will send you a little letter and a fine. Cheers Ray


My understanding is it has everything to do with insurance now.
If you have a taxed car, you now need to have it insured.
If you dont want to insure it you need to delcare it SORN. If you dont declare it SORN and dont insure it, but still have it taxed, you get fined.
If it is declared SORN, you dont need it insured... unless you want to. You can still SORN it and have it insured for 3rd party f+t incase someone breaks into your garage and nicks it. If they do you'll be insured for theft etc

[Edited on 16-3-11 by thefreak]


If your car is not taxed, regardless of insured or not, then by law it has to be Sorned otherwise as I said you WILL get a fine for not doing so. If it is taxed then it has to be insured, if that law has come into force.
Cheers Ray

thefreak - 16/3/11 at 11:01 PM

It's the change in the law I'm trying to get clarification of.
I've just bought a car. It's taxed for 3-4 months. I organised a 1 day insurance to drive it home, it's now parked in the garage with a pile of parts being acumulated to be fitted (suspension/race seats/roll bar etc) which is going to take a good few weeks... not months and months, maybe just the 1.
If I understand the change in the SORN I either need to insure the car that's not going anywhere for the next month or declare it SORN. If I declare it SORN I get a refund of the tax for any complete month left (the end of this month) but I then need to tax it again when the car's ready to go back on the road. According to normal tax rules, you pay for the whole month no matter when you tax the car, so if I tax the car a month from now, I pay for the tax from 1/4/11.
The alternative is I insure the car. I pay insurance for a car that isn't going anywhere for a month, and because my 10 years NCB are all on the Audi it's not going to be particularly cheap.
So either way, for choosing to have a play modifying this car in the garage, I'll be paying for it one way or another... on top of the actual mods.
Now, if this change doesn't come into effect until April/May, I'll be fine. But if it's already being enforced now, I need to get the credit card out.. again.

PSpirine - 17/3/11 at 01:09 AM

You seem to have fallen into the gap where you really are worse off.

However, from memory I seem to remember that the first action is them sending you a notification, not a fine. If so, I'd wait for it, as it may not come until it's back on the road anyway (particularly as "early 2011" isn't very well defined).

coyoteboy - 17/3/11 at 02:51 AM

Only prob I have with it is you cant online tax your car if insurance starts at the same time/date, it has to be displaced while the MID catches up.

Chippy - 17/3/11 at 11:14 PM

quote:
Originally posted by thefreak
It's the change in the law I'm trying to get clarification of.
I've just bought a car. It's taxed for 3-4 months. I organised a 1 day insurance to drive it home, it's now parked in the garage with a pile of parts being acumulated to be fitted (suspension/race seats/roll bar etc) which is going to take a good few weeks... not months and months, maybe just the 1.
If I understand the change in the SORN I either need to insure the car that's not going anywhere for the next month or declare it SORN. If I declare it SORN I get a refund of the tax for any complete month left (the end of this month) but I then need to tax it again when the car's ready to go back on the road. According to normal tax rules, you pay for the whole month no matter when you tax the car, so if I tax the car a month from now, I pay for the tax from 1/4/11.
The alternative is I insure the car. I pay insurance for a car that isn't going anywhere for a month, and because my 10 years NCB are all on the Audi it's not going to be particularly cheap.
So either way, for choosing to have a play modifying this car in the garage, I'll be paying for it one way or another... on top of the actual mods.
Now, if this change doesn't come into effect until April/May, I'll be fine. But if it's already being enforced now, I need to get the credit card out.. again.


Why not just insure for third party fire and theft, that way you would be able to claim if some scrote broke into your garage and nicked any bits. Just a thought. Ray

thefreak - 17/3/11 at 11:58 PM

Current insurer who I've been with for quite a few years (!! I know) wanted £380 tpft for a £1k MX5, with 5k mileage! The comparison sites managed to get it down to just under £300 fully comp, but when I 'downgraded' to tpft they stuck another £50 on! Go figure