insuring a sorn'ed car

[motorsportbeng]

I had a fiesta road car to get me to and from uni which I took a years insurance policy out on last summer. my road tax expired on it recently so I decided to sorn it at that point and it now is the basis of my race car project. At the moment I am searching for a road car so I am keeping my insurance policy going on the sorn'ed fiesta until I buy another road car to transfer the policy onto. I have spoken to 2 different people at my insurance company and had a google search and it is ambiguous as to whether I'm allowed to do this or whether it breaches the new road tax and insurance laws. If someone could clear it up it would be great! thanls

[marshalla]

If it's taxed it must be insured. If it's not insured, it must be SORN.

You can choose to insure, but not tax as long as you don't use it on the road for anything other than going to and from a booked MOT or place of repair.

[jimslops]

Who fines you if it is off the road, in a garage, not insured, but not SORN'd? (ie, still has tax on it).

[Ganglandboss]

There's no legal reason why you cannot insure a car that is declared SORN, however, the insurance company may not like the idea of you having a car insured in order to accrue NCD when it isn't being driven. How would they ever know though?

[jazzyjeff]

Ganglandboss said:

There's no legal reason why you cannot insure a car that is declared SORN, however, the insurance company may not like the idea of you having a car insured in order to accrue NCD when it isn't being driven. How would they ever know though?

I suppose it depends on the insurance cover provided. A SORNed car should not be driven on the road (beyond the specified restrictions) but even if it isn't it may be covered for fire or theft.

[KevinA3DSG32]

Ganglandboss said:

There's no legal reason why you cannot insure a car that is declared SORN, however, the insurance company may not like the idea of you having a car insured in order to accrue NCD when it isn't being driven. How would they ever know though?

I can't see it as any sort of problem, you own the vehicle and are insuring it. The fact that you choose to keep it off road is irrelevant. I would think they would consider it easy money as you have reduced the risk by not using it.

[Pontoneer]

Absolutely no reason why not .

I currently have two cars insured , one on SORN , the other SORN exempt . Both are on Classic policies . I have had other cars which I have stopped using but left the insurance running for exactly the reason of keeping NCD .

[onyx39]

Ganglandboss said:

There's no legal reason why you cannot insure a car that is declared SORN, however, the insurance company may not like the idea of you having a car insured in order to accrue NCD when it isn't being driven. How would they ever know though?

Why should they care? They are taking your cash with (pretty much) no chance of having to pay out!

[saaby93]

jazzyjeff said:

I suppose it depends on the insurance cover provided. A SORNed car should not be driven on the road (beyond the specified restrictions) but even if it isn't it may be covered for fire or theft.

There's no offence of driving or using while SORN.
The offence is driving or keeping while not tased or not insured.
With SORN all youre doing is declaring that you won't use it on road until it's both taxed and insured which might be 5 minutes after you declare SORN if you change your mind and haven't cancelled them.
You can take as long as you like to cancel either of them after you declare SORN too. However unless you find the right person DVLA may try to cancel your tax as soon as you SORN.
What you mustn't do is let the tax lapse before you SORN or there's a window for issuing a penalty
For insurance they should write to you first so you can choose to either insure, SORN or update askmid but it's been hinted that a keen officer may not wait.

Dont drive it on road unless you have insurance and youre sure DVLA hasn't cancelled your tax.

Edited by saaby93 on Tuesday 14th February 21:30

[jazzyjeff]

saaby93 said:

jazzyjeff said:

I suppose it depends on the insurance cover provided. A SORNed car should not be driven on the road (beyond the specified restrictions) but even if it isn't it may be covered for fire or theft.

There's no offence of driving or using while SORN.
The offence is driving or keeping while not tased or not insured.
With SORN all youre doing is declaring that you won't use it on road until it's both taxed and insured which might be 5 minutes after you declare SORN if you change your mind and haven't cancelled them.
You can take as long as you like to cancel either of them after you declare SORN too. However unless you find the right person DVLA may try to cancel your tax as soon as you SORN.
What you mustn't do is let the tax lapse before you SORN or there's a window for issuing a penalty
For insurance they should write to you first so you can choose to either insure, SORN or update askmid but it's been hinted that a keen officer may not wait.

Dont drive it on road unless you have insurance and youre sure DVLA hasn't cancelled your tax.

Edited by saaby93 on Tuesday 14th February 21:30

Saaby, perhaps I should have said 'untaxed' instead of 'SORNed'. Perhaps that's just me thinking that someone with expired tax has SORNed their car to stay on the right side of the law. Why someone would SORN their vehicle whilst still taxed is beyond me, unless their insurance has expired. Which brings me back to the point I was making - insurance shouldn't be regarded as a consideration if you're planning to drive the car. Special off-the-road insurance may be cheaper but I can't see any insurer having an issue with a car being laid up for the remainder of its general policy.

[jimslops]

Who fines you for no insurance if you have it tax'ed, off the road (in garage), and not yet SORN'd?

[jazzyjeff]

jimslops said:

Who fines you for no insurance if you have it tax'ed, off the road (in garage), and not yet SORN'd?

The same people who fine you for peppering sentences with needless apostrophes.

Not really, it's the DVLA.

[Red Devil]

jazzyjeff said:

jimslops said:

Who fines you for no insurance if you have it tax'ed, off the road (in garage), and not yet SORN'd?

The same people who fine you for peppering sentences with needless apostrophes.

Not really, it's the DVLA.

The DVLA have no powers to fine anyone. Only a court can do that. It's a penalty charge which is not the same thing at all. The distinction is important and not mere semantics.

[jimslops]

Red Devil said:

The DVLA have no powers to fine anyone. Only a court can do that. It's a penalty charge which is not the same thing at all. The distinction is important and not mere semantics.

I cancelled my insurance two days ago and put my car in the garage. Who will I be getting a fine from?

Will be SORN'ing tomorrow.

[chriscpritchard]

jimslops said:

I cancelled my insurance two days ago and put my car in the garage. Who will I be getting a fine from?

Will be SORN'ing tomorrow.

You'd be getting a penalty notice from the DVLA, should you choose not to pay it they can take you to court, who have the ability to actually fine you. However, there is a 14 day grace period (not written in the law, but the DVLA have said they won't be sending out penalty notices before this time, unless the car is actually seen on the road, in which case driving without insurance comes to mind)

[jimslops]

chriscpritchard said:

You'd be getting a penalty notice from the DVLA, should you choose not to pay it they can take you to court, who have the ability to actually fine you. However, there is a 14 day grace period (not written in the law, but the DVLA have said they won't be sending out penalty notices before this time, unless the car is actually seen on the road, in which case driving without insurance comes to mind)

So I won't be getting fined since I am doing it tomorrow?

[NadiR]

As long as you don't drive it your fine. My uncle insured a SORN'd Micra that was on my drive for 2 years purely to build up his no claims.

[jimslops]

NadiR said:

As long as you don't drive it your fine. My uncle insured a SORN'd Micra that was on my drive for 2 years purely to build up his no claims.

Everyone here has given me a different answer. It has tax, in garage and not SORN.

[saaby93]

chriscpritchard said:

You'd be getting a penalty notice from the DVLA, should you choose not to pay it they can take you to court, who have the ability to actually fine you. However, there is a 14 day grace period (not written in the law, but the DVLA have said they won't be sending out penalty notices before this time, unless the car is actually seen on the road, in which case driving without insurance comes to mind)

discount this one if it helps.
DVLA wont even think of fining you for SORN/no insurance until theyve done the database chack and sent you the warning letter.
They were keen on fining for noSORN and noTAX

Edited by saaby93 on Wednesday 15th February 23:31

[Meoricin]

jimslops said:

Everyone here has given me a different answer. It has tax, in garage and not SORN.

You're on the internet - why on earth don't you just SORN it now? It takes minutes.