Should I have insurance?

[2Btoo]

Guys,

A post from confusion here.

I have just purchased a car. (OK, a week or two ago). I bought it and immediately parked it on a relative's drive. It remains taxed as the previous owner needs to get his private plate off it and it seems that doing this if it is declared SORN is potentially a palaver. (Seller knocked the cost of the tax off the cost of the car.)

As I am not using it I have only 'laid up' insurance cover on it. This covers theft and fire but doesn't cover for use on the road.

A conversation with a friend has suggested that I have to have insurance for the car as it is not declared SORN, and that this is an absolute offence with no get-out. I hasten to add that the car isn't being used, it's just parked on a private drive.

Is this true? (Please tell me it isn't!)

Thanks.

[anonymous-user]

If it's not SORN it needs to be insured.

[2Btoo]

Bu***r.

Looks like I need to call my insurance company tomorrow morning then to arrange for it to be insured.

Will I be in trouble for not having it insured for the last couple of weeks? (As in, will someone go through the paperwork and see that there is a period when it was not SORN'd but also wasn't insured?)

Thanks for your help.

[anonymous-user]

I think the fine is 80 quid.

You may not get one if you get it insured quickly

[2Btoo]

Fine of £80 plus points, I'd probably suspect.

And I'm sure that 'ignorance is no defence' are the words that will trip off the tongue of the person prosecuting ...

[Sheepshanks]

2Btoo said:

I have just purchased a car. (OK, a week or two ago). I bought it and immediately parked it on a relative's drive. It remains taxed as the previous owner needs to get his private plate off it and it seems that doing this if it is declared SORN is potentially a palaver.

Have you or the previous owner notified the DVLA of change of ownership?

[chrisch77]

As above, the big question is whether the seller has informed DVLA of the change of ownership. If he has, then you need to tax the car immediately, or else DVLA will refuse to process the paperwork for the change of ownership and transfer of the private plate, and after a couple of weeks waiting they will just send the paperwork back to the seller.

I had this issue when selling a car recently - you can send the V5 and reg transfer paperwork together but the DVLA need the new keeper to re tax the car in the meantime to verify their identity.

Chris

[anonymous-user]

2Btoo said:

Fine of £80 plus points, I'd probably suspect.

And I'm sure that 'ignorance is no defence' are the words that will trip off the tongue of the person prosecuting ...

No points

[2Btoo]

Yes, previous owner posted off the slip last Friday (10 days ago), I expect it will have arrived on Monday or Tuesday last week.

No sign of a new V5c for me yet.

I wonder whether the best course of action is to call the DVLA and admit what I've done, call my insurance company and ask whether they can backdate the insurance policy to be third-party inclusive, or something else.

(I'm a bit hacked off as I only didn't declare the car SORN in order to allow the previous owner to take his private plate off. If I end up in the doo-doo as a result then I'll be properly cross. I also don't intend to have to cover the cost of the insurance unnecessarily; I'm inclined to declare it SORN immediately and if he's not taken the plate off in time then he can have it once I have the car on the road. However I'm getting ahead of myself.)

Thanks for your help.

[Alucidnation]

How did you get it home?

[2Btoo]

desolate said:

No points

Thanks. That's a relief. An INS99 on my licence would be a MAJOR headache.

[2Btoo]

Alucidnation said:

How did you get it home?

It's not at home; it's at a relative's house, around 3 miles from the workplace of the guy who sold it to me.

I drove it to the aforementioned relative's house as I have third-party cover on any vehicle as long as I don't own it. We then conducted the transaction (thus it became mine) and I walked to the local railway station to catch a train home. I've yet to drive it under my ownership ....

(This sounds convoluted but was the only solution to the conundrum of not being able to drive a car that was mine under my own insurance, but also not wanting to have to insure a car that I wasn't going to drive. I'd have declared it SORN immediately had it not been for the matter of the previous owner taking his plate off. We thought that this was the perfect solution, but didn't realise the need for insurance for anything is not SORN.)

[Vaud]

desolate said:

No points

Correct.

[Finglonga]

You say it is still taxed, but it can't be as the tax ends with the sale and you would need insurance to tax it as the seller will get a refund of outstanding tax on the vehicle. SORN is an easier route to do now until you are ready to drive it surely.

[2Btoo]

Finglonga said:

You say it is still taxed, but it can't be as the tax ends with the sale and you would need insurance to tax it as the seller will get a refund of outstanding tax on the vehicle. SORN is an easier route to do now until you are ready to drive it surely.

Thanks. No, I taxed it online (for a year) after the sale in order to allow the previous owner to take his numberplate off.

SORN will be easier but I'm hoping to have the car on the road in the next couple of weeks so keeping the tax rolling makes sense.

[Cliftonite]

Finglonga said:

You say it is still taxed, but it can't be as the tax ends with the sale and you would need insurance to tax it as the seller will get a refund of outstanding tax on the vehicle. SORN is an easier route to do now until you are ready to drive it surely.

An uninsured car CAN be taxed. That way DVLA get the tax money AND any subsequent fine! Result! (For THEM).

[2Btoo]

Cliftonite said:

An uninsured car CAN be taxed. That way DVLA get the tax money AND any subsequent fine! Result! (For THEM).

That would seem to be the case.

So, what's my best bet? Call up the DVLA first thing on Monday morning and admit my crime? Throw myself on their leniency and hope for the best?

Or something else?

[Bungleaio]

There is no need for any of this sending things off nonsense any more.

The original owner should have done the reg transfer online whilst still in his ownership, this is instant and triggers the dvla to send a new V5 to the original owner, takes about 3 days to get the new document through the post.

Using the new V5 the owner can then transfer the car to you online at the point of sale. That V5 is destroyed and a new one is sent to you in the post.

Easy peasy and removes human processing at dvlas end.

[Aretnap]

2Btoo said:

Will I be in trouble for not having it insured for the last couple of weeks? (As in, will someone go through the paperwork and see that there is a period when it was not SORN'd but also wasn't insured?).

Unlikely. Generally with a continuous insurance breach you will be sent a letter saying "this car is uninsured - insure it or else" (or words to that effect) - and only if you still don't insure it or SORN it will they move onto sending you a fixed penalty. There's no need to panic, or call up the DVLA and beg for mercy. Just get it insured.

[2Btoo]

Aretnap said:

2Btoo said:

Will I be in trouble for not having it insured for the last couple of weeks? (As in, will someone go through the paperwork and see that there is a period when it was not SORN'd but also wasn't insured?).

Unlikely. Generally with a continuous insurance breach you will be sent a letter saying "this car is uninsured - insure it or else" (or words to that effect) - and only if you still don't insure it or SORN it will they move onto sending you a fixed penalty. There's no need to panic, or call up the DVLA and beg for mercy. Just get it insured.

Aretnap,

Thanks. That's the sort of knowledge that I was looking for (and the answer I was hoping for as well). I'll be doing precisely as you suggested first thing tomorrow morning.