Putting a car on SORN but still occasionally using it?
Discussion
I'm conflicted on this one...
My car tax is up. £475 for the sodding year. £261 for 6 months.
Now, my gripe is that i'm hardly using the bloody thing. The government are constantly telling us to stay home, which I have done for months, and now again for another 6 weeks. There's also financial impact of things going on at the moment which is probably hurting a lot of us.
I'm loathe to fork out that much money for road tax on a car which is sat on the driveway. That being said, I need to drive about 2 miles a week to the shop. So technically, yes it should be taxed. But, the chances of me being stopped during this time? Pretty much zero. It's still got the layer of ice on it that formed on New Years Day.
It's just mental there's no roadtax breaks from the government during this time when we are actively being told not to go out.
Thoughts on this?
My car tax is up. £475 for the sodding year. £261 for 6 months.
Now, my gripe is that i'm hardly using the bloody thing. The government are constantly telling us to stay home, which I have done for months, and now again for another 6 weeks. There's also financial impact of things going on at the moment which is probably hurting a lot of us.
I'm loathe to fork out that much money for road tax on a car which is sat on the driveway. That being said, I need to drive about 2 miles a week to the shop. So technically, yes it should be taxed. But, the chances of me being stopped during this time? Pretty much zero. It's still got the layer of ice on it that formed on New Years Day.
It's just mental there's no roadtax breaks from the government during this time when we are actively being told not to go out.
Thoughts on this?
There's no "technically" or anything about it. It's either SORN'd and you can't drive or park it on the public road, or it isn't, and you can.
That being said, I'm pretty sure the penalty for being caught is just a fine, not points. A fine that could in theory dwarf the cost of what the tax would've been.
There's also the risk of getting caught, which is what it is. I don't think lack of SORN invalidates insurance one way or the other, but individual insurers policies may vary (I'd have assumed it was more MOT related - roadworthiness, etc)
It's also 2 miles, walk it you lazy bum.
That being said, I'm pretty sure the penalty for being caught is just a fine, not points. A fine that could in theory dwarf the cost of what the tax would've been.
There's also the risk of getting caught, which is what it is. I don't think lack of SORN invalidates insurance one way or the other, but individual insurers policies may vary (I'd have assumed it was more MOT related - roadworthiness, etc)
It's also 2 miles, walk it you lazy bum.
un1corn said:
I'm conflicted on this one...
My car tax is up. £475 for the sodding year. £261 for 6 months.
Now, my gripe is that i'm hardly using the bloody thing. The government are constantly telling us to stay home, which I have done for months, and now again for another 6 weeks. There's also financial impact of things going on at the moment which is probably hurting a lot of us.
I'm loathe to fork out that much money for road tax on a car which is sat on the driveway. That being said, I need to drive about 2 miles a week to the shop. So technically, yes it should be taxed. But, the chances of me being stopped during this time? Pretty much zero. It's still got the layer of ice on it that formed on New Years Day.
It's just mental there's no roadtax breaks from the government during this time when we are actively being told not to go out.
Thoughts on this?
There is no "technically". How much is a taxi?My car tax is up. £475 for the sodding year. £261 for 6 months.
Now, my gripe is that i'm hardly using the bloody thing. The government are constantly telling us to stay home, which I have done for months, and now again for another 6 weeks. There's also financial impact of things going on at the moment which is probably hurting a lot of us.
I'm loathe to fork out that much money for road tax on a car which is sat on the driveway. That being said, I need to drive about 2 miles a week to the shop. So technically, yes it should be taxed. But, the chances of me being stopped during this time? Pretty much zero. It's still got the layer of ice on it that formed on New Years Day.
It's just mental there's no roadtax breaks from the government during this time when we are actively being told not to go out.
Thoughts on this?
Durzel said:
Pretty sure it's just a fine, not points.
There's also the risk of getting caught, which is what it is. I don't think lack of SORN invalidates insurance one way or the other, but individual insurers policies may vary (I'd have assumed it was more MOT related - roadworthiness, etc)
It's also 2 miles, walk it you lazy bum.
Thats our daily dog walk, and it frequently ends up at the coop for our shopping.There's also the risk of getting caught, which is what it is. I don't think lack of SORN invalidates insurance one way or the other, but individual insurers policies may vary (I'd have assumed it was more MOT related - roadworthiness, etc)
It's also 2 miles, walk it you lazy bum.
Unless you're 80 or disabled, get walking, or a bike
Edited by sociopath on Wednesday 6th January 13:51
It would appear the Police don't enforce VED anymore, it's all done by private firms clamping vehicles found parked on the road without VED. Therefore if you only ever park on private land the chances of getting caught seem to be roughly zero.
Which irks me given I pay for VED on 5 vehicles.
Which irks me given I pay for VED on 5 vehicles.
I share your frustration as I have a R53 Mini Cooper S in the garage and the tax on that is £260 a year (I think) and that is doing next to no miles at the moment, I bet it has done 30 miles since November, that said I do like to pull it out and run it occasionally so I suck for the tax.
There is no loop holes or get out cards, you either pay your tax or run the risk of getting caught, you likely won't be caught but you may and if you are caught then you will have to suck for the consequences. I have seen the DVLA drive around shopping centre car parks in the past to check all the cars present and issue fines, whether it will happen or not with Covid etc I don't know but that's the chance you take really.
There is no loop holes or get out cards, you either pay your tax or run the risk of getting caught, you likely won't be caught but you may and if you are caught then you will have to suck for the consequences. I have seen the DVLA drive around shopping centre car parks in the past to check all the cars present and issue fines, whether it will happen or not with Covid etc I don't know but that's the chance you take really.
mackay45 said:
If it's on your driveway just SORN it and walk to the shops.
If you need to drive it, tax it online and you're away with it, then just put it back on SORN again by the end of that month if you don't want to use it again. It takes less than 5 mins to SORN / tax a vehicle.
no good if OP uses the car every week as you have to pay for a month each time.If you need to drive it, tax it online and you're away with it, then just put it back on SORN again by the end of that month if you don't want to use it again. It takes less than 5 mins to SORN / tax a vehicle.
Jamescrs said:
I share your frustration as I have a R53 Mini Cooper S in the garage and the tax on that is £260 a year (I think) and that is doing next to no miles at the moment, I bet it has done 30 miles since November, that said I do like to pull it out and run it occasionally so I suck for the tax.
There is no loop holes or get out cards, you either pay your tax or run the risk of getting caught, you likely won't be caught but you may and if you are caught then you will have to suck for the consequences. I have seen the DVLA drive around shopping centre car parks in the past to check all the cars present and issue fines, whether it will happen or not with Covid etc I don't know but that's the chance you take really.
Wow, £21.66 EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH!!! How do you do it?There is no loop holes or get out cards, you either pay your tax or run the risk of getting caught, you likely won't be caught but you may and if you are caught then you will have to suck for the consequences. I have seen the DVLA drive around shopping centre car parks in the past to check all the cars present and issue fines, whether it will happen or not with Covid etc I don't know but that's the chance you take really.
Bicycles? The fella has said he needs to go to the shop once a week, so I'm guessing he needs to buy enough stuff to live on for that week. How the f
k do you get a week's worth of shopping on a bicycle. He hasn't even said how many people are in his family..
Why doesn't he wait until it snows, buy a large sledge and push it the four miles there and back is about as sensible.
k do you get a week's worth of shopping on a bicycle. He hasn't even said how many people are in his family..Why doesn't he wait until it snows, buy a large sledge and push it the four miles there and back is about as sensible.
I am all for road charging, as long as the annual cost is about the same as Tax.
Before electric, I would have preferred they put it on fuel, no avoiding it then and pay for what you use.
We have four cars, I really can't be bothered with the sorning/un-sorning it's too much of a pain. Having said that, if I knew in advance we were going to be locked down for two months, or rather thought about it a bit harder, I would have considered it.
Before electric, I would have preferred they put it on fuel, no avoiding it then and pay for what you use.
We have four cars, I really can't be bothered with the sorning/un-sorning it's too much of a pain. Having said that, if I knew in advance we were going to be locked down for two months, or rather thought about it a bit harder, I would have considered it.
mygoldfishbowl said:
Bicycles? The fella has said he needs to go to the shop once a week, so I'm guessing he needs to buy enough stuff to live on for that week. How the fk do you get a week's worth of shopping on a bicycle. He hasn't even said how many people are in his family..
Why doesn't he wait until it snows, buy a large sledge and push it the four miles there and back is about as sensible.
try this... k do you get a week's worth of shopping on a bicycle. He hasn't even said how many people are in his family..Why doesn't he wait until it snows, buy a large sledge and push it the four miles there and back is about as sensible.
Walk there, and taxi back with your groceries. A taxi will be whatever the local minimum is. If you're only doing this twice a month, then it will be considerably cheaper than taxing a car for this use.
This is assuming you have an off-road space to park the car, as if it's on the road, it still needs to be taxed.
This is assuming you have an off-road space to park the car, as if it's on the road, it still needs to be taxed.
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