Going directly from SORN to Historic ?

[Penny Whistle]

I have a car first registered in October 1985, which as I understand it becomes eligible for Historic status on 1 April 2026. I'm about to put the car on SORN, but I have heard of people having issues going straight from SORN to Historic - possibly because they have no V11 reminder letter even though the DVLA site says you only need to take it with you "if you have one". Are there any grounds for concern ?

[droopsnoot]

I did that in my local Post Office and it was fine. My Firenza was on SORN for the winter, I turned up on April 1st when it became eligible and they sent off the V5C to convert it to historic, and issued me with 12 months free VED on the spot. I didn't have a reminder as there was nothing to remind me of at that point. You may need to try more than one Post Office as I have heard that some insist that you send the V5C off to the DVLA to get the change to historic done, and only then will they issue free VED.

Mine had the added complication that it was registered towards the middle of January of 1976 (outside of the seven day automatic grace period) but I had proof from Vauxhall Heritage that it was built before that, and had previously written to the DVLA to get the date of manufacture added to the DVLA. That's a process I need to repeat this year for my Audi coupe - registered in 1986, but made in 1985, and VED exemption is based on date of manufacture.

[FlyVintage]

Just to add, I have had changes of taxation class to historic retuned to me unactioned from DVLA previously; just go to a main post office and as the previous poster mentioned, they will change the taxation class and set up a years tax for you. They then send the V5 to DVLA and you get a new one back a few days later.

Bring proof of insurance and either the mot or declaration of no requirement with you to the post office. Sometimes they want to see it, sometimes not.

[D_G]

As above, my car was sorned, went to the PO and they changed it to Historic with 12 months tax applied there and then. V5 taken and the new one came through a couple of weeks later. I took the MOT exemption form in (it was out of MOT) but they just gave that back and all went through no probs.
It's also now ULEZ exempt

[Steve-B]

An additional item you may want to consider is a Heritage Certificate. I have one for our 1973 TR6 in part to add to the maintence ledger, in part to ensure no issue when the time comes I have to sell it (hopefully in many years from now!).

When you travel to some places on the Continent, having one will allow you to avoid punitive fines in clean air zones.

Easy to apply for a fee and get at: https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/archive/herit...

[D_G]

Nice idea. Unfortunately that won't work for my Q plated kit car, not that it'll ever leave the UK anyway.

[Penny Whistle]

Steve-B said:

An additional item you may want to consider is a Heritage Certificate. I have one for our 1973 TR6 in part to add to the maintence ledger, in part to ensure no issue when the time comes I have to sell it (hopefully in many years from now!).

When you travel to some places on the Continent, having one will allow you to avoid punitive fines in clean air zones.

Easy to apply for a fee and get at: https://www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk/archive/herit...

Never thought of trying that for my Porsche . I do of course have them for cars built by BL and its predecessors, but they have been Historic for a very long time.