New off road insurance rules - help please.

[garycat]

My daughters Ford Ka has just gone on Ebay, it was in an accident and is for sale for spares or repair. It is taxed until end Aug 2011 and will be parked on a private driveway.

Tomorrow, she picks up a replacement and is transferring the insurance policy, but does this mean that the now-uninsured old Ka, is breaking the new insurance ruling that cars off road have to be insured?

[Deva Link]

Yes.

[S1_RS]

The way I understand it is, that once the vehicle is uninsured it will need to be kept off road, SORNed and the tax sent off for a refund.

[eldar]

S1_RS said:

The way I understand it is, that once the vehicle is uninsured it will need to be kept off road, SORNed and the tax sent off for a refund.

That is it. No insurance, car must be SORN.

[Hot Dog Harrigan]

Couple of threads about this recently in Speed, plod & the law. Apparently it is not compulsory to send the ved back for a refund if you don't wish to, but the car has to be declared sorn for no insurance.

[garycat]

OK I'll do the SORN thing, seems a bit of a faff since it will be sold and out of my hands within a week.

[BUG4LIFE]

I was thinking about this as I too might be in the same position. Chances are I'll buy a new car before selling my current one but I don't want to SORN it as a potential buyer always likes a bit of tax on the car [I've just paid for 6 months too]. Seems a bit of a pain in the ass rule as my old [un-insured car] will be locked away off the road.

[B'stard Child]

BUG4LIFE said:

I was thinking about this as I too might be in the same position. Chances are I'll buy a new car before selling my current one but I don't want to SORN it as a potential buyer always likes a bit of tax on the car (I've just paid for 6 months too). Seems a bit of a pain in the ass rule as my old (un-insured car) will be locked away off the road.

So don't surrender the tax.......

Declare SORN on line

Edit to fix quote issues - Twice FFS

Edited by B'stard Child on Monday 11th July 18:44

[mrmr96]

garycat said:

OK I'll do the SORN thing, seems a bit of a faff since it will be sold and out of my hands within a week.

Agreed. It is a right pain in the arse.

(The law was brought in to tackle uninsured drivers. But that's already illegal, so I don't see how making another law will really help. It just hinders normally law abiding people like you and me.)

[Deva Link]

BUG4LIFE said:

I was thinking about this as I too might be in the same position. Chances are I'll buy a new car before selling my current one but I don't want to SORN it as a potential buyer always likes a bit of tax on the car (I've just paid for 6 months too). Seems a bit of a pain in the ass rule as my old (un-insured car) will be locked away off the road.

Often insurers will cover both cars for a while. You're taking a bit of a chance (probably not much in reality) having no insurance at all on something of value. Also any potential buyer will presumeably want to go for a run in it even if you drive so it needs cover then.

Edited by Deva Link on Monday 11th July 14:59

[BDR529]

To be honest you will probably be alright if it's uninsured for a week, 4 weeks is when they send you a warning letter.

[eldar]

B'stard Child said:

So don't surrender the tax.......

Declare SORN on line

Which is OK it it is still insured. Not if it isn't.

[marshalla]

eldar said:

B'stard Child said:

So don't surrender the tax.......

Declare SORN on line

Which is OK it it is still insured. Not if it isn't.

B'stard Child's point is that a SORN declaration doesn't trigger a refund of tax, ergo the tax has still been paid and the car ought to count as taxed but declared off-road (there seems to be nothing in the legislation that a SORNed vehicle cannot also be taxed).

Since a change of keeper invalidates SORN at the point of change, it ought to revert to being taxed if the disc hasn't been surrendered for a refund. In practice, it is unknown whether anyone has successfully done this.


Lengthy discussion of this topic here : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[B'stard Child]

marshalla said:

eldar said:

B'stard Child said:

So don't surrender the tax.......

Declare SORN on line

Which is OK it it is still insured. Not if it isn't.

B'stard Child's point is that a SORN declaration doesn't trigger a refund of tax, ergo the tax has still been paid and the car ought to count as taxed but declared off-road (there seems to be nothing in the legislation that a SORNed vehicle cannot also be taxed).

Since a change of keeper invalidates SORN at the point of change, it ought to revert to being taxed if the disc hasn't been surrendered for a refund. In practice, it is unknown whether anyone has successfully done this.


Lengthy discussion of this topic here : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Thank you

[tim2100]

To Save the messing around it may be worth insuring it with day insurance type thing, to ensure it is still insured.

[Engineer1]

When I had a new car before selling my old one it was something like £20 a week extra to have both on the insurance, but IIRC they would only do it for a limited period, that was extendable if required. So speak to your insurer assuming the Spares or repairs car is likely to go back on the road otherwise cash in the tax and sorn it.

[ridds]

tbh I wasn't bothered about these new rules when they came in however, now I need to sell a car it's clear how much of a pain in the ass it is.

So, I have uninsured the car as I have the replacement and transferred the cover. The car is off-road. Now, these new rules mean I have to SORN the thing and loose at least the remainder of what ever month I claim the tax back on.

This also means that it is impossible to sell a car with Tax unless YOU have insurance for it. So, unless you want add the person coming to buy the car as a named driver on your policy OR they have DOC on their current policy then legally they cannot insure they car as you cannot have 2 policies running on one car at once.

[B'stard Child]

ridds said:

tbh I wasn't bothered about these new rules when they came in however, now I need to sell a car it's clear how much of a pain in the ass it is.

It's certainly made it less straightforward if you don't use dealer part exchange facilities

Well thought out addition to the SORN process that will only be a pain to those staying on the legal side of the fence - those who don't register the ownership of a car or bother with insurance won't be troubled by the new rules

ridds said:

So, I have uninsured the car as I have the replacement and transferred the cover. The car is off-road. Now, these new rules mean I have to SORN the thing and loose at least the remainder of what ever month I claim the tax back on.

This also means that it is impossible to sell a car with Tax unless YOU have insurance for it. So, unless you want add the person coming to buy the car as a named driver on your policy OR they have DOC on their current policy then legally they cannot insure they car as you cannot have 2 policies running on one car at once.

As previously covered you can SORN but you don't have to hand the tax back - provided you get around to selling it before the tax expires