Getting an untaxed car back on the road

[devilhenge]

SO i have a car that's been sitting off the road for the past few years, and have finally decided to restore it and get it back on the road. Since it has been sitting in a field, it is untaxed. so i have been wondering, is it at all possible to get it legally back on the road without paying a small fortune in fines/unpaid taxes?

[thescamper]

is it sorned?

[Hooli]

Assuming it's SORN'd then yes, just fix it, insure it, MOT it & tax it.

[Riley Blue]

Do the same if it's been off the road since pre-SORN days though a new style V5C may be required. If pre-1960 no MOT needed.

[devilhenge]

thescamper said:

is it sorned?

no, not afaik. the DVLA vehicle checker ( https://www.vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/) shows nothing about it being sorned, and it looks like it should show up if it is.

[anonymous-user]

Presumably you're not the registered keeper as if you were the fines would be with you already. Register it in your name, get it fixed up, MoT'd and taxed, job done.

[SteveR1979]

If the car went off the road before SORN came in then surely no fines would be due??

[vanordinaire]

SORN came in on January 31st 1998. If the car was already off road then (not taxed)) then it doesn't need to be sorned unless there is a change of keeper. If you've become the keeper since then then you have an obligation to declare SORN as soon as it is registered in your name. If you are the registered keeper then I'd get a SORN notification in as soon as possible, you might just have been lucky and missed fines. If you're not the registered keeper yet, get it into your name as soon as possible and declare it SORN as soon as you get the new V5.

[devilhenge]

charltjr said:

Presumably you're not the registered keeper as if you were the fines would be with you already. Register it in your name, get it fixed up, MoT'd and taxed, job done.

SteveR1979 said:

If the car went off the road before SORN came in then surely no fines would be due??

vanordinaire said:

SORN came in on January 31st 1998. If the car was already off road then (not taxed)) then it doesn't need to be sorned unless there is a change of keeper. If you've become the keeper since then then you have an obligation to declare SORN as soon as it is registered in your name. If you are the registered keeper then I'd get a SORN notification in as soon as possible, you might just have been lucky and missed fines. If you're not the registered keeper yet, get it into your name as soon as possible and declare it SORN as soon as you get the new V5.

Car has only been off road since about 2008ish, so there may be fines due. If I get registered as the keeper of it with taxes potentially outstanding, will I or the previous keeper have to pay them, and is there any way of checking how much this would be without alerting the DVLA, incase they start pressing for payment of these charges?

[ging84]

if you were not the registered keeper than any previous fines which might have been issued have nothing to do with you

[battered]

If you are the keeper then the fine will be all the back tax since it was last taxed or sorned. If you aren't, you register it in your name and the old registered keeper gets the bill for back tax. This happened to a mate of mine when he sold me a bike and never got round to govong me the docs. When the bike went back on the road he got the bill for all the absent years of tax.