Can you SORN a car for 4 months?
Can you SORN a car for 4 months?
Author
Discussion

richard at home

Original Poster:

333 posts

147 months

Friday 10th September 2021
quotequote all
Suppose I want to run my car for 8 months of the year and not 6.

Can I pay for a 12 month tax and then sorn it, get a refund of the remaining tax, then re-tax it after 4 months?

My road tax is £600 and I doubt I will use the car much over the winter, so why not save myself a few hundred quid!


akadk

1,642 posts

208 months

Friday 10th September 2021
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Yes

AlexRS2782

8,511 posts

242 months

Friday 10th September 2021
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As above. When you declare SORN it remains in place indefinitely until the point you decide to either re-tax or sell it.

Tickle

6,450 posts

233 months

Friday 10th September 2021
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Yes, the new system makes this easier.

Desiderata

2,738 posts

83 months

Friday 10th September 2021
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Bear in mind you pay for the full month even if you if you SORN it/tax it on the first/ last day of the month.
ie. If you SORN it on the first of November, you don't get a refund till December, and if you retax it on the last day of March, you are paying full tax for that month too. Best to do it on line so you can hit the exact dates you want.
I've done it with bikes in the past and it can be pretty frustrating when you've got a beautiful spring day, ideal for a refreshing blast but you haven't unSORNed (if that's a real word) it yet.

Roaringopenfire

199 posts

130 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
richard at home said:
Suppose I want to run my car for 8 months of the year and not 6.

Can I pay for a 12 month tax and then sorn it, get a refund of the remaining tax, then re-tax it after 4 months?

My road tax is £600 and I doubt I will use the car much over the winter, so why not save myself a few hundred quid!
Yes, exactly what I do.

Jaguar steve

9,232 posts

239 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
Roaringopenfire said:
richard at home said:
Suppose I want to run my car for 8 months of the year and not 6.

Can I pay for a 12 month tax and then sorn it, get a refund of the remaining tax, then re-tax it after 4 months?

My road tax is £600 and I doubt I will use the car much over the winter, so why not save myself a few hundred quid!
Yes, exactly what I do.
Me too. No point in taxing a car that's not being used so mine's on SORN all through the winter or if we're away for more than a couple of weeks.

You can pay VED instantly online but you have to wait for a refund after you have SORN'd because Postman Pat eventually delivers that in the form of a paper cheque which means you then have the monumental pain in the rectal area of either schleping to an ATM or queuing up for ages in your bank to get your money back.

In this age of electronic banking and environmental awareness I wonder why on earth that could be? scratchchin

steveo3002

11,201 posts

203 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
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yep as long or little as you want...makes sense to sorn on the last day and retax on the first day of a month to get the best "value" from the refund

Jaguar steve

9,232 posts

239 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
steveo3002 said:
yep as long or little as you want...makes sense to sorn on the last day and retax on the first day of a month to get the best "value" from the refund
I don't think I've ever seen the word value and VED used in the same sentence before... smile

steveo3002

11,201 posts

203 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
Jaguar steve said:
I don't think I've ever seen the word value and VED used in the same sentence before... smile
yeah i know....why ever they cant refund to the nearest day i dont know , same with re taxing , if youre mug enough to need the car in the last week of a month get robbed again

DevonPaul

1,734 posts

166 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
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Same here, with a couple of high band cars I used to routinely SORN them at the end of the month as they often sat unused.

The problem then was that about the 25th I'd think "do I spend £50 taxing the xxx for a few hours fun, or take the xxx?" and suddenly you find one of your cars has hardly been out all year.

Paul

ian332isport

227 posts

260 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
Jaguar steve said:
You can pay VED instantly online but you have to wait for a refund after you have SORN'd because Postman Pat eventually delivers that in the form of a paper cheque which means you then have the monumental pain in the rectal area of either schleping to an ATM or queuing up for ages in your bank to get your money back.

In this age of electronic banking and environmental awareness I wonder why on earth that could be? scratchchin
Have you been living under a rock? Most banking apps have a cheque payment facility where you simply take a photograph of the cheque.

Agree that the refund by cheque is ridiculous.

Monkeylegend

29,189 posts

260 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
Desiderata said:
Bear in mind you pay for the full month even if you if you SORN it/tax it on the first/ last day of the month.
ie. If you SORN it on the first of November, you don't get a refund till December, and if you retax it on the last day of March, you are paying full tax for that month too. Best to do it on line so you can hit the exact dates you want.
I've done it with bikes in the past and it can be pretty frustrating when you've got a beautiful spring day, ideal for a refreshing blast but you haven't unSORNed (if that's a real word) it yet.
You sorn it on the last day of the month and tax it on the first.


sherman

15,222 posts

244 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
ian332isport said:
Jaguar steve said:
You can pay VED instantly online but you have to wait for a refund after you have SORN'd because Postman Pat eventually delivers that in the form of a paper cheque which means you then have the monumental pain in the rectal area of either schleping to an ATM or queuing up for ages in your bank to get your money back.

In this age of electronic banking and environmental awareness I wonder why on earth that could be? scratchchin
Have you been living under a rock? Most banking apps have a cheque payment facility where you simply take a photograph of the cheque.

Agree that the refund by cheque is ridiculous.
Refund by cheque is because they know not everyone will cash the cheque. A cheque is only valid for 6 months so there must be alot of unclaimed tax refunds in the dvla coffers.

PH User

22,154 posts

137 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
ian332isport said:
Jaguar steve said:
You can pay VED instantly online but you have to wait for a refund after you have SORN'd because Postman Pat eventually delivers that in the form of a paper cheque which means you then have the monumental pain in the rectal area of either schleping to an ATM or queuing up for ages in your bank to get your money back.

In this age of electronic banking and environmental awareness I wonder why on earth that could be? scratchchin
Have you been living under a rock? Most banking apps have a cheque payment facility where you simply take a photograph of the cheque.

Agree that the refund by cheque is ridiculous.
It's such a good easy system and is great for when you get a cheque for a tenner off your Nan or some other old person!

Monkeylegend

29,189 posts

260 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
sherman said:
ian332isport said:
Jaguar steve said:
You can pay VED instantly online but you have to wait for a refund after you have SORN'd because Postman Pat eventually delivers that in the form of a paper cheque which means you then have the monumental pain in the rectal area of either schleping to an ATM or queuing up for ages in your bank to get your money back.

In this age of electronic banking and environmental awareness I wonder why on earth that could be? scratchchin
Have you been living under a rock? Most banking apps have a cheque payment facility where you simply take a photograph of the cheque.

Agree that the refund by cheque is ridiculous.
Refund by cheque is because they know not everyone will cash the cheque. A cheque is only valid for 6 months so there must be alot of unclaimed tax refunds in the dvla coffers.
I know it is a bit more expensive but if you pay monthly by DD you don't have to worry about a refund.

Clockwork Cupcake

80,029 posts

301 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
ian332isport said:
Have you been living under a rock? Most banking apps have a cheque payment facility where you simply take a photograph of the cheque.
Indeed. yes

ian332isport said:
Agree that the refund by cheque is ridiculous.
I used to think that, until I got a cashback offer on a purchase and they wanted me to submit my bank details on their website, so they could transfer me my cashback. And it occurred to me that, actually, a cheque just requires them to know my address rather than my bank details, and I'm not sure which is better or worse.

Of course, with the DVLA, they could simply refund to your original payment method. But, failing that, they already have your address so it's probably simply easier for them to dispatch a cheque to it. And, as you point out, now that you can pay in a cheque by using the banking app on your phone, it's not really that much of a hassle now. So, actually, I'm very much coming back round to the idea of issuing refunds and cashbacks by cheque.


Jaguar steve

9,232 posts

239 months

Saturday 11th September 2021
quotequote all
ian332isport said:
Have you been living under a rock?
I don't have a smartphone so yes, I guess I probably have. biggrin

richard at home

Original Poster:

333 posts

147 months

Sunday 12th September 2021
quotequote all
That's great! I don't know why I'd always assumed I had to go for 6 months or a year!

So the current road tax runs out end of September, I'll re tax it for 12 months and then SORN it end of October.

The trick being to always SORN close to the end of the month you're using the car.

Thanks everyone.





Monkeylegend

29,189 posts

260 months

Sunday 12th September 2021
quotequote all
richard at home said:
That's great! I don't know why I'd always assumed I had to go for 6 months or a year!

So the current road tax runs out end of September, I'll re tax it for 12 months and then SORN it end of October.

The trick being to always SORN close to the end of the month you're using the car.

Thanks everyone.

I would set up a direct debit payment on the !st October, then SORN on 31st October. Your DD payment will then be stopped when you SORN and no further payment taken until you take it off SORN.

You then won't have to sit waiting for the DVLA to refund you 11 months worth of tax and have the hassle of going to the bank to pay a cheque in.