Talk to me about SORN and de-SORNing?

[GrizzlyBear]

I have a 4 year old car, but as I have 2 cars and hardly using either, I am thinking I should save a few pound and put the 4 year old (car) in my Garage until I actually need to drive to work again (my employer has said WFH until further notice which is fine by me), the other car will be the necessary transport until then.

So do I have this right?
SORN (possibly this month):
So I notify the DVLA I want to SORN the car (it will stay in a locked garage on my land; not the public road), and I claim the refund of any remaining full months of VED.
Do I need to tell the insurers? (my policy ends in a few weeks) so can I just let it lapse? so effectively the car is uninsured in my garage? also what happens to my NCD?

De-SORN (i.e. back on the road as my transport hopefully in a few months)
Re-tax the car at the start of the month I wish to start driving
Get some insurance (do I need to tell them it was SORN?), my NCD will magically resurrected to get me a decent discount again on my new policy?

The MOT will still be valid (as it passed in October 2020).

Hence, I have tax, Insurance and MOT, so I am all good to go

Anything I am missing here?
On face value, I wish I had thought of this last March?
(I don't want to get rid of the car)

Edited by GrizzlyBear on Monday 1st February 22:54

[GrizzlyBear]

BertBert said:

I think you've got it other than you don't need to tell your insurance company about the sorn. Also an insurance company will probably take an old NCD in the first two years after your policy finished so ok there.
Bert

Thanks, so the NCD is valid for about 2 years when it isn't on a car, that's interesting, really wishing I had done this last year now? I was worried about this as I have about 10 years NCD, so don't want to lose all that.

Anything I need to be careful of legally? (I am more than happy to keep the car mechanically sound while it is in the garage).

[GrizzlyBear]

sixor8 said:

GrizzlyBear said:

Thanks, so the NCD is valid for about 2 years when it isn't on a car, that's interesting, really wishing I had done this last year now? I was worried about this as I have about 10 years NCD, so don't want to lose all that.

Anything I need to be careful of legally? (I am more than happy to keep the car mechanically sound while it is in the garage).

My insurance company informed me on the phone of the NCD being valid for 2 years before expiring. I was already aware of this (in fact Direct Line if you leave and go back to them will honour it for 3 years) but was interested that they are informing people of this. In the present circumstances many people are probably SORN their cars so the insurance companies are making sure people know. Customer service, who'd think it!

As long as a car has insurance, you can drive it to and from a MoT test centre and to get it repaired, still SORN. Some insurance companies are offering money back if you are covering much less mileage than you originally estimated when the policy started.

OK, SORN seems like a good idea, I have a garage where I can store the car, so it is off the road.

I am allowed at least one stupid question a day. , so the NCD, I have about 10 years, but usually just go with the cheapest provider. So is the NCD stored by the insurers or does it rely on being passed from one insurer to another. So if I SORN for a few months; allowing my insurance to lapse. Do I run the risk of loosing my 10 years NCD; from the above do I need to go back to the current insurer? or do I just need to provide my current policy number when I want to use the car again? so the NCD can pick up where I left off.

I tend to just go cheapest (or there-about) for Insurance. So the chances are it will be a different insurer.

[GrizzlyBear]

B'stard Child said:

GrizzlyBear said:

I am allowed at least one stupid question a day. , so the NCD, I have about 10 years, but usually just go with the cheapest provider. So is the NCD stored by the insurers or does it rely on being passed from one insurer to another. So if I SORN for a few months; allowing my insurance to lapse. Do I run the risk of loosing my 10 years NCD;

NCD normally is valid for up to 2 years but some companies have different rules

I had two policies running both with NCD (different amounts) - and decided to take one of the cars off the road for a while 3 years later I couldn't find a company that would accept the NCD from the policy I had over 3 years ago so I started again

I didn't realise you could build up two lots of NCD? is that correct?