Constant SORNing / unSORNing?

Badger_Lady

Hia,

My current car insurance expires on Friday.

Tomorrow I'm travelling to the US for a week. The car is under a plastic cover on private land off-road.

When I return next week, I'll be driving around the UK for Christmas.

From 1st January - 1st February I won't need to use it, although it's always handy (but I do have an alternative vehicle).

On 1st February my friend is buying the car from me.

So what's my best best insurance-wise? Do I really need to buy temporary cover at £300 just to avoid breaking the law, for the sake of 1 week driving? How difficult is it to SORN and then UNSORN it this week?

Andy_L

Yes, you will need insurance for the week you drive it to avoid breaking the law.

TBH, for the length of time you need to drive a hire car might be cheaper than insurance, although obviously your car could get nicked/vandalised whilst its off-road.

You need to sorn & surrender the tax disc although, considering the length of time I wouldn't bother - by the time they notice you'll have sold the car

mikey72

Sorn and unsorn within 21 days is difficult, as the dvla don't allow refunds, so it appears to be impossible to surrender your tax disk. It probably also takes them several weeks to actually send out what is initially a warning letter asking you to either sorn or insure the vehicle. It's not an automatic fine.
http://stayinsured.askmid.com/documents/ial.pdf
What insurance will you be driving on for the week?

Badger_Lady

mikey72 wrote: »

What insurance will you be driving on for the week?

Some temporary cover - I've got a quote from tempcover.com but it's £300 for the full period (28 days), or I can just get a single week's cover for much less.

It's just that, thanks to the new laws, that leaves me with a gap of a week where I'm not even in the same country as my car yet breaking the law by not having it insured

So maybe I'll just stomach renewing the insurance for a full year instead, and cancelling it when the time comes.

Buttwhy?

Would it not be cheaper to hire a car for the 1 week and then you could declare your car off the road saving you hassle and money. Just a thought.

Badger_Lady

Buttwhy? wrote: »

Would it not be cheaper to hire a car for the 1 week and then you could declare your car off the road saving you hassle and money. Just a thought.

The only difficulty there is that I still need to drive it back to Wales, where my friend also lives.

I work in London and usually leave the car behind, but this time I brought it with me in preparation for Christmas. So I at least need to make that 1 journey.

It's also a bit of a sad way to say goodbye to my favouritist ever car, not giving it one last journey

Oh and I should also add that it's much much more efficient on petrol than most cars so there would be a saving on driving it from London to Liverpool to S!!!!horpe and back to London.

Buttwhy?

Well you could go with the full years insurance and then transfer (at a cost) to your new car or cancel it but cancellation usually costs a few months premiums so dont pay up front go with the monthly payments so you dont have to wait ages for a partial refund.

Badger_Lady

Buttwhy? wrote: »

Well you could go with the full years insurance and then transfer (at a cost) to your new car.

I'm not getting a new car - I'm going travelling round Europe in my campervan

That's why I'm sad to let it go (I always, always wanted one), and why I can cope without it. Although the campervan is a 1972 VW so not exactly the easiest thing to drive to the shops :eek:

Of course this was all planned to work properly - I bought the car in February this year and took out insurance with the intention of selling it to my friend (who also always wanted one) before the policy ran out. I had a surprise letter in the post that described my policy as being '10 months' (don't ask how I failed to notice that in the first place - it was a staff policy!).

Badger_Lady

Here's another thought - if I take out a brand new annual insurance policy on Friday, I can then relax during my business trip, do all my driving for Christmas, and then cancel on the 30th December after I've driven it home to Wales. Since that's 14 days, I will be liable for cancellation charges but not insurance premiums.

Yeah?

Badger_Lady

OK so now I'm confused by this wording:

£47.50 If you cancel this policy at any point before the
end of its term, EUI Limited will charge a £47.50
administration charge and the insurer will also
make a charge for the time on cover. If a claim
has been made the full premium for the year
will be due.

£22.50 If you cancel within the 14 day
cooling-off period, we reserve
the right to charge you £22.50 to
cover the costs involved in setting
up your policy

Does that mean I'll be charged £22.50 for my 2 weeks' insurance, or £47.50 + £22.50 = £70?

iainscomputer

Andy_L wrote: »

Yes, you will need insurance for the week you drive it to avoid breaking the law.

TBH, for the length of time you need to drive a hire car might be cheaper than insurance, although obviously your car could get nicked/vandalised whilst its off-road.

You need to sorn & surrender the tax disc although, considering the length of time I wouldn't bother - by the time they notice you'll have sold the car

When you sorn the vehicle due to having no insurance, you can still keep it taxed. Therefore making the vehicle available at short notice by buying insurance online. Making a sorn declaration does not have to mean a surrender of the tax disc.