Lifting SORN

SummerBreeze

Hello,

My parents car is currently declared as SORN as they don't live here. They are due to come back soon so I need to sort out the MOT and tax. I've been told that I need to get the SORN lifted in order to get it to the garage to have the MOT. Can someone tell if this the right way and how I do that?

Thank you

Foxy-Stoat_3

They will need to tax it to "lift" the SORN, taking out insurance will be an obvious requirement also.

Would be easier and safer for the garage to collect this on a recovery truck to MOT it.

InsideInsurance

To my knowledge, you can only unSORN the car by getting tax. To get tax you must have both MOT and Insurance. In practice you can get it in the postoffice without these but you are supposed to warrant that you have them

As you have no MOT and so cannot legitimately tax the car you will need to get it to the garage on a trailer/ truck. You can deal with the insurance now and then tax it as soon as its passed the MOT

Joe_Horner

Why do people still get this so wrong?

You can drive to a pre-booked MOT without any tax or MOT but you must have insurance.

So, book and MOT at the garage of your choice, making sure that they note the registration number and make / model of the car. Then arrange insurance for the day of the test (a one day temp policy is fine for this) and drive it to the test.

If it fails you can legally drive it home again provided it doesn't fail on anything considered dangerous. If it passes you can legally drive it home again, but must then stop using it until it's taxed.

There is NO need to get the garage or anyone else to trailer it unless it's in a dangerous condition.


Eta: the fact it has a SORN in force make no difference. All untaxed cars must by law have a SORN in force so, by definition, by allowing you to drive a car to and from an MOT without tax the law also allows you to drive it to and from an MOT with a SORN in force.

Foxy-Stoat_3

You can do as Joe suggested if you get your parents to insurance the car now, and name you as a named driver or if you have the DOC extension on your policy but you need to check all the conditions in the policy booklet or do the 24 hour insurance cover.

YOU then need to make sure that the car is not dangerous to drive, check the tyres are ok, brakes are functioning if its been standing for a while they may well be seized, check the water and oil and drive it to the garage for the MOT and drive it back.

Take all the documents with you in case you are stopped by the police on route.

Or you could get it collected by the garage.

Strider590

Joe_Horner wrote: »

You can drive to a pre-booked MOT without any tax or MOT but you must have insurance.

This ^^

Get insurance, get an MOT booked, ask the garage to send a confirmation email in advance of the booking date. This way you have proof if you get stopped by the Police or spotted by a DVLA camera car.

The only thing i'm not sure about is whether the w***ers at the DVLA will send out a fine for insurance with no VED.
In other words, does "continuous insurance" work both ways?


Oh and as for the car, if it's been sat a long time and the battery is flat, it'll need a new battery (charging will not be sufficient).

SummerBreeze

Hi everyone,

Thank you all for your replies!

If I have fully comp insurance on my own car and I'm allowed to drive other cars but third party then can I drive my parents to car the garage?

Thank you

InsideInsurance

SummerBreeze wrote: »

If I have fully comp insurance on my own car and I'm allowed to drive other cars but third party then can I drive my parents to car the garage?

Check the terms of the DOC, some require that the car has other insurance on it as well.

droopsnoot

Strider590 wrote: »

The only thing i'm not sure about is whether the w***ers at the DVLA will send out a fine for insurance with no VED.
In other words, does "continuous insurance" work both ways?

No, I have three classics on a multi-car policy, the main reason that the second and third are there are for some level of fire or theft protection. One is a bare shell that I am restoring, the other hasn't run for a couple of years and is the next project. There is no issue with them being insured but having no VED. One is on SORN, the other has been off the road so long it pre-dates SORN. None of them are old enough to be exempt from VED, at least not yet.

ltrent

Could the garage come and collect on trade plates? genuine question not really a suggestion.

Aretnap

Strider590 wrote: »

The only thing i'm not sure about is whether the w***ers at the DVLA will send out a fine for insurance with no VED.
In other words, does "continuous insurance" work both ways?

No it doesn't. There's no offence of insuring an untaxed car.