SORN and Insurance

claret2310

Hello, sorry if this is mentioned elsewhere on the forum but I couldn't see anything. My son has lost his job and is now unable to drive for 2 months due to an injury. As his tax is due this week we have decided to SORN the car and phoned the insurance company but they have said that he still has to pay the premium - is that right? The car is safe and secure on the driveway and he has no intention of driving it. It seems really unfair to be paying £150 per month for something that he isn't even using.


I would really appreciate some advice as he cannot afford to pay the premium which will only incur further penalties and he will end up getting into more strive.


Thanks for your help, it is much appreciated.

TadleyBaggie

If a vehicle is declared as SORN it doesn't need to be insured.

Quentin

Assuming he hasn't claimed on the policy this year, then he can avoid paying insurance on the SORN car by cancelling the policy.


Though do the sums and make sure this will be cost effective.


Get the insurer to give you the total cost of cancelling before doing so, and bear in mind there will be no NCD awarded for the current year.


An alternative may be to see if the insurer will allow a suspension of cover.
If they do, this will result in a partial refund of the premium when he wants the suspension lifted.


If renewal comes due whilst the car is SORN then there is no need to renew until you want it back on the road.

macman

His insurance costs £1800 a year? Yikes.

whatmichaelsays

He may not be driving it but, assuming he is covered for theft / fire / vandalism, he will need to keep the policy live if he wants to be covered for this.

He can cancel the policy (assuming he hasn't claimed), but there will be cancellation fees. He has a 12 month contract with the insurance company (the fact he pays monthly is irrelevant) so don't expect to be able to cancel fee-free.

whatmichaelsays

macman wrote: »

His insurance costs £1800 a year? Yikes.

About right for a young lad.

Aretnap

whatmichaelsays wrote: »

He may not be driving it but, assuming he is covered for theft / fire / vandalism, he will need to keep the policy live if he wants to be covered for this.

If he wants to be covered for those things he can get a separate policy which covers fire, theft etc, but not anything to do with road accidents. Google "laid up insurance" or "fire and theft only". It will likely be considerably cheaper than a normal car insurance policy, especially for a young driver, though whether it works out cheaper than keeping the existing policy going for a couple of months depends on that policy's cancellation terms.

Such policies don't count as insurance for the purposes of the Road Traffic Act as they don't cover third party risks, so the car still needs to be kept off-road and SORNed while they're in place.