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Safest place to park a SORN car long term worry free?

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bery_451
bery_451 Posts: 1,897 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
Hi,

I invested around £1100 in a mondeo ST220. Speculation states in 15 years time this car will be worth give or take £50000 due to it being rare and ford stopped making mondeos. The more rarer the more it will worth.

I dont have my own driveway or garage or any private land to park it. Its parked on the street outside my house and I can't afford private storage unless I can travel in the future and collect my investment return lol.

I have a relative who lives in a council tower block of flats but hes at work most of the time. This council tower block has its own free car park for residents living there but I don't see any signs or permits being displayed enforcing that. My relative said he parked his other own sorn car there for the last 7 years with no problems. He can't be arsed scrapping his SORN car lol.

Okay the question is it safe to park my car at the above car park and just leave it there without worrying about it being recovered or towed by authorities? Car thieves will see it as old car and won't bother with it so my concern is the authorities taking it.

How does the authorities or council get suspicious on a particular parked car for example? I doubt council residents will notice a old car parked with many resident cars to phone and report. Also what is the law on parking SORN cars?

Otherwise any other suggested safest places to park SORN cars for long term for free? Definitely not at supermarket car parks though lol.
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  • bery_451 wrote: »
    Hi,

    I invested around £1100 in a mondeo ST220. Speculation states in 15 years time this car will be worth give or take £50000 due to it being rare and ford stopped making mondeos. The more rarer the more it will worth.

    I dont have my own driveway or garage or any private land to park it. Its parked on the street outside my house and I can't afford private storage unless I can travel in the future and collect my investment return lol.

    I have a relative who lives in a council tower block of flats but hes at work most of the time. This council tower block has its own free car park for residents living there but I don't see any signs or permits being displayed enforcing that. My relative said he parked his other own sorn car there for the last 7 years with no problems. He can't be arsed scrapping his SORN car lol.

    Okay the question is it safe to park my car at the above car park and just leave it there without worrying about it being recoverebd or towed by authorities? Car thieves will see it as old car and won't bother with it so my concern is the authorities taking it.

    How does the authorities or council get suspicious on a particular parked car for example? I doubt council residents will notice a old car parked with many resident cars to phone and report. Also what is the law on parking SORN cars?

    Otherwise any other suggested safest places to park SORN cars for long term for free? Definitely not at supermarket car parks though lol.


    Would you leave £50k in cash there?

    One it starts appreciating in value I suspect it'll get nick if it's not torched before that.
  • bery_451
    bery_451 Posts: 1,897 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Would you leave £50k in cash there?

    One it starts appreciating in value I suspect it'll get nick if it's not torched before that.

    Why would someone set a old car on fire lol?

    Seriously the car doesn't stand out in the car crowd there. Im sure the thieves will be interested in the audis bmws and mercs there instead.

    It's just speculation that it be worth £50k in that time. Whether it's worth £50k in that time or worth scrap in weight I just like to know the safest places to park.
  • bery_451 wrote: »
    I invested around £1100 in a mondeo ST220.
    Get it an MOT and insurance and use it as a car, then you can park it on the road and in however many years you can sell it for £50,000 if it's worth that, and if it isn't you've had a car to drive around which doesn't owe you anything.
    Proud member of the wokerati, though I don't eat tofu.Home is where my books are.Solar PV 5.2kWp system, SE facing, >1% shading, installed March 2019.Mortgage free July 2023
  • It's definitely a car that could appreciate - but to do that it will need to be garaged and regularly used (but not big miles, just to keep it warm and working) and serviced, a full MOT history etc.

    So the safest place is to keep it in a dry garage and keep it taxed, insured & MOT'd so on a nice day it can be used for what it was designed to do.

    Left sat unable to driven in a wet car park will see it slowly turn into a worthless non-working pile of rust.
  • Scrapit
    Scrapit Posts: 2,304 Forumite
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    A st Mondeo worth a bag of sand isn't going to become a 50 grand motor in 15 years. Full stop. So it doesn't matter where you park it.
  • born_again
    born_again Posts: 20,552 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper
    bery_451 wrote: »
    W
    It's just speculation that it be worth £50k in that time. Whether it's worth £50k in that time or worth scrap in weight I just like to know the safest places to park.

    Especially give the 2040 target for EV only cars.

    Seriously if you need to keep it somewhere safe and dry. As well as keep it running.
    Lave it unused out in the wild and you will be looking at a pile of junk.
    Who is to say that someone at that block of flats won't report it, if parking spaces are taken by uninsured & sorn cars.
    Life in the slow lane
  • bery_451
    bery_451 Posts: 1,897 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Get it an MOT and insurance and use it as a car, then you can park it on the road and in however many years you can sell it for £50,000 if it's worth that, and if it isn't you've had a car to drive around which doesn't owe you anything.

    Park it on the road next to moving traffic :eek:
    Plus I can't afford insurance on the ST220 and all these expenses mentioned in this thread.
  • Herzlos
    Herzlos Posts: 15,903 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Assuming this isn't a wind up, a £1100 Mondeo ST220 (so already a banget) is unlikely to be worth more than scrap after 15 years being sat around neglected. It might be worth something (like £5k) if it was stored in a garage and well maintained, but wouldn't be worth it after you'd paid for the garage.

    I'd be using it or getting rid of it, especially if you have nowhere to SORN it.

    It'll get removed if you dump it in a council car park.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    bery_451 wrote: »
    I invested around £1100 in a mondeo ST220. Speculation states in 15 years time this car will be worth give or take £50000 due to it being rare and ford stopped making mondeos. The more rarer the more it will worth.
    The accuracy of your "speculation" is... questionable... but that's a different question.
    I dont have my own driveway or garage or any private land to park it.
    Perhaps the time to have thought of that was before buying a car you intended on storing off the road?
    Its parked on the street outside my house
    So needs to be fully road legal at all times.
    and I can't afford private storage
    Then spending a grand on a shed you don't intend to use was probably not wise.
    unless I can travel in the future and collect my investment return lol.
    A grand on lottery tickets would have a better chance of providing a positive return.
    I have a relative who lives in a council tower block of flats but hes at work most of the time. This council tower block has its own free car park for residents living there but I don't see any signs or permits being displayed enforcing that. My relative said he parked his other own sorn car there for the last 7 years with no problems. He can't be arsed scrapping his SORN car lol.
    Riiiight.
    Okay the question is it safe to park my car at the above car park and just leave it there without worrying about it being recovered or towed by authorities?
    All the evidence suggests it is, don'cha think?
    Car thieves will see it as old car
    And that, in and of itself, doesn't tell you a lot about the "investment potential"? It's very likely to get Hiab'd off in the middle of the night - either for breaking for bits if you're right, or for weighing-in the minute scrap values start to rise.
    Also what is the law on parking SORN cars?
    Simples. They must be parked off the road, as defined by the Road Traffic Act. That includes the requirement for the road to be maintained at public expense. However, if it's on private land, it must be parked with the landowner's agreement. The landowner clearly agrees for their tenants to park their own vehicles there - whether road-legal or not - but they may change that at some point in the future. You are not their tenant, so you cannot rely on having their tacit approval.
    Otherwise any other suggested safest places to park SORN cars for long term for free?
    Here's a thought... If you leave an ageing Mondeo parked outside, without touching it, for a decade and a half... what condition do you think it's going to be in when you decide to bat it off to that classic auction where you'll become a millionaire (this time next year, Rodney)?

    That aside, you seem to be confusing the peak of good condition, original-spec, low-mileage, untouched Sierra Cosworths and performance Mk2 Escorts with a ratty Mondeo... Ford SceneTax might be laughable, but it really isn't utterly blind.
  • foxy-stoat
    foxy-stoat Posts: 6,879 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    bery_451 wrote: »
    Hi,

    I invested around £1100 in a mondeo ST220. Speculation states in 15 years time this car will be worth give or take £50000 due to it being rare and ford stopped making mondeos. The more rarer the more it will worth.

    You have one too many zeros on the end of your future valuation, IF it was low mileage and mint.

    After 10 + years without regular maintenance it will be scrap. Your better off getting yourself a few bags of dust, throwing one of them in the interior and the rest over the whole car and advertise it now for £5000 as a "barn find" and see what offers you get.
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