Forgot to renew car insurance and quotation refused

browncony

Hi,
Sorry about my amateur English. I have got a really big problem regarding the car insurance and Please HELP!!!

My situation is, my old car policy ended in the end of July, and because I haven't used my car since lock down, so I think I can just park my car in the car park, paying road tax, and no need to buy car insurance as I'm not driving it on the road.

Today I phoned Tescobank and wanted to buy a new insurance starting from next week. I was asked if my car was insured after the old insurance ended and if I had applied SORN. I was honest and explained my situation, and then I was refused to sell a new policy.

I then googled about this issue and only at that time I notice that I have to insure my car at all time (I'm really sorry I don't know this common knowledge, I'm a new driver and only received my license for one year). And I've also read about SORN but because I'm living in a flat which means my car is parked in a resident car park (not off the road), so SORN doesn't applied on my car.

My question is, will I still be able to get a normal car insurance in the market?
And regarding the question before all the quotation "has ever had any insurance refused, cancelled or made void", should I answer yes or no? I only phoned Tescobank today and didn't even start to get a quotation, so I'm not sure if I am considered as "had insurance refused".

Thank you very much for your HELP!!!

John_

Yes, you’ll still be able to get insurance. I’m not even clear why Tesco would choose not to cover you, it’s not generally the sort of thing that causes any problem.

browncony

John_ said:

Yes, you’ll still be able to get insurance. I’m not even clear why Tesco would choose not to cover you, it’s not generally the sort of thing that causes any problem.

Thank you John. I'll phone Tesco again tomorrow to give another try.

Hasbeen

So because your uninsured car is parked in a residential car park, you did not need to SORN it?

Not exactly sure that is correct?

Perhaps someone else can clarify.

browncony

Hasbeen said:

So because your uninsured car is parked in a residential car park, you did not need to SORN it?

Not exactly sure that is correct?

Perhaps someone else can clarify.

I can't SORN a car which is kept in a residential car park - as residential car park isn't considered as "off the road". Technically, a flat residential car park is still public place.
So I'm afraid I can't SORN my car, therefore I'll have to insure it.

TELLIT01

I think the law was changed comparatively recently and if a car has not been SORNed, it must be insured at all times.  I got this from Gov.uk  "You must keep your car off the road if it has a SORN. You can keep it on your driveway, garage or any private land you own. You cannot keep your car on a public road even if it has been declared not in use."  From that it would seem you can't leave it in a private car park as you don't own the land!

Edited to add: The RAC confirm that a SORN vehicle cannot be left in a carpark for the reason stated above.  It would seem you can't even park it on somebody else's driveway even with the land owner's permission.

Aretnap

TELLIT01 said:

I think the law was changed comparatively recently and if a car has not been SORNed, it must be insured at all times.  I got this from Gov.uk  "You must keep your car off the road if it has a SORN. You can keep it on your driveway, garage or any private land you own. You cannot keep your car on a public road even if it has been declared not in use."  From that it would seem you can't leave it in a private car park as you don't own the land!

Edited to add: The RAC confirm that a SORN vehicle cannot be left in a carpark for the reason stated above.  It would seem you can't even park it on somebody else's driveway even with the land owner's permission.

Which would obviously be absurd, so unsurprisingly it isn't true. 

In fact the only place you are not allowed to use or keep an untaxed/Sorn vehicle is a "public road", defined as "a road repairable at public expense". This is set out in the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act, which trumps anything on the gov.uk website, and certainly trumps the RAC's search engine optimisation text. 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/22/section/29
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/22/section/62

A private residential car park is not a road repairable at public expense; it is perfectly OK to keep a SORNed vehicle there, assuming whoever is in charge of the car park doesn't object. 

The confusion often arises because many of the provisions of the Road Traffic Act apply anywhere which is used by the general public, which would include many car parks (though still probably not a private residential car park). However tax and Sorn declarations are not governed by the Road Traffic Act - they come under completely different legislation. 

ToxicWomble

Surely even though it’s not a public road a car park is classed as a public space and therefore insurance is required for third party purposes

bradders1983

browncony said:

John_ said:

Yes, you’ll still be able to get insurance. I’m not even clear why Tesco would choose not to cover you, it’s not generally the sort of thing that causes any problem.

Thank you John. I'll phone Tesco again tomorrow to give another try.

At least use the comparison sites first before blindly contacting your old provider!

Also....why do you need to ring? Just do it online? 🤷‍♂️

browncony

Hi guys, thank you very much for your reply.

My problem is, I had a insurance lapse and I didn't apply for SORN for the period of time. And now I can't get any normal car insurance from the market.

browncony

bradders1983 said:

browncony said:

John_ said:

Yes, you’ll still be able to get insurance. I’m not even clear why Tesco would choose not to cover you, it’s not generally the sort of thing that causes any problem.

Thank you John. I'll phone Tesco again tomorrow to give another try.

At least use the comparison sites first before blindly contacting your old provider!

Also....why do you need to ring? Just do it online? 🤷‍♂️

Hi bradders1983,

The reason I phone them is I'm worried even I successfully buy a new policy online, I'll then receive a refuse letter from the insurer, as they can easily find my insurance lapse from MIB.

At this moment, I'm not really considered as "refused" by insurer, but if I buy the policy online and get cancelled after that. I'll have to answer yes to the question "has ever had any insurance refused, cancelled or made void" in the future.