Catch 22 with deceased car

MrWrighty

My dad recently passed away. As part of the death registration you have the use of a 'Tell us Once' service which informs various government bodies about the persons passing. One such department is the DVLA. We received a letter stating that Dad is no longer the registered keeper of the vehicle and the tax has been cancelled. Because of this I informed his insurer who cancelled the policy although they allowed a months grace, but it couldn't be driven without road tax. The car is standing on mums driveway and she does not drive. So now what, as no one is the registered keeper, there is no tax, the car should be SORN'd but how. There is a paragraph in the letter from the DVLA that says "If the vehicle is to be kept off road, the registered vehicle keeper must tell us by making a SORN. Only the registered keeper can make a SORN". There is no registered keeper so how do we SORN it.

Car_54

You need to change the registered keeper. If you have the old V5C (log book), you can do it online. https://www.gov.uk/sold-bought-vehicle

Then you can SORN it.

daveyjp

Sorry for your loss.  Always difficult sorting out details at times like this.

The long and short is the car needs to be registered to someone.  There is no reason it can't be your mum as there is no requirement to have a licence to be registered keeper of a vehicle.

https://www.gov.uk/tell-dvla-about-bereavement/keeping-the-vehicle

MrWrighty

Thanks for your prompt replies folks. Just thought that registering the car to another person would increase the number of owners and decrease that value, but I guess not by much. We have the original V5C so we can register it easily enough. Just seems and !!!!!! about face way of doing things. I can't see the point in de-registering a vehicle. OK the owner is no longer around, but it forces you to register the vehicle to someone who might not want the car just to show it as off road. The DVLA should automatically apply a SORN to a deceased's car for this very reason why would it need a registered owner to do this. The SORN is registered to the vehicle.

HHarry

As the other posters have said, just put it in yours or your Mums name.  Put it on your list of things to do at a convenient time - Yes it needs to be Sorned, but they can’t fine the Registered Keeper as there isn’t one.
My Mum’s car sat on her drive for a couple of months before I could face sorting it out - I eventually put it in my name and it was fine.

AdrianC

MrWrighty said:

I can't see the point in de-registering a vehicle. OK the owner is no longer around, but it forces you to register the vehicle to someone who might not want the car just to show it as off road. The DVLA should automatically apply a SORN to a deceased's car for this very reason why would it need a registered owner to do this. The SORN is registered to the vehicle.

SORN is cancelled on keeper change, and has been since it was introduced in 1999.

The car needs to be registered to somebody, the person legally responsible for ensuring it's either in use legally or is flagged as off the road. Since the deceased cannot do that, it's part of the job of the executor or administrator of the deceased's estate. So what's happening with it longer-term?
Who is taking it on? Transfer the keepership to them.
Is it being sold? Then the keepership will transfer when it is.

Dr_Crypto

Can’t quite remember the details but when my Dad died we informed the DVLA and had a refund of the VED. I don’t remember SORNing the car but it was kept in a private garage. Once it was decided that I was taking the vehicle over I simply registered it on my name and went from there. 

couriervanman

If its parked on driveway why bother just wait till its sold and new keeper registers it

EssexExile

My Dad passed away last month, I didn't tell the DVLA by the "Tell us once" service because I could see all sorts of complications. It was an old car so we sent it to auction for charity then I wrote to the Sensitive Casework team at the DVLA to tell them what I'd done.

theoretica

As the registered keeper needs to be the one to SORN it, can anyone other than the registered keeper be in trouble for not SORNing it?

Uxb1

When I was an executor c5 years ago
I wrote to DVLA sensitive casework dept requesting the car be put in my name as keeper
I enclosed an original of the death cert - which had me as informant anyway.
I also enclosed the V5 signed by me stating I was signing the transfer as executor of the late xxxxx giving the date of transfer as the date of death.
DVLA made me the keeper and gave me a new V5, I put it on SORN - it was sat in the garage for the previous year anyway and I then sold it back to the dealer whence it came from
Dealer paid me and I then accounted for this money received by me in the estate accounts as I was a part residual beneficiary.
It made it easier to have me peronsally as keeper rather than me styled as "Executors of... as this was going to make it easier for me to sell it to someone and to get paid for it.
I got the dealer to collect it under trade plates as part of the deal as by then it was untaxed and uninsured though it did still have a MOT.