When a car is part of the estate

Savvy_Sue

I was chatting to a friend today: relative has died leaving a car which my friend would like to 'take over': their parents are executors, they have a bequest which would be more than the value of the car, and no-one else in the family wants it. 

The car is several hundred miles away and doesn't have a valid MOT, so after a bit of googling I'm thinking the necessary steps are

1. change V5 into friend's name
2. SORN it (I'm assuming it's already off the road, but I can at least tell them to check that)
3. get a rough value for insurance, and insure it while SORNed
4. arrange an MOT and make a visit for that purpose
5. check insurance is valid once car is running

Have I missed anything? Obviously discussions may be needed to ascertain correct value of car once it's running (assuming it does!) but I don't think there'll be a squabble about this! 

tacpot12

You are missing that if the vehicle passes the MOT, it will need to be taxed before it can be driven anywhere other than back to the registered keepers address after the MOT. 

poppystar

Retax it once it has MOT?

Correct value for car is surely the value in its current state ie. value at death - unless the estate is paying for the MOT, insurance etc.

Savvy_Sue

tacpot12 said:

You are missing that if the vehicle passes the MOT, it will need to be taxed before it can be driven anywhere other than back to the registered keepers address after the MOT. 

I don't think that would be a problem. Just checking, it's OK to drive to an MOT from the SORN address? 

poppystar said:

Retax it once it has MOT?

Correct value for car is surely the value in its current state ie. value at death - unless the estate is paying for the MOT, insurance etc.

Yes, fair point. Although I suspect my friend would want to be generous to the other beneficiaries. 

BikingBud

Savvy_Sue said:

tacpot12 said:

You are missing that if the vehicle passes the MOT, it will need to be taxed before it can be driven anywhere other than back to the registered keepers address after the MOT. 

I don't think that would be a problem. Just checking, it's OK to drive to an MOT from the SORN address? 

poppystar said:

Retax it once it has MOT?

Correct value for car is surely the value in its current state ie. value at death - unless the estate is paying for the MOT, insurance etc.

Yes, fair point. Although I suspect my friend would want to be generous to the other beneficiaries. 

Why generous?

What is wrong with all things being done fairly?

If the MOT has just run out due to probate delays then it might be easier but if it fails the MOT then what?

What does We Buy Any Car say and compare with something like Parkers, see what the spread is and maybe consider how much of the overall estate and this individual bequest the value might be, if it's only worth £1000 and there are 10 beneficiaries then it doesn't go too far.

Savvy_Sue

There's nothing wrong with being fair. But in this case there are 3 beneficiaries, there's likely to be a spread of 'things' people would like, and no-one will want to get into a fight about your 'thing' being worth more than my 'thing' and "it's not fair because your share is ending up marginally more than my share" leading to the potential costs of valuing absolutely every last tea towel. 

I suspect it's not just probate delays, and yes, if it fails then that's a whole new ball game. I just hoped to get some clarity about the process, which between Google and you lovely lot I think I have. Especially with the suggestion of places to get values from! 

poppystar

Savvy_Sue said:

tacpot12 said:

You are missing that if the vehicle passes the MOT, it will need to be taxed before it can be driven anywhere other than back to the registered keepers address after the MOT. 

I don't think that would be a problem. Just checking, it's OK to drive to an MOT from the SORN 

I don’t think it is. I found dealing with the deceased’s car the hardest thing for this reason. It’s not clear you would have insurance to take the car on the road for this, especially given you say you’d get insurance cover while it is SORNed - which itself would mean it should not be on the road. Getting a garage to collect it and drive on their trade plates would be fine but obviously would likely be more expensive and they’d have to bring it back after.