SORN car clamped

facade

Without an MOT the DVLA charge a refundable £160 to release the clamp, as you can't tax it before they unclamp it.

If you tax it within 14 days you can claim the £160 back.

The clamp release fee is £100 + twice the outstanding tax.

So for a £280 bill the outstanding tax (upto 31st July) is only £10.

As I understand it the actual "fine"- actually an "Out Of Court Settlement" to make the nice DVLA forgive you just this once is £30 + twice the outstanding tax. If it remains unpaid they will take it to court and the penalty is much greater.

I also believe that if they remove it you can sign away the car to cancel the impound fees.

So it should be that they just remove it, the executor of the estate signs it away to cancel the impound fee, and then the DVLA pursue the estate to the ends of the Earth (they never, ever forget or forgive) for just the £30 + twice the tax- which ought to be £50 if the figures are correct.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-enforcement-policy/dvla-enforcement-of-vehicle-tax-registration-and-insurance-offences

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-enforcement-policy/dvla-enforcement-of-vehicle-tax-registration-and-insurance-offences#wheelclamping

Obviously, if I'm wrong it will cost the estate a lot of money, so try and confirm with someone else, like ftla.uk , I suspect that you won't get a straight answer out of the DVLA.

Hoenir

Was the vehicle still insured? 

theoretica

I imagine it is physically possible for a car scrapper to collect the vehicle despite it being clamped.  I don't know what DVLA might do about the clamp in such situation.

MobileSaver

facade said:

So it should be that they just remove it, the executor of the estate signs it away to cancel the impound fee, and then the DVLA pursue the estate to the ends of the Earth (they never, ever forget or forgive) for just the £30 + twice the tax- which ought to be £50 if the figures are correct.

Thanks! This would be ideal if still accurate, I've posted on FTLA to see if anyone has any similar recent experience of the process.

Hoenir said:

Was the vehicle still insured? 

We believe so but not 100% sure, still going through mounds of paperwork.

theoretica said:

I imagine it is physically possible for a car scrapper to collect the vehicle despite it being clamped. 

Yes, I'd thought the same. 

Interestingly, while the sticker on the vehicle says in big letters "Do Not Attempt To Move This Untaxed Vehicle", the small print only states it is an offence to "interfere with the wheelclamp" and "to remove this notice", it does not state that it is an offence to move the vehicle...

Keep_pedalling

It sounds like the estate is dangerously close to being insolvent, so your friends need to be careful. If there is not actually enough in the estate after funeral costs to pay all the debts, including the fine, then they should not attempt to administer the estate, but instead write to all the creditors explaining that the estate is insolvent and that no one is administering it (include a copy of the death certificate) 

Banks will pay funeral cost directly to the funeral director so the family can avoid intermeddling with the estate.

MobileSaver

Keep_pedalling said:

If there is not actually enough in the estate after funeral costs to pay all the debts, including the fine, then they should not attempt to administer the estate

Yes, agreed, I've already advised them not to pay anything until all the deceased's paperwork has been checked to get a better idea of the finances. As it happens we came across a document this morning showing that a particular loan had recently been paid off so the estate is almost certainly solvent unless anything unexpected pops up in the last of the paperwork to be checked.

Every day is a school day and I was surprised to discover that moving the car to secure it and even insuring it are not considered intermeddling. Whether paying the clamping/impounding fine is intermeddling or not is less clear; on the one hand paying a debt is intermeddling but collecting/securing the deceased's assets to protect them is not intermeddling however probably a moot point in this case.