SORN and insurance question

Weemac

Hi all!! Wondered if anyone has some advice for us. We recently bought a Fiat Punto for my 17 year old daughter to learn in and it will be hers once she passes her test. We have a PT Cruiser which swallows petrol like nothing on earth plus is costly to tax. I have been using my daughters car instead of ours for the last few weeks as it is so much cheaper to run.

We were thinking of doing (if that the right word!) a SORN for our PT Cruiser as it is not being used and claiming back the couple of months road tax which is on it. This would save us paying out six months tax of £120 approx end of May and also we would cancel the car insurance on it so saving something every month as well. Once my daughter passes her test - months away yet as she has only just turned 17 - we would reregister/MOT/tax our car so that we can use it again.

What we want to know though is - should we have some sort of car insurance for our PT Cruiser even though it will be kept in our locked garage all the time? Also what happens when we need to MOT it and take it out on the road to a garage?

We are only trying to save some money and not have the expensive car sitting doing nothing but costing us the insurance and tax. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

bryanb

Third party, fire and theft would be wise. I know you won't need the 3rd party bit, but it's the only way to get the Fire & theft bit.
You can legally drive an untaxed car to a prebooked appointment for MOT test, provided it is insured.
Why not save even more by changing the PT for a more economic vehicle?

lisyloo

We were thinking of doing (if that the right word!) a SORN for our PT Cruiser

It needs to be off-road (that's what the OR stands for after all) so you can't leave it on the road. Private driveway is OK as that's private land and not the public highway.

and also we would cancel the car insurance

Be aware it won't be insured for theft.
You could find out what it costs to insure off road.

Also what happens when we need to MOT it and take it out on the road to a garage?

It needs to be insured but does not need to be taxed.
However you would not be able to go anywhere else in it, so what's the point in getting an MOT if you aren't going to be able to drive anywhere?
Makes sense to defer the MOT until you want to use it.

Weemac

Thanks for your quick replies -

lisyloo - i just wondered about the MOT once we were getting it back on the road after my daughter passed her test and wanted to use her own car.

bryanb - I will phone my insurers and ask about off road/third party fire and theft insurance. We had thought about selling the PT but we have always wanted one and don't really want to get rid of it if we can help it. It really just seems silly having the car sitting idle in the garage costing us money!

raskazz

What you need is a 'laid-up' policy. Google it and you should find a fair few insurers who offer it.

cyclonebri1

Just be aware that with a normal policy you can only insure 1 car, IE, it means you get your no claims on one car only and even if a second car is insured 3rd party only, you have to start from scratch with no no claims

Wig

MOT it now, then you don't have to worry about that later.

Ask your house insurance if it can be included in the contents.

MarkyMarkD

I'm presuming the OP has already taken out a policy on the new car, in the daughter's name, as he's already driving it around.

jennifernil

We did this with our second car as we were away for 3 months. I tried to find insurance for a car "in our garage" but failed. We declared SORN end of July 2007 and retaxed it for November 2007. We just let the insurance run out in mid September as the car is not worth much and it was garaged, but for a decent car I would keep up the insurance, and the NCD.
We got new insurance and it was then legal to drive it untaxed to the booked MOT.