Insuring Sorned Cars

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

DIRECT.GOV LINK

Has this been discussed on here?

With the lack of free time I've had and the website loading really slow since it's been made all fancy, I've not had time to search on this.

I heard it on the Radio only last week and left me A bit concerned as I'm planning on spending quite a bit of my savings on painting my cab.

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I struggle to pay for the Petrol and insurance on my CTR. I can't afford to insure a car thats in bits in my garage aswell!

The idea was to use it for 6 months of the year. It won't be worth while doing the project if I have to insure 2 cars.

Not with todays insurace prices!

I'm s**ting myself, for when mine is due for renewal as Our lasses (who is 30 this month) has doubled from £300 to £600 for a 995cc Yaris!

[Masekwm 2]

When it's sorn you don't need insurance.

 

It now can't be Taxed without insurance

[johnnyboy666 195 1 Cars]

I thought that this was only the case if the car wasnt declared SORN, but having read through that I'm not too sure!

 

Then again, if you read this http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/Motorinsurance/DG_067639

about half way down the page it says that it only applies to non-SORNed cars

 

Good old government trying to catch people out by confusing them!

[Anthony 1,003]

It's fairly simple, if ultimately a bit pointless.

 

Whereas previously you only needed to SORN the car if it wasn't taxed, you'll now need to SORN it if it's untaxed and/or uninsured. Fail to do this, and they'll be an automated fine on your doormat.

 

Needless to say, it won't tackle the serious problems given that the owners of these cars will either just not care or won't have the cars registered in their names anyway, just as the introduction of SORN doesn't appear to have done much for untaxed cars. Don't worry though, as we all know that both the insurance database and the DVLA are infalible...

 

(this was discussed on here a while back when the plan was first announced)

[feb 47]

Just SORN it and when you want to use it buy 6 months tax.

What Masekwm said is correct.

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

I see now.

Looks like it fills the gap between when a car you own has tax but isn't insured.

Just means that you'll have to sorn it before the tax runs out, rather than wait for the reminder!

 

As long as it does'n't force people to buy insurance they don't need, then I'm happy.

[Baz 421]

You don't legally have to insure a car unless it's 4 wheels are on the queen's highway.

[welshpug 1,657]

It now can't be Taxed without insurance

 

That has always been the case for as long as I can remember.

[Masekwm 2]

That has always been the case for as long as I can remember.

 

Sorry, the reply was badly written.

 

It now can't be sat taxed whilst not insured. If it's not insured, it must be SORN.

[GLPoomobile 958]

When I was visiting my family a month or so back my dad mentioned this to me as he had a flyer from the DVLA about this, which his Insurance Company had sent him at renewal time. He mentioned it to me as he was worried about my 205.

 

It seemed quite straight forward to me so I'm surprised it's caused confusion

 

Looks like I had a lucky escape. My 205 is off the public road and I swapped the insurance over in Sep when I got a 2nd car, so it's been uninsured ever since. It was taxed until March this year but because I'm so disorganised I only got around to SORNing it and sending the tax disc back in Jan. I think this new "law" came in to effect at the end of Jan.

 

This is what they are tackling. I'd done nothing wrong before as the car was taxed, it just wasn't insured, but as it was not on the public road I was breaking no law. But under the new ruling I can't keep my car taxed if it's not also insured, even if it's off the road. I can kind of see the logic in that, as there's no reason to keep the car taxed if it's not insured...

 

If it's not insured it shouldn't be on the public road

If it's not on the public road it doesn't need to be taxed

If it's not taxed it should be SORNED

So all 3 should tie together.

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

So I can now have a car that's taxed and sorn at the same time?

[Masekwm 2]

Nope, you must return the disc and declare SORN.

 

This also means you are hit in the pocket if you buy 6 month discs.

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

This is just a way of getting more money out of honest people, it's not going to affect the illegal drivers at all

[GLPoomobile 958]

This is just a way of getting more money out of honest people, it's not going to affect the illegal drivers at all

 

Huh? How do you figure?

 

So your car is uninsured. You don't have it on the public road, but it's still taxed. You're not using it but it's still taxed. Whose loosing out? You! But the new ruling means you must declare it SORNed and return the tax disc if it's uninsured, meaning you get money back if there's tax remaining. So how exactly are they making money out of you if they are giving you a refund on remaining tax?

 

The only way you end up out of pocket is if, like me, you were too lazy to return the tax disc and declare it SORN when you took it off the road.

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

I meant honest people getting fined for forgetting to declare sorn, while 'real' illegal drivers just buy a s*itter and drive it registered in a different name and most get away scot free.

[Obey_R 23]

There's not going to be any automatic 'must pay' fines. It said on the link they will be issued with a warning/reminder, then if it's not insured or SORNed you will get fined. If you still don't act on it, even if you paid the fine, it can be taken and crushed.

[ktm_kate 11]

I heard about this new 'Insurance SORN' thing on the radio and got a bit grumpy, but then I remembered a scam that the kids used to do when I was at college..

 

They would buy some insurance for their car, get the certificate, get a years Tax and then cancel the insurance. I'm not sure if they would keep the certificate or make a copy of it, but they would keep that in the car so if they got pulled they could show the certificate and that was enough to quieten most coppers.

 

Tax is very visible and everyone knows you need insurance to get Tax so it makes the car looks nice and legit. This new law will stop this loophole and force these incurance cancelers to surrender their Tax disk.

 

Plus it will help us lazy types to get of our bums and cash the tax on our project cars (GLP, I missed out on 4 months cash back on both my car and the donor because I was lazy.. )

 

Its a bit of a pain if you want to let insurance laps for a short while (like I did to move the renewal date from just before to just after my birthday) but on the whole this should stop a few un-insured drivers. We just have to hope that they chose to get insurance rather then go all out and falsly register the car etc..

[damien 22 1 Cars]

cant work out the problem myself, if your car is not on the road and has no tax it should be sorned.

the goverment just want cars that are not sorned to have insurance.

my 205 is sorned but still insured, may be costing me £500 a year but it keeps the policy rolling and nocking the no claims up

[large 33]

This is going to be a pita for me as my insurance is up in a week and I want to take the car off the road for 2 to 3 weeks. But now may have to pi$$ about sending the tax disk back only to apply for another one a couple of weeks later.

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

I heard about this new 'Insurance SORN' thing on the radio and got a bit grumpy, but then I remembered a scam that the kids used to do when I was at college..

 

They would buy some insurance for their car, get the certificate, get a years Tax and then cancel the insurance. I'm not sure if they would keep the certificate or make a copy of it, but they would keep that in the car so if they got pulled they could show the certificate and that was enough to quieten most coppers.

 

Tax is very visible and everyone knows you need insurance to get Tax so it makes the car looks nice and legit. This new law will stop this loophole and force these incurance cancelers to surrender their Tax disk.

 

Plus it will help us lazy types to get of our bums and cash the tax on our project cars (GLP, I missed out on 4 months cash back on both my car and the donor because I was lazy.. )

 

Its a bit of a pain if you want to let insurance laps for a short while (like I did to move the renewal date from just before to just after my birthday) but on the whole this should stop a few un-insured drivers. We just have to hope that they chose to get insurance rather then go all out and falsly register the car etc..

 

Hit the nail on the head I think there. Only difference now is that everything is computerised and they do checks using fancy automated numberplate recognition.

Some of you might not know how advanced this has become and it surprised me when I was told how it works.

Motorway service car parks have a stay limit of 2 hours. If you stay longer than that time a fine is automatically sent to your address just from reading your number plate! No human intervention what so ever!

The police are using similar devices with fixed cameras in town centres etc. My guess is that this change is so the system compliments the hardware.

[Baz 421]

This has actually been in place for years though it seems like now they've chosen to point it out?

 

What's dishonest about owning multiple cars but only having one insured? You can only drive one car at a time so if you're not using it on the public highway, where's the harm? (I'm well aware of the law, this is just for argument's sake!)

 

I agree and see why it stops the 'loopholers' but what about those people that aren't doing anything wrong? If you're not driving a car, you're not likely to crash it or cause an accident are you, so where's the issue? To me it's just another stamp of authority, money spinner, and a way to penalise people that own multiple cars.

 

Of course there's the issue of it not being covered for theft, fire etc, i totally understand that as well as any other issues you may find if the car was still sat at the roadside but tht should be a choice surely? And you don't need an insurance company to sort out matters if someone else drives into your car when you're not even in it, well, in theory... IMO if you've bought tax you should have a right to park on (and obviously use should you be entitled to) the public road for as long as that lasts, so why remove that right and penalise people that have multiple cars?

 

Yes it's been this way for years, but before that for many years more it worked fine, so why not anymore? If not to get a few cars off the road, make more money and similar pointless reasons, because you can bet on it not actually making a big difference in the amount of illegitimate cars on the road, despite the excuse...

Edited April 20, 2011 by Baz

[Anthony 1,003]

This is different to what existed before Baz.

 

Now you need to have a taxed car insured regardless of whether it's on the road, private property, or in a thousand pieces in the garage.

 

No insurance showing on the vehicle, and you either have to send back the tax and SORN it, or you'll be liable for an automated fine.

 

Previously it was only an offence to be using a car without insurance - now it's an offence to simply own a car without insurance, unless it's SORN.

[large 33]

Motorway service car parks have a stay limit of 2 hours. If you stay longer than that time a fine is automatically sent to your address just from reading your number plate! No human intervention what so ever!

 

And if anyone pays it they are fools!

[Baz 421]

 

 

Previously it was only an offence to be using a car without insurance - now it's an offence to simply own a car without insurance, unless it's SORN.

 

Ohh_my_lord... so it's actually worse than i previously understood!

 

That's going to create so many problems in so many ways, especially for those in the trade.

 

In my case, my cars are stored(& insured being so) when not in use, Sorn'd of course but might remain taxed at times for obvious reasons, ready to go, although not insured - that takes a phone call and away i go at the drop of a hat if needs be, but this is going to force me to tax my car(s) for as little use as a day, then return the tax declaring Sorn again, insane!

 

Needless to mention the costs involved it makes it so difficult & time consuming, plus limited to when you get your cover note & to the post office to buy tax etc etc!!

 

With a couple of my cars the way i use them, would have to be Taxed then Sorn'd every other bloody day! What a complete f*cking farce.

 

Well, either that or spend a ridiculous amount on Insurance when i can only drive one at a time.

 

 

 

Thank f*ck i'm very luckily not actually in that situation at present, but there'd be many facing this i should think.

Edited April 22, 2011 by Baz

[Alastairh 47]

Just paint them all the same colour and swap one set of number plates about.

 

Joke btw