Taking a Car off the Road (SORN)

JANE B

My husband wants to lay up our car, as he adores the car and could never bring himself to trade it in. He is intending to replace it with a nice little car for me. What we want to know is that when a car is declared as SORN, how do you go about using it say once a year, perhaps to get the MOT done, or to attend one of the vehicle rallies that we have just started to attend. Anybody know anything about this, the vehicle is not old enough to qualify for any tax exemptions (thus another reason for this decision, along with exorbitant fuel costs). Thanks.

jorja1986

My understanding of SORN was that the car could not be used or stored on a public highway.

That it had to be taxed etc.

To service it all you need to do is get it onto a low loader and get the lorry to drive to the garage that is a way around that and to the rallies. :thumbup1:

CJC

You are allowed to drive the car to get MOTed - see here. As for vehicle rallies I guess a trailer is the only solution.

In addition, the DVLA is, apparently, pretty useless at sending out SORN reminders, so make sure you know when the renewal is due. You are liable to be fined if you forget.

richardw

If it is off the road, do you need to get it MOT'd every year though?

Youll want to keep it insured, & if your taking it to car rallies, best looking at one of the specialist insurers.

marknotgeorge

You need to have tax, insurance and a valid MoT to use or keep a var on the public highway. You can drive a vehicle to a pre-booked test without an MoT, but it must be taxed. I own a TR7, and a fair few fellow owners only use their cars over the summer, SORNing it over the winter. As long as you get the MoT done whilst it's taxed, you'll have no problems. Although you have to buy a minimum of 6 months tax, if you surrender your tax disx before then, you can claim any complete unused months back (but only at 1/12 of the 12 month tax rate for each month).

JANE B

Thanks for this information, this is just what we wanted to know.:001_smile: