SORN and insurance

[johnw]

There will soon be a requirement for all cars to be EITHER insured and taxed OR SORN'd.

I am not sure about the exact date that this will start but as far as I am aware it is towards the end of January 2011. All vehicles that have taxed at any time after 31 January 1998 are covered by these new rules which have been introduced as part of the Road Safety Act 2006.

There penalties for not doing this. The DVLA will automatically issue a fine of £100, just on the basis of their records. This will happen even if the vehicle is being kept on private land.

If the vehicle is seen on the road or in a public place – which could be parked outside your house – then it will be off to court where the maximum fine will be £1,000.

Vehicles parked or used on public land can be clamped and/or seized and/or crushed.

 

[Focus Owner]

repost
https://www.fiatforum.com/leisure-lounge/257515-worth-thread.html

 

[Kier]

I don't get how they can do it if its on private land, I don't need insurance to keep my car on my drive. I can understand on the road outside.

 

[johnw]

i am told it is part of a drive to cut uninsured driving. Quite how it will do that I am not sure.

 

[RuSZ]

i am told it is part of a drive to cut uninsured driving. Quite how it will do that I am not sure.

So to get a car off a privately owned piece of land they are going to need a warrant to obtain the vehicle. which will require evidance of been used on public highways.

further to this what about people who drive buggys/kit cars on privately owned land for pleasure and racing? these arent taxed, mot'd or insured. are these going to get crushed?

 

[dave]

people buy a banger with just tax and drive it uninsured, if all taxed cars must now have insurance them people wont get away with it no more.

but people will still do it until minimum fine for no insurance is above what it would have cost that person to buy insurance, a £60 fine for not buying some thing that cost thousands is madness

mean while those of us with a part time car that before we could just insure for odd days use have to suffer

 

[Focus Owner]

so its so government makes more money in fines. cool
i guess i better sorn my car and get a refund on tax

 

[Focus Owner]

love goverment still no date
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/Motorinsurance/DG_186696

 

[RuSZ]

people buy a banger with just tax and drive it uninsured, if all taxed cars must now have insurance them people wont get away with it no more.

but people will still do it until minimum fine for no insurance is above what it would have cost that person to buy insurance, a £60 fine for not buying some thing that cost thousands is madness

mean while those of us with a part time car that before we could just insure for odd days use have to suffer

So the beetle thats on the driveway will get crushed??

Its taxed as historical vehicle so i dont pay anything for that, but its only insured for a few days in the summer for expense reasons

So for owning a classic car im going to have to insure it full time or SORN it? :bang:

 

[Focus Owner]

even nicer i will loose a months tax unless i dont insure nonestop

You will not receive a refund unless one of the following applies:
You are the current or last registered keeper and:​

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you have recently sold, transferred or exported the vehicle.

You should have already told DVLA by returning the relevant
section of the Registration Certificate (V5C). If you have not already
done this, please enclose the relevant section with this application.
You are the current registered keeper and:
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you are keeping the vehicle off the public road and you will not

tax it within the next 21 days. You must fill in section 3, or
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the vehicle has been scrapped by an Authorised Treatment

Facility, or
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you have changed the vehicle’s tax class to a nil value tax class

(such as ‘Disabled’), or
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the vehicle has been stolen and you have reported the theft to
the Police

You are the current registered keeper and:​

•​

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you are keeping the vehicle off the public road and you will not​

tax it within the next 21 days

that says i wont get no tax back on taxdisk at all. so you will loose your car for 21 days
​

 

[johnw]

So to get a car off a privately owned piece of land they are going to need a warrant to obtain the vehicle. which will require evidance of been used on public highways.

If its on private land they could just keep on issuing a new £100 fine at the start of every new month that it remains uninsured.

further to this what about people who drive buggys/kit cars on privately owned land for pleasure and racing? these arent taxed, mot'd or insured. are these going to get crushed?

depends. if it has been taxed at any time since 1998 it will need either insurance or SORN. If you are using it only on private land to which the public don't have access just go SORN and keep playing. if it has never been taxed and is only ever used on private land the authorities won't be concerned.

All the above comments are based on how we think this law will be used. They may be wrong. Or right.

 

[johnw]

So for owning a classic car im going to have to insure it full time or SORN it? :bang:

It's not so much the insurance that will be a problem as the specialist insurers are used to short term insurance for cars that never go out in the wet. Its going to be the tax disc that causes the trouble. Even if the car has a free disc you will still have to get one and take the car off SORN. Or send the disc back and declare SORN. Either way its going to be a hassle.

 

[johnw]

but people will still do it until minimum fine for no insurance is above what it would have cost that person to buy insurance, a £60 fine for not buying some thing that cost thousands is madness

Courts can only fine people what they can afford to pay, which is why most no insurance fines are a few hundred quid. Its the points that provide the deterrent. Two no insurance convictions and you are banned. Drive while banned and you risk jail.

This new law doesn't allow points to be imposed unless the car is found in a public place. Add in that the government are reducing the jail places and even disqualified drivers soon will not go to jail. That removes the last real deterrent to non insured drivers. That will mean more claims. That will mean premiums will go up.

 

[dave]

points dont put them off as it dont make it more expencive to drive for people who dont pay in the first place.

the law needs to be changed so courts can fine more, even if it takes them forever to pay it off, £10 a week out of low wages or benefit would put more people off than a fine, the power to seize goods would help too.

lets have a law that punishes them that commit the offence and not the rest of us at the same time

 

[pooroldcodger]

Chop there hands off.
Yes I know it's extreme but how do we get the politicians to take this seriously?
My son has a clean driving record, NCB etc. and he still pays £1800 a year for his insurance, and he doesn't earn very much, yet every day he will be sharing the roads with uninsured drivers who have no intention of paying and there is every day less deterent.
What can we do about it? We have to do something, not just moan. I'm up for some protests!

 

[pooroldcodger]

Sorry - 2 spelling errors in 1 post. I should know better. That's how angry I am about this subject!

 

[The Beard]

I've got to say that I'm a bit disappointed in this. While acknowledging the need to reduce the number of vehicles being driven without insurance, I really don't think this is the way.

When the Tories were in last time they introduced the continuous taxation/SORN system which was ok as the SORN option allowed you to not tax the vehicle, and on a personal note my bike is currently SORN'd and also insured, but for many drivers of classics insuring their baby for only 6 months a year this could meant they feel they actually can't afford to run the old bus any more. This may mean some old cars and bikes may end up being scrapped which would be a loss to us all.

 

[ChrisUK]

Ridiculous.

 

[dombooth]

This is the wrong way to go about it! Absolutely stupid!

Dom