I have a SORN issue

"did not need a declaration as it was untaxed prior to Jan '98."

if nothing has changed, then you have nothing to do.

I'd say to be on the safe side, download the SORN form from the DVLA web site and fill it in and send it off then that way you know your covered.

In message , on Sun, 18 Jan 2004, MG writes

According to the DVLA website:

"Statutory off Road Notification (SORN) applies to any vehicle taxed on or after 31 January 1998. A declaration must be made by the vehicle's keeper whenever the licence is not renewed or is surrendered for refund. Keepers acquiring untaxed vehicles must license them or declare SORN if they are kept "off road". If your vehicle was not taxed on 31 January

1998 (i.e. classic cars, vehicles stored away for restoration, etc), you do not need to take any action until it is next taxed."

I had a similar issue with a car I've been rebuilding for "some considerable time" - I emailed the DVLA and they responded straight away confirming that I do not need to declare SORN - I wrote to snipped-for-privacy@gtnet.gov.uk

I'd say to be on the safe side, if they don't know about it why rattle their cage?

You can check this with dvla directly, like I did. The advantage is you can show the court the email and say "this is what they told me".

My car was off the road prior to Sorn, and didn't need to be Sorned when that was introduced.

When I did want to put it back onto the road, I had to complete some form in the post office - it was basically painless - to replace the one which comes to remind you to renew.

Once I did put it back on the road, it was necessary for me to Sorn it again over winter when I wanted to stop bothering to tax it for that period. After that, once Sorned, I can leave it as long as I like before I again put it onto the road and tax it, which again needs the other form in the post office.

Basically, if you have no tax on the car at the moment, your status isn't changing when the new Sorn rules come into force. This is because you don't enter a stage where the tax ceases to be valid and you fail to either re-tax or Sorn the vehicle.

But check with them, I tend to because an email is easy enough to send / receive / file away. Until we snow them under with email. If you can't find the address just shout.

From the DVLA web site:

"Statutory off Road Notification (SORN) applies to any vehicle taxed on or after 31 January 1998. A declaration must be made by the vehicle's keeper whenever the licence is not renewed or is surrendered for refund. Keepers acquiring untaxed vehicles must license them or declare SORN if they are kept "off road". If your vehicle was not taxed on 31 January

1998 (i.e. classic cars, vehicles stored away for restoration, etc), you do not need to take any action until it is next taxed."

which raises the question: how do I know whether recently-bought vehicle has been taxed after that date? Often it's obvious, but since that date is now five years ago, how can you tell whether a "project" car was last used in 97 or 98, say? Yet there doesn't seem to be a way of voluntarily SORNing a car

Now look further on the DVLA site, about the new V5C registration certificates:

"From June 2004 until June 2005 Registration Certificates will continue to be issued in these circumstances [new car, duplicate cert, change of owner or details] but will also be automatically sent to keepers shortly after they tax their vehicle or notify DVLA that a vehicle is being kept off the road [Statutory Off Road Notification - SORN]. The intention is that by June 2005 all traceable vehicles will have been issued with the new style Registration Certificate.

This means that from 1 July 2005 all existing Registration Documents will no longer be valid. An extensive publicity campaign will be launched in May 2005 to encourage all vehicle keepers who have not received the new Registration Certificate to inform DVLA."

So, if your car was off the road on 31/1/98, and remains so, you cannot SORN it and on 1/7/05, its V5 becomes invalid. Implications of this? Who knows? Will they insist on a VIC? Will it lose its registration number, or might it become non-transferable? According to a DVLA droid, they will contact everyone still holding an old V5 just before the cutoff date, but that's not what the web site says. The only guaranteed-safe option appears to be do an artificial change of ownership - to your wife, say, to generate a V5C.

Aren't they getting in a mess?

-- Kevin Poole

**Use current month and year to reply (e.g. snipped-for-privacy@mainbeam.co.uk)*** B270NZ, SA1838, TC8512, GHD96825, GAN3/48519, GAN4/63840, GHD5/324616 Tiltbed car transporter trailer hire - £25/ day. Near Derby. May even tow it for you.

I SORNed my old Beetle, just to be on the safe side. When I thought about it originally, I had visions of the DVLA coming up with all sorts of (expensive) schemes, including things like having to get an engineer's report etc, as if it was a one off, kit car or similar, once I was ready to put it back on the road. I wouldn't even put it past them to ban any car from the road which hasn't been on their books for more than a certain number of years, perhaps with the proviso that you can only use it if it complies with current construction & use regs.

-- athomik

Their past performance hasn't exactly helped things either. I've been naughty and never registered my ownership of my looong term restoration Minor because I bought it (from a friend) in the days when the DVLA never returned the logbooks of untaxed vehicles. I'd been stung that way before, they only sent the new logbook once the car was taxed. This one clearly wasn't going to be for a long while, so if I sent off the documents I'd have nothing left on paper. I suppose I'd better send it off now and SORN it as though I've only just acquired it.