mot expired - storing off road - do i need to notify anyone? (tax is still valid)

Scenario:

Car has been off road since December (got a new car, just never got around to selling the old one!).

MOT expired in February.

Tax expires end of this month (next week).

When explaining the situation when booking an MOT locally, I was looked at like I was some sort of criminal, and told that I should have notified, because the vehicle was off road.

I explained that it was my understanding that this was related to Tax, and if I chose not to retax the vehicle next week, I would declare SORN to the DVLA, but I was not aware of any such requirement to maintain a valid MOT or notify otherwise.

Was he talking from his posterior?

If I was supposed to notify someone that I was keeping a vehicle off road with an expired MOT - who do I notify?

I've looked at VOSAs and DVLAs websites, and can find nothing about this.

He said there had been adverts on TV about it???

I've seen adverts relating to TAX., but none about MOTs???

Needless to say, I've taken the vehicle elsewhere to be MOTd.

Rob

Reply to
Rob Ellis
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as long as its not being kept on the road and you have declared a SORN, then dont worry about it not having an mot.

Reply to
reg

Thats the thing - the car is taxed until the 30th - so up until then, I don't have to declare SORN.

I guess the overall question is, am I allowed to keep a car off road, taxed, but not MOTd?

Or, do I have to declare it (to someone??) because of the lack of MOT?

Rob

PS - either way, was the MOT bloke right or wrong?

Reply to
Rob Ellis

Rob Ellis ( snipped-for-privacy@coatreachat.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yes.

You're bang-on. When you get the tax reminder through, there'll be a box to tick to tell 'em that the car's off the road.

SORN. Statutory Off-Road Notification.

There's been a thread or two elsewhere about this in the last few days...

You, umm, do realise that you could have sent the tax disk back for a refund of unused months in December?

Reply to
Adrian

Rob Ellis ( snipped-for-privacy@coatreachat.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yes.

No.

Wrong.

Reply to
Adrian

I know, but the idea was that I would have sold the thing by now.

It kept becoming one of those 'I'll do that next week' kind of jobs! :-)

Rob

Reply to
Rob Ellis

The message from "Rob Ellis" contains these words:

Yes.

Reply to
Guy King

Makes the SORN thing even more stupid looking.

Reply to
Stuart Gray

Stuart Gray wrote on Fri, 24 Jun 2005 19:55:56 +0100:

SORN is simply there because they changed the assumption from "Not re-taxed == off road" to "Not re-taxed == tax doger", so to avoid being fined if you don't buy a new tax disk when it expires, you need to explicitly tell someone.

It has nothing to do with safety or MOTs.

Reply to
David Taylor

Not quite what I was getting at, as in you can drive around in a non motted car without telling anyone, get no fine, but you have to declare SORN to drive around in a non taxed car, or get a fine and keep driving it around. I'm talking about car drivers who could not give a shit about legalities here.

Reply to
Stuart Gray

so as usual the law doesn't actually target the lawbreaker, but the law keepers.

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

Stuart Gray wrote on Sat, 25 Jun 2005 20:16:35 +0100:

Indeed. Like I said, it has nothing to do with safety. It's just removing the presumption of innocence if you don't re-tax your car when the current tax expires. Easy way to make some money in fines.

Although, you do at least need an MOT cert to get a tax disk.

Reply to
David Taylor

Stuart Gray (me@home) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

If you get tugged, you get a fine. And points. You don't get points for no tax.

Reply to
Adrian

What do you get for no tax?

Reply to
Alt Beer

Alt Beer ( snipped-for-privacy@null.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

A fine only.

Reply to
Adrian

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