Question on SORN

[nc107]

How do you SORN a car that you have imported to restore?

The advice I have had (partly from the DVLA - not sure the lady fully understood what I was asking!) is that

a) you have to SORN
b) to SORN, your car needs to have previously been registered (i.e. it must be known to the DVLA)
c) for the car to have be registered it must have an MOT
d) for it to have an MOT I have to finish restoring it
e) whilst I'm restoring it I need SORN
f) to SORN, your car needs............ad infinitum.

Given that restoration will take a few years what do I do in the meantime and what will be the likely hood of getting grief when I do come to register it (i.e the DVLA saying but sir, your car has been in the country X years and should have been SORN - here's a nice fine).

Any advice or experience welcome.

[911mot]

I would say keep it unregistered as long as possible. Unregistered cars do not need number plates when driving to the MOT station. The MOT you get will have the chassis number as the indentification number. Then you start registration process.

[nc107]

Thanks, and errr, it should have gone in Classic Cars not motorsport. Any mods care to move it across?

[flemke]

nc107 said:

How do you SORN a car that you have imported to restore?

The advice I have had (partly from the DVLA - not sure the lady fully understood what I was asking!) is that

a) you have to SORN
b) to SORN, your car needs to have previously been registered (i.e. it must be known to the DVLA)
c) for the car to have be registered it must have an MOT
d) for it to have an MOT I have to finish restoring it
e) whilst I'm restoring it I need SORN
f) to SORN, your car needs............ad infinitum.

Given that restoration will take a few years what do I do in the meantime and what will be the likely hood of getting grief when I do come to register it (i.e the DVLA saying but sir, your car has been in the country X years and should have been SORN - here's a nice fine).

Any advice or experience welcome.

Are you sure that (b) is not "(for you to be required) to SORN, your car needs previously to have been registered..."?
There are loads of cars, i.e. grey imports and vintage, that are brought in and have to be SVA/IVA'd or repaired before being registered. Are they all SORNed? How about if you're making your own kit-car - when in the build process would you SORN it?
The SORN application doesn't even have a space for the VIN, only for the registration mark, make and model. The DVLA material also says that you need to SORN only if the car's licence disc expired on or after 31-01-98. If it never had a UK licence, it obviously did not have a UK licence disc that expired after that date.
Just make sure that it's never left on public land.

[nc107]

Thats pretty much where I got to with the DVLA, my saying is it a requirement for the vehicle to have been previously registered for me to SORN it (because as you say there is no room for the VIN on the form),and the lady telling me that if the car isn't on the road it needs to be SORN'd. Not the question I asked I say!

The little dance was played out for a bit longer, but she never answered my question leaving me still confused.

The car is safely in my garage so won't contravene any of the other aspects of not having SORN.

Thanks so far!

[jeremyc]

nc107 said:

Thanks, and errr, it should have gone in Classic Cars not motorsport. Any mods care to move it across?

Done.

[flemke]

nc107 said:

Thats pretty much where I got to with the DVLA, my saying is it a requirement for the vehicle to have been previously registered for me to SORN it (because as you say there is no room for the VIN on the form),and the lady telling me that if the car isn't on the road it needs to be SORN'd. Not the question I asked I say!

The little dance was played out for a bit longer, but she never answered my question leaving me still confused.

The car is safely in my garage so won't contravene any of the other aspects of not having SORN.

Thanks so far!

Those people try their best (one presumes), but one of the senior people (at VOSA) once gave me very specific information that was so totally bass-ackwards that it cost thousands in completely unnecessary expense, plus a major PITA.

[orangeLP400]

I can help here as i had the same problem....when u import the car u must bring it into the country and pay any required VAT or import duty...u need to look after these documents very carefully.....to register the car in the UK u need a valid MOT and insurance and the equivilent of our V5 ( licensing document)from the original country it was imported from. If you are restoring the car u cannot MOT it and it therefore cannot be registered so you cant, and there is no need to SORN it....it just sits in a sort of limbo land and i have one car just like this( 5 years) and because i went through the situation u went through i got the DVLA in Beverley to put this in writing and to sign it for me.One other car waited a few years( think 4) for me to register it and there was no problem. I will repeat that all duties must be paid or u will get a penalty on any money originally owed to the wonderful HM Rev. Hope this helps. Oh,and u cannot have or use the car on a public road ( they stressed this at lenth) UNLESS you are driving to a prebooked MOT and the car is insured ...as the car is not registered in uk u do not have a UK number plate so you need to have it insured on the chassis number.....i found it convenient to book an MOT at a garage some way off and then drove the car in a enthusiastic fashion on foreign number plates.

Edited by orangeLP400 on Monday 1st February 18:51

[nc107]

Flemke - seems an all too common experience unfortunately.

OrangeLP400 - that's what I wanted to hear, thanks. VAT and import duty were not due (I checked very carefully and spoke to Customs and Excise - still have the correspondence).

Thanks for the advice gents.

[LS6wetdream]

just like orange said above, make sure you keep the C&E 386 or 389 that customs give you, as you will need it for registering eventually, after getting it mot'd and insured.

also the dvla will want to see some previous documents relating to age, well they did with mine and it was 1974, wasn't even like i was trying to get free tax :S

i reckon if probed properly it's unlikley you'll be insured for driving to the mot station and you'll find out actually all you have is 14 days insurance for when the car is transported to the mot station,

i know its some time off but the car will have to be "transported" to the dvla for them to inspect, and that means it will have to be trailored or transported, no tyres can be touching the road.

[andy rob]

ive recently registered a car that came into the uk in 2002, no problem ,no following sorn fines, no questions,

until the car is registered dvla will not know about it so no need for sorn