DVLA and SORN and Catch 22.
Discussion
Right, the C-type's tax expires on the 31st and I want to SORN it. Easy - just go on line and do it as usual - not. Refused the right to SORN on line. So, phone the DVLA and after 47 menus get through to talk to someone. Now see if you can understand the reasoning. When the car hit the road after 35 years of off road status, the V5C shows it as "Not Licenced" as vehicle category. Last year I thought this strange but was informed that if the tax is free that's how they do it now. Hmm. Now it turns out the DVLA had no idea what to do with the car last year so binned it in this catch-all of "Not Licenced". This means that I can only get it changed to historic vehicle status when I retax it. But I don't want to retax it, I want to SORN it. I can't do that until the vehicle class is changed to historic and to do that I need to MOT it and retax it. "But it's now off the road without MOT", I say. Then put on hold for an eternity while she tries to get someone to do something. The final answer is that they have "deferred" my taxation class by a year thereby avoiding a SORN non-declaration fine. But I must tax it within 12 months or I will be fined, because I can't declare it off road without changing the taxation class which in turn means I have to MOT it. My bloody head is spinning!
I'd go to your local DVLA office and ask to get an appointment with the man (or woman !)who inspects classic cars and reissues number plates etc
The team in the Theale DVLA Office near Reading saved me having to stamp new chassis numbers and do "silly things" on the Fairthorpe few years back after a "computer says no" conversation ...
The team in the Theale DVLA Office near Reading saved me having to stamp new chassis numbers and do "silly things" on the Fairthorpe few years back after a "computer says no" conversation ...
Already covered that. I can go to the local DVLA office when I like, but only with the MOT. I cannot retax it at a Post Office either, only the DVLA local office who will retain the V5C and then send me a new one later marked "Historic Vehicle". I cannot under any circumstances get the taxation class changed unless the car is taxed. Catch 22.
lowdrag said:
Already covered that. I can go to the local DVLA office when I like, but only with the MOT. I cannot retax it at a Post Office either, only the DVLA local office who will retain the V5C and then send me a new one later marked "Historic Vehicle". I cannot under any circumstances get the taxation class changed unless the car is taxed. Catch 22.
Can you MOT it, tax it, get the class changed, SORN it and get a refund on the tax? Utter ballache. 
Lovely thought, but the car is in France and I usually SORN them on the 'puter. It won't be back in the UK until late December. oh, and the very fact that I phoned from France put them off. I can only SORN the car if it is on british soil. I therefore had to ring back and speak to someone else and spin a yarn since that is what, effectively, the first chap told me to do. All their phone conversations are recorded, so if he had helped me he could have been sacked.
k it and register it in France.In reply to the last three posts, the MOT would mean taking the car to the UK from France. Figure the cost thereof just for an MOT. Hence the SORN request.
The car is in fine fettle, being almost new and could pass the MOT with flying colours.
As regards registering it in France, have you seen the rules and regulations here? When I asked about registering the D-type they were insisting it went through the crash test to homologate it for Christ's sake. At my cost of course.
The car is in fine fettle, being almost new and could pass the MOT with flying colours.
As regards registering it in France, have you seen the rules and regulations here? When I asked about registering the D-type they were insisting it went through the crash test to homologate it for Christ's sake. At my cost of course.
lowdrag said:
In reply to the last three posts, the MOT would mean taking the car to the UK from France. Figure the cost thereof just for an MOT. Hence the SORN request.
A bit of self indulgence here, not sure of the mileage to Calais for you but £50 return on the ferry and 55 miles to me and I'll MOT it, simples 
To clarify, the car is on UK plates and insured on an annual green card for use on the continent. I am 300 miles from Calais, which at 15 mpg is 40 gallons there and back so about £200 of juice, exluding usage of tyres, oil consumption etc. My D-type is on a SORN but I use it in France without problem since my insurers don't give a damn about the MOT, the E-type I MOT'd last week when I was over for Silverstone and it is now taxed and road legal in the UK for another year but was last taxed in the UK up to August 2009. I book an MOT to be done on arrival in the UK since I have the right to drive her to the MOT station, but once I was stopped at customs because of the damned cameras which immediately signalled that she wasn't road legal. Incidentally, the E-type has on display the original 1961 tax disc and they tried to tell me I had over 40 years of tax to pay - until I pulled the other one out from behind and put it in it's proper place!
No, I am moaning purely about the DVLA administration here which I find bizarre. Why is the car classified as "Not Licenced" instead of "Historic Vehicle"? Why do I have to retax it before that can be changed which involves an MOT even though the tax disc is free? Without retaxing it and getting the V5C changed to "Historic Vehicle" I can't SORN it. Catch 22. Absolutely crazy.
No, I am moaning purely about the DVLA administration here which I find bizarre. Why is the car classified as "Not Licenced" instead of "Historic Vehicle"? Why do I have to retax it before that can be changed which involves an MOT even though the tax disc is free? Without retaxing it and getting the V5C changed to "Historic Vehicle" I can't SORN it. Catch 22. Absolutely crazy.
lowdrag said:
No, I am moaning purely about the DVLA administration here which I find bizarre. Why is the car classified as "Not Licenced" instead of "Historic Vehicle"? Why do I have to retax it before that can be changed which involves an MOT even though the tax disc is free? Without retaxing it and getting the V5C changed to "Historic Vehicle" I can't SORN it. Catch 22. Absolutely crazy.
I bought a 1965 Land Rover a few years ago. When I got it the tax class was agricultural, when I got the V5 back it was changed to historic. It hasn't been taxed for years and when I enquired about sorning it they said that it is classed as Not Licensed so doesn't need to be sorned. So yours seems to be the same so where does the SORN come into it?
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