Motorists face curb on all cars without insurance

[npuk]

Motorists have a year to get cover or face fines, even if their vehicles are not used. Are the new rules going too far, too fast?

Millions of uninsured motorists have until the end of the year to buy appropriate cover or face an unprecedented crackdown from police and the courts – including fines of up to £1,000 – even if their vehicle is not being driven.

Plans published recently by the Department for Transport (DfT) will soon make it an offence purely to be the registered keeper of an uninsured vehicle, while police will not have to prove it was in use.

Motorists face curb on all cars without insurance | Money | The Observer

 

[Gridlock]

As I understand it, if a car is not SORN then it must be insured, right? A SORN car can still be uninsured.

I guess there'll be a rash of 0-mile policies available shortly? Or is this not doable under the Road Traffic Act and this new rule?

 

[steve333]

What about the many who don't bother registering cars when they get them?

 

[Sp!ke]

I wonder what will happen to all those owners of cars that have been unofficially exported to Spain and France and such. I have a Motorycycle abroad in this position. (now used offroad only)

What about all the potential barn finds lurking in sheds throughout the land. Will the DVLA be chasing those all up?

Would this rule also apply to non road registered vehicles too I wonder? If not where is the logic?

 

[Will]

I'm sure I've heard/read a very similar story to this years ago - and it's still not happened yet.

A bit like the age for driving being raised to 18, the tax/duty on LPG going up to the same level as petrol/diesel etc.

Not saying it won't, but seems strange that it's still not happened.

Will

 

[Will]

I wonder what will happen to all those owners of cars that have been unofficially exported to Spain and France and such. I have a Motorycycle abroad in this position. (now used offroad only)

What about all the potential barn finds lurking in sheds throughout the land. Will the DVLA be chasing those all up?

Would this rule also apply to non road registered vehicles too I wonder? If not where is the logic?

I faced a similar situation years ago. Having owned/broken dozens of motorbikes over a few years I wanted to check with the DVLA exactly which vehicles were registered to me (IIRC, I'd noticed that I'd not been receiving the SORN/tax reminder through the post for one or two of them). This was before the days of the acknowledgement letters that they send out upon change of registered keeper.

They reckoned that they couldn't do it that way. So I had/have no idea of exactly which vehicles were registered to me (other than the ones I was sure of). A bit complicated!

Will

 

[Gridlock]

What about the many who don't bother registering cars when they get them?

They won't be affected, of course. Nobody said this law had to make sense, it just has to make money

 

[x332race]

Motorists have a year to get cover or face fines, even if their vehicles are not used. Are the new rules going too far, too fast?

Millions of uninsured motorists have until the end of the year to buy appropriate cover or face an unprecedented crackdown from police and the courts – including fines of up to £1,000 – even if their vehicle is not being driven.

Plans published recently by the Department for Transport (DfT) will soon make it an offence purely to be the registered keeper of an uninsured vehicle, while police will not have to prove it was in use.

Motorists face curb on all cars without insurance | Money | The Observer

Need some form of rule like this.....if you keep your car on the road, even if just parked, you should pay road tax and some form of insurance..."SORN" vehicles will not need to be insured, but must be kept off road...seems fair enough to me...why wait a year before implementing this rule? I have always obeyed the law and had insurance on my car, even when I really could not afford it so why should others get away with not having proper insurance?

 

[renault12ts]

As already said a SORN vehicle is exempt. But a SORN vehicle can not be kept on a public highway anyway so what's the problem. Otherwise insure it. You can't tax your car without an insurance certificate...so its SORN or not...no problems.

 

[Gridlock]

You can't tax your car without an insurance cert, correct - but you can keep it off the public highway without insurance. This is what is changing.

It's a lot of hassle to SORN a car if you're just giving it a 2 week rest, etc etc etc.

 

[renault12ts]

Maybe I'm wrong ( have been before) but I thought the SORN was an "off road notice" not a "no drive" notice and therefore a SORN would imply the vehicle could not even be parked on a public highway.

 

[The Pan Man]

You can't tax your car without an insurance cert, correct - but you can keep it off the public highway without insurance. This is what is changing.

It's a lot of hassle to SORN a car if you're just giving it a 2 week rest, etc etc etc.
__________________

It take all of 40 seconds !!!!!!!!

 

[moonloops]

Maybe I'm wrong ( have been before) but I thought the SORN was an "off road notice" not a "no drive" notice and therefore a SORN would imply the vehicle could not even be parked on a public highway.

correct

 

[Rory]

I wonder what will happen to all those owners of cars that have been unofficially exported to Spain and France and such. I have a Motorycycle abroad in this position. (now used offroad only)

What about all the potential barn finds lurking in sheds throughout the land. Will the DVLA be chasing those all up?

Would this rule also apply to non road registered vehicles too I wonder? If not where is the logic?

In the first case (assuming the cars and your bike haven't been taken abroad very recently) the RK's would have been getting penalty notices for not taxing the vehicles. If you've done something to stop those (delcared as SORN, write off, exported etc) then insurance shouldn't be an issue either.

Don't understand your last point - if the vehicle isn't registered for use on the road then the DVLA won't knwo it exists and it won't need insurance.

 

[219]

The other loophole which will be a nuisance to classic car collectors , like myself , is that Sorn exempt vehicles ( cars which have not been taxed since before SORN came in ) are not mentioned in this legislation . I have a couple of cars which have been kept off road for more than 10 years and do not need to be SORN'd ( Ponton last taxed in 1989 ) they are quite legally not insured .

I guess I will just wait and see what happens as far as I'm concerned a car under long term restoration , or in the queue for it should not need to be insured . My cars do not appear on the usual databases when you input the numbers , despite the fact that I have V5 documents for them .

Otherwise , I'll be looking at off-road cover , the cost of which is minimal anyway , as a block policy to cover all my cars - however it is the principle that annoys genuine collectors like me who do not keep uninsured cars on the road anyway .

 

[kwakdonut]

Usual thing, minority of law-breakers spoiling it for the majority of law-abiding motorists.

 

[renault12ts]

The other loophole which will be a nuisance to classic car collectors , like myself , is that Sorn exempt vehicles ( cars which have not been taxed since before SORN came in ) are not mentioned in this legislation . I have a couple of cars which have been kept off road for more than 10 years and do not need to be SORN'd ( Ponton last taxed in 1989 ) they are quite legally not insured .

I guess I will just wait and see what happens as far as I'm concerned a car under long term restoration , or in the queue for it should not need to be insured . My cars do not appear on the usual databases when you input the numbers , despite the fact that I have V5 documents for them .

Otherwise , I'll be looking at off-road cover , the cost of which is minimal anyway , as a block policy to cover all my cars - however it is the principle that annoys genuine collectors like me who do not keep uninsured cars on the road anyway .

So long as your car is off the public highway you will be exempt. Its quite clear in the original post.

 

[Gridlock]

No no no nooooo....

Any car that is not subject to a SORN must be insured. Currently any car that is off the public highway is exempt from needing insurance whether or not it has SORN declared. In the case of tax-exempt vehicles (pre-72) this is quite a lot of classic car owners..

 

[219]

There is also a significant difference between tax-exempt and SORN-exempt .

Tax exempt ( pre-73 ) cars which are laid up after a period on the road with zero rated tax discs , still need to be SORN'd .

Vehicles which have NEVER been taxed since before SORN was introduced are currently SORN exempt , but will cease to be if they are 'taxed' , whether or not duty is payable .

 

[Will]

There is also a significant difference between tax-exempt and SORN-exempt .

Tax exempt ( pre-73 ) cars which are laid up after a period on the road with zero rated tax discs , still need to be SORN'd .

Vehicles which have NEVER been taxed since before SORN was introduced are currently SORN exempt , but will cease to be if they are 'taxed' , whether or not duty is payable .

This is interesting.

Do you know when the SORN exemption started - perhaps that's why some of my old motorbikes didn't recieve SORN/tax reminders through when others did?

I'm looking around the very late 90s approx.

Will