I sold the GS last week and picked up the XTR on Saturday. This was quite good timing, as the previous insurance policy ran out on the Sunday. I did a bit of research, found the cheapest quote (Devitt, as it happens) and insured the XTR from Saturday on a new policy. I have been planning to take the XT off the road and give it some serious attention for quite a while now, and this seemed a good time to do so. Therefore, the new policy is for the XTR only, and the policy that covered the XT has now lapsed.
I won't be riding the XT on the road until I get it restored, and when the tax runs out I had planned to SORN it, as I have no intention of running foul of the rules. However, it is now uninsured. I seem to recall reading recently about proposals to oblige owners to maintain a vehicle's insurance even if it is off the road, in the same way that you must now SORN a vehicle if it is not taxed.
There's nothing on the main Gov.uk site in either the vehicle tax or insurance sections, just:
You have to have motor insurance before you can drive on public roads.But visiting the Motor Insurers' Bureau website I find this:
As part of Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE), it is now a legal requirement for registered vehicle keepers to insure their vehicle(s) at all times.It continues:
You don’t have to be driving to be caught. It is an offence to keep a vehicle without insurance unless you have notified DVLA that your vehicle is being kept off the road by means of a Statutory off Road Notice (SORN).I guess I had better SORN the poor old XT without delay. Unless anyone knows differently?
Update: found it.
The rules for insuring vehicles are called ‘continuous insurance enforcement’. They mean that if you’re the registered keeper of a vehicle it must be insured or declared as off the road (SORN).They are keeping this quiet, aren't they? Or have I just not been paying attention?)
I think the rules just changed last year, or maybe very late in the previous year. I know when my car tax came through (I apply online) it had a pamphlet in it about the new SORN requirements, and that would have been in April.
ReplyDeleteAh, OK. I have taxed three vehicles since then and must have missed the pamphlet in each case. Should pay more attention.
DeleteThen don't be the 'registered keeper'. Decline to be the registered keeper but admit that you are the owner.
ReplyDeleteWhere the DVLA get very sneaky is making us plebs think that registered keeper (a name) and owner (can be a name, a company, a charity a trust, a human being) are the same thing and they are not
I've had an extensive letter exchange with the DVLA and frankly they couldn't care less who or what the legal owner is. All they want is one confused human to divvy up a name they can charge.
I'm all in favour of messing up their system, but it's going to make it damn hard to re-tax it when I get it back on the road if I tell them that I have sold, scrapped or exported it :)
DeleteJust tell them Richard The Biker owns the bike, by letter not using the V5C and Richard The Biker is not the registered keeper. Don't put any signature on it and send it in.
DeleteIf it is on YOUR property, YOU are the keeper. Like it or not. This would also go for your great granny, with the spare garage, that lets you park it there.
DeleteSHE is then the "registered keeper".
Question arises. IS it a motorcycle, if it is in a whole load of cardboard boxes in the attic???
Yep, yet another method to confuse everyone and for the government to collect money in fines. Or more likely, because I don't believe in conspiracies, the government implementing something that looks like a nice idea without actually thinking it through.
ReplyDeleteJust like the photocard licences lasting only ten years and needing renewal which millions don't know about or forgotten.
I'm sure it's probably a result of lobbying by the insurance industry, that's for sure. It's not costing me anything, though. Just the reverse. I had a few months' tax to run on the bike, and I wasn't going to bother getting a refund. But if you SORN online, they practically post the form down your letterbox, so I will. It'll be under £20, but rather in my pocket than theirs.
DeleteYou haven't been paying attention. It's been around for a year or so - and a bloody nuisance it is too when you play with classic cars.
ReplyDeleteFree road tax that has to be sent back for a refund if you want to leave it off the road and uninsured because you can't sorn if it's taxed.
I might not have been paying attention, but someone high up hasn't thought this thing through, either. ISTR that the tax-exempt thing was going to be a rolling 25 years as well - until they realised it would cost them money. And I don't think the Greens like old cars being in use either - much more eco to scrap them and build new, more economical ones using new materials, ha ha.
DeleteNo where does it say, or prevent you, from making a SORN declaration for a taxed vehicle. Try it and see. I have on 3 different vehicles.
DeleteI know that. What I didn't know was that you had to SORN the vehicle if it wasn't insured. That was a new one on me.
DeleteSorry, reply was for Woodsy42 who is cashing in free tax which he doesn't have to do. It just appeared below yours.
DeleteAh, right. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
DeleteSounds like they are pretty strict across the pond.
ReplyDeleteHere in Oregon we can take insurance off our bikes or vehicles when not in use but if they are stolen or vandalized you are usually out of luck, unless you have a really great insurance company who will cover them under your homeowners policy if stolen from your garage.
I am scared to think how much your insurance costs are too.
That seems a bit more reasonable. I ws planning on leaving the bike uninsured, and taking a small risk on its being stolen. The thief would have to be desperate, though :)
DeleteMy insurance for the XTR is 99GBP (about 160USD), which I think is good. It's fully comprehensive (all losses covered), but I am a 'good' age for insurance, have a clean driving licence, no claims history for 30+ years and I live in a rural postal area. All in all, I get insurance about as cheaply as anyone. For a young person, in the city, with no history, you can x that by 10 at least.
I seem to remember (through alcohol induced mistiness) a game played in student days that involved sending off post paid insurance forms to see how high we could get the premium quote. I think a beach buggy with a souped up engine driven by an 18 year old with convictions for driving under the influence and speeding won - at a rate not much more than I pay for my car now. Not nearly so much fun with comparethemongoose.com.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha. He was a character, that WvdC, no? Happy days :)
ReplyDeleteYou can declare SORN on any vehicle, taxed, insured or not! You don't have to cash in the tax if you sorn an uninsured vehicle. This is a money making scheme - you lose a months tax when you SORN and cash in the tax (start of month) and when you sell the vehicle a week later the new owner taxes it and pays for that month again.
ReplyDeleteIt would be safest to sorn all vehicles every year - there seems to be no means of preventing this, and as long as it is taxed, MOT'd, and insured, use it when you want. It remains SORN'd for 12 months. I have never yet had a letter to remove SORN when a vehicle becomes road legal again!
Perhaps a national SORN day is required, unofficial of course!
As replied above, declaring SORN isn't the point. What I was unaware of was the requirement to declare SORN if the vehicle was uninsured. That was new to me.
Delete