I'm in a bit of a state at the moment tbh. Had a crap day and I struggle a lot with mental health bs esp anxiety and is nooot helping. Sorry if I've done and put this in the wrong forum. 😞

 

So last August, I moved my car up to what would be my new address (knew the landlord, i'd be a lodger as of September, etc etc basically I had access to the garage).

I left the car there and it's been there ever since. Off the road. I swear on my grandmum's grave that I SORNed it. My memory's none too good, but I'm sure I did cos I sure wasn't gonna pay two lots of car tax, and this was around the time I was all in a fuss trying to get another car (cos this one needed a lot of work and I couldn't afford it).

At some point I updated the V5's address, the new one came through OK.

I think I even checked it around Christmas, using the online thingy, and it said it was on a SORN.

 

Fastforward to today. I'm trying to see how much it would cost to tax the car, and I get an effing nasty message telling me that I've committed an offence! It says the tax/SORN ran out in Jan 2018! What the hell happened in January??

 

I've had no letter through, nothing at new or old address. No warning. The car has not moved (dead battery and half missing ignition system can attest to that).

 

What on earth is this all about, can I expect a fine?? How have I done the govt out of money, it's literally been sat on private property for the last year! And I'm sure, sure, sure it was SORNed when I checked it 7 months ago.

You could request when the sorn was originally placed, did you get a confirmation email? 

 

Have a quick read of the sorn ruled on their website incase there has been any changes that may have ended the sorn

 

 

I can't see anything that would have changed in Jan...?

 

No email notification. All I see is that my Direct Debit stops in September 2017, which sounds right. The last one is there alongside my new Polo's. Why else would that have happened? I have literally not had a word from them about this and they're making me out like I've done fraud or something. Like I can guarantee that car hasn't showed up on ANPR cameras or anything cos it hasn't been outside the garage in over a year now!

The direct debit  rolls for a year and providing the car has mot it will auto renew but if the mot is out you have to manually renew that tax i think

 

Cant see how a sorn would cancel on its own unless the car became taxed then there wouldnt be a problem of unpaid tax. Ask for proof its been on the road?

I know how it goes on the mental health bit dude, what I'll say there is don't sweat the small stuff, and a SORN goes under the heading of the small stuff. 

 

I'll drop you a pm with my experiences in court with the DVLA, but the short version is, you've got fuck all to worry about.

 

Check your emails and texts in case you SORN'd it online, and have a rummage through your paperwork in case you got a receipt posted. 

This is the right forum section, by the way.

 

Since 2013, SORN notification became indefinite (forever) this means it no longer needs to be renewed annually. Change of registered keeper or bringing in back on public road are obvious exceptions.

Can be driven to pre-booked MOT with SORN (if insured). 

 

Might the DVLA have made a mistake at address change?

Edited 15 August, 20188 yr by dvderlm

59 minutes ago, dvderlm said:

This is the right forum section, by the way.

 

It is after I moved it 👍

19 hours ago, dvderlm said:

Might the DVLA have made a mistake at address change?

 

So I've had a think, and I wonder if this is what the issue is?

 

I can't remember when I updated the address on the V5, but it was quite late in the day. I think I sent the old V5 off in early December, but I don't have proof. I had access to post from both addresses so I didn't fuss too much about it cause, apart from life being a sh*tstorm at that time, any lagging post relating to the car (speeding fines, parking tickets, what ever), I'd still get it, right? And it's not like it's insured at that old address, cos it's off the road, and from what I've read it doesn't matter where it's actually kept anyway as long as it's private, so eh.
 

So yeah, I wonder if they bxed something up when I changed the address. They just sent me the new V5 in its own envelope, nothing else with it iirc.

You'd have thought if they suspected fraud was going on they'd, you know, try and get in contact with the registered keeper rather than ignore it for 6 months? Like if it is an offence to have a car that is neither taxed nor SORNed then that's obviously on their system (otherwise it wouldn't be on the site), and you'd have thought they'd flag it up like "hey, something's wrong". Far too much sense, I suppose.

 

20 hours ago, Yeti said:

I know how it goes on the mental health bit dude, what I'll say there is don't sweat the small stuff, and a SORN goes under the heading of the small stuff. 

 

I'll drop you a pm with my experiences in court with the DVLA, but the short version is, you've got fuck all to worry about.

 

Thanks 🙂 I've had a chance to calm down a bit now, got your PM!