and why the hell not? why wait for an uninsured driver to have to find his way through an ANPR or be found on the road somewhere? Same with road tax? anyone that pays insurance and tax wouldn't have a problem with it so what's the big deal. Using technology to cut down on uninsured drivers and everyones getting thier knickers in a twist over it
I'm not against it per se (I disagree entirely with folk not adhering to MOTs/tax/insurance) but the message it sends out is "we don't trust you, so you SORN it, or we assume you're using the car". I'm not comfortable with that leap of faith, giving rise to a fine. It's guilty until proven etc. Very much the default setting adopted ref Gatsos, whereby it's you, unless you prove it's not. On the latter, there's been a big European Court hoo ha going on in the not too distant past, for the same reason/reservations.
In the early days of Sorn when they sometimes did not bother to send out reminders I got a fine. I managed to get off with it eventually. I have loads of cars that are all sorned at different times of the year. I have enough to do without being worried that a reminder does not get through. The bottom line is they need to send out road tax applications / sorn declarations by registered post, because currently if the mail goes missing you get a fine, or have the hassle of proving otherwise. No problem with using it to catch illegal motorists, but for legitimate businesses and folks that have a lot of cars it is a pain.
The other thing it does is put a high level squeeze on cars which are not being used. In the same way low value cars are written off for the smallest ding, the insurance cos putting Cat markers on them which are often a bracket higher than is really necessary. Prudence they call it. Of course the govt does not like these cars, as they are old, have poor emissions and any mechanism to deplete the population of them through pressures in the system - eg compulsory SORN - will not be turned down...
agreed if you have loads of cars it will be a bit of a pain, but how many people really have loads of cars off the road? compare that number to the reported million plus driving without insurance? It makes sense to me. A sorn renewal will become as important as your MOT date would be, so people will have to start to use diaries or calenders and not rely on a reminder as thier excuse. sending reminders recorded? don't think so. So if your insurance company didn't tell you about renewal you would just forget and end up driving uninsured? come on, we have to take responsibility for our own stuff at the end of the day blaming the state for not reminding you is a bit weak imo
its just keeping uptodate with the system if the car is on the road it has to have tax and insurance, if its offf the road like my mk1, you declare it as such with SORN. If you do niether you get a fine. been like that for years. whats the panic about Mr Mannering?
I am old enough to have owned cars before, and now that sorn is in place. I have no problem with it being used to catch the cheaters. However, when it first came in to force they did not always send reminders out. That is my issue with the process. I have managed now to get the vehicles I own in 3 batches of sorn so it is marginally easier, and I have the internet now which means I can do it online. I have actually just remembered that I got fined another time. This was when I was at the PO counter taxing my new car and sorning my old one. The assistant forgot to scan the sorn document. I presumed everything was in order, till a fine came through that is. Again I got off with it, but I had to photocopy all the receipts from the PO for the tax to prove I was in there and it was down to an error. For folks like us that have an interest in cars it is somewhat easier to get a grasp of. But what about others that struggle or are ill, their priorities change somewhat during these times. RIP-MK3 And don't mention me blaming the state. I despise the state, as these are the very folk that ploughed us head on into the current sheit fest we find ourselves in.
My problem with this stupid Idea is. What happens when my Insurance runs out and I take the car off the road for a week to wait for my payday or something similar, so there is little point in sorning the car for the small amount of time it will be off the road. I get an automated fine come through for not having insurance on a car which is taxed. Even though I'm not using the car on the road. Doesnt add up does it.
well there is a point in sorning it, so that you don't get fined and it takes literally 2 minutes online, it probably took you as long to type that post!
Yes..... buuuuut if m1keh does not intend to use the car on the road, why does he default to a tax or insurance dodger in the eyes of the law? Can he not be trusted? Guilty before proven - as said. We all have busy lives. Yet more time spent at the PC filling in damned forms to be compliant with the demands of society
thats going to be paperwork faff and won't work. The already p*sspoor DVLA will be swamped by this and it will all come crashing down.
In fairness, that would be a fair estimation to make. Either your car is taxed and on the road... or it's not. If it's not on the road, then SORN it, it takes a coupla minutes and you're covered. Plus you can lay your insurance low and save some dosh. If you have no insurance and you're using the road, then there isn't any reason for you to try and prove your innocence. I for one am happy this legislation comes into place... the amount of uninsured transit vans and 4x4's capable of pulling a large caravan up to Appleby once a year is astounding round here. And their attitude if they do prang you usually involves intimidation, threats of violence, or indeed actual violence... and they get away with it as their mate will always testify that you took the first swing and they were defending themselves. So you end up with a screwed over car that you have to pay to get fixed, and possible bodily harm with no credible witnesses. So they're innocent until proven guilty right? Two databases cross refencing each other isn't going to impound cars on a hunch... it proves guilt of not complying with the law. Nuff said
You lot are typing too fast, lol... my fingers are still stiff from being out cold and wet all day, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.... and yes, why not SORN it for 2 weeks... it takes minutes and gets lifted the minute you get new tax. And in reality, you may as well get tax and insure it OR SORN it cos you'll end up paying for a month you're not going to use anyways.
We have busy lives. More admin. It's the war of admin, things we all hate doing with a passion. You assume having no insurance goes hand in hand with using the road. On various occasions I have had cars which the policies have lapsed on, the car(s) is locked up, zero intention of using it anywhere. Difficult when, say, one of them has no engine. And yet NOW if I forget, I'm suddenly assumed to be merrily motoring around in them. Let's be honest, this is going to catch up with plenty of folks who forget and pay steath taxation to the State and be met with parking ticket levels of obnoxiousness when a genuine error enters into honest dialogue. For those pikeys you're quoting there, this won't make the blindest bit of difference to whether they buy insurance or not. These are not the people they are targetting.
Those who aren't bothered about insurance will just declared the car SORN'd and continue driving around and thus won't get any penalities until the day they're caught either on the cameras or good old fashion pulling over Either way as long as people SORN their cars in time and make sure its done in time before insurance run's out and that the SORN's are renewed can't see too much fuss for those keeping on the right side of the paper work. Not sure why people still think you need to insure your car's when they are SORN'd from Spring onwards as i've read the various DVLA and insurance news and no mention of having to be insured and SORN'd, more of a case of if its not insured it has to be SORN'd or they assume its being used on the road so out goes a fine.
If you sorn it for less than a month you'll end up pay twice for the tax for that month. Say you sorn on the 1st, you wont get a tax refund for that month. But you un-Sorn on the 20th, you'll have to buy tax for that whole month, whic you have already paid for!
It isn't too complicated to understand. At the minute, if you have an untaxed car that is not SORNED, you get a fine. In future, if you have an uninsured car (which shouldn't be on the road anyway), you get fined. SORN the car, nothing happens. Simple.
Yes, but if they ran out at the same time, that would be easy. Now it's twice you've got to think about it, twice the chance of forgetting. Do we get insurance letters advising us to SORN? I bl00dy hope so!
