Dvla & Sorn !!??

[Bonzo]

A strange thing happened recently, I thought I would pass it on

As you know, I was recently given a Mk5 Escort GTI fitted with a 1.8 Zetec engine. ( Currently breaking it )

As it was a friend who gave it to me & the Tax just run out, I asked him if he had declared SORN on the car ( He's useless at remembering things like that )

True to form he hadn't even thought about it

Being a mate, I said I would do it for him, only takes a few seconds online, told him that at least his ass would be covered.

He signed the V5 & gave it to me to sort .... Before I get slated, I know it is the registered keepers legal duty to notify DVLA of any changes.
But mates is mates & all that

As soon as I got home on the Saturday morning, went online & SORN'ed the Escort, received an automated confirmation Email from DVLA.

First thing Monday morning I sent the completed V5 off to DVLA.
Change of keeper & Mondays date as the date of change.

About a week later, the new V5 turned up in the post as expected.

Now here's the rub, for some unknown reason I went to DVLA's web site to make a vehicle enquiry on the Escort & to my surprise the vehicles status was " SORN expired "

Needless to say, I soon sorted that out.

Had I not checked DVLA's records, I would have been oblivious to the fact that SORN ends when the vehicle changes hands & the new keeper has to do it again !!??

The first I would have known about it would have been when the fine arrived in the post.

Some of you may know this but it was news to me.

Moral of the story, if you buy a donor car that is currently on SORN, when the V5 arrives, you'll need to declare SORN as soon as possible otherwise a fixed penalty notice will be arriving in the not too distant future !!??