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 !!??

[mark]

This explains why i got fined by those lovely people at the DVLA then

When i got my donor it had a couple of days tax left and the owner said he would declare sorn for me, so i drove away with my donor happy as larry

Sometime later recieved a fine in the post, rang them up and they said it wasnt sorned and i was liable as i was the registered keeper, i tried to explain the situation and the fact the car was now a pile of bits but they didnt care and i had to cough up

I paid straight away so they halved the fine, nice of them eh, t*@ts!

Good job my wife stopped me going around to the previous owners house to make him pay it, he assured me he would sorn it right away and in light of this i guess he did! i was ready to pay him a visit, good job the red mist faded before i got to my car

[RAYLEE29]

yep sorn expires as soon as its reregistered new owner has to resorn.
found out by accident myself lol
currently got about 12 vehicles on sorn and only one on road
Ray

[flyerncle]

The law is an ass,but still the law and still an ass.

Thank the lord for government NOT

[Deanno]

I had the same thing but i got an £80 fine and when we moved house we re-registered the focus (Our everyday car) and totally for got to register the Escort Mk5 and when we moved. and our old Landlord failed to send us any mail we received then we had a letter from a collection agency and surprise surprise they gave us that one. and i thought once you SORN a car its sorn'ed till you tax it. tut tut.

[Eternal]

BUGGER! just checked my donor car this was Sorn before i bought it. I now have a 7 month fine this is stupid!