Morris Minor Owners Club

Not sure if this will make it into law but it might easily affect us if it does:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/new ... curbs.html
Wont affect criminals who already ignore the law, but plenty of potential to turn honest people into law breakers .

As it states - it's OK if you have a vehicle on SORN, but otherwise it's just another way of ripping off the motorist, as usual

I do believe though , that if a car is on the public highway, even if sorned then it should also be insured.
As for cars off road and without an MOT , insurance companies are wriggling out of payouts. It will be interesting to see if this legislation focuses their minds and shady practice.

mine hasnt got a sorn or insured and its sat on the drive

It would be very foolish to leave a car uninsured, whether it's on SORN or not, parked in the garage, on the drive or on the road.

BigJohn's post has shown that garages can be set alight, cars can catch alight whilst work is being done on them and garage roofs can collapse. They can also be stolen from garages and driveways and also damaged whilst parked off road (as two of my Minors were). My car was garaged for over 6 months last year as I was working away from home but I wouldn't have dreamt of leaving it uninsured. Why take the risk?

If the car is locked in a garage and uninsured but is taxed, why on earth should you SORN it?

The system would be completely unworkable for anyone with a traders insurance policy and for pre-Sorn cars etc... for no worthwhile benefit to anyone. Therefore probably quite likely to be introduced.

The only way to legally leave a car uninsured will be to make a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN). This requires the motorist either to apply online, by post or in a post office and to crucially, to have a place to store the car off a public highway. According to the latest figures, 1.79 million such declarations were made last year.

I guess that means nearly 2 million lots of wasted effort from SORN! And after all that, we still have a problem with uninsured drivers.
Enough said.

The system would be completely unworkable for anyone with a traders insurance policy

What do you mean by this Ray

What do you mean by this Ray

I know a few people with traders policies. They use them to drive cars that aren't insured...
This often involves being pulled by the police and having to show their documents to make plod happy that they are legal.

But the traders insurance will insure any car they drive. If that car is sorned or without an MOT then its should not be driven anyway unless its on its way to an MOT test
If the traders you know are being stopped then at least the police are doing their part in clamping down on false or none registered cars.

If a car is NOT on the public highway - it doesn't need to be insured. The article is confused in itself - at the beginning they say 'on the public highway' - later they say locked in a garage.

Maybe it's "very foolish to leave a car uninsured" but I'd rather have a choice in the matter.

intended to tackle an estimated two million uninsured motorists

Is nonsensical, enforcement could tackle the problem, making more law wont.

Looks like I've heard wrong then, because I've been hearing tales of having to insure all vehicles with a log book, even a box of bits waiting to be assembled!

les wrote:Looks like I've heard wrong then, because I've been hearing tales of having to insure all vehicles with a log book, even a box of bits waiting to be assembled!

Yes - you have heard (rumours) wrong. If SORN then no insurance required as long as the car is parked on drive / garage. Parked on public roads requires insurance even if SORN'd. Rules are pants but that is the proposal which I am sure will become law at some point as these things always do.....

rayofleamington wrote:If the car is locked in a garage and uninsured but is taxed, why on earth should you SORN it?

No reason at all since tax is free but if MOT runs out and you can't get a new MOT then you'd have to SORN.

PSL184 wrote:
Yes - you have heard (rumours) wrong. If SORN then no insurance required as long as the car is parked on drive / garage. Parked on public roads requires insurance even if SORN'd. Rules are pants but that is the proposal which I am sure will become law at some point as these things always do.....

Just being picky but if it's SORN'd then it shouldn't be on the public road even parked up should it?

I agree with the new legislation requiring all taxed cars to have insurance, it's there to protect decent folk from being bumped by someone without insurance.

However, unless they enforce it, there's no point.

crims will carry on as before, register vehicles with false names&addresses.
and as for sorn, waste of time.

Everything in your world is black and white then!!

Just being picky but if it's SORN'd then it shouldn't be on the public road even parked up should it?

Well, you are allowed to take it to-and-from a prebooked MOT and I believe to and from a place of repair. You would, of course, not be parked anywhere...unless your car broke down en-route to the place of repair...