How to declare SORN, and when not to bother before scrapping

SORN — Statutory Off Road Notification — tells the DVLA that a vehicle is off the road and will not be taxed or insured. It stops the automatic penalties for an untaxed car. It is free, it takes two minutes, and there are a couple of things worth knowing before you do it.

When you need to declare SORN

Any time a car is going to be kept but not taxed. Typical situations: it has failed its MOT and you have not decided what to do; it is parked on a drive while you save for repairs; it is a project or a second car you only use in summer. A SORN car must be kept off the public road — a private drive, garage or land, not the street outside your house.

How to do it

Online at gov.uk (search "make a SORN"). You need either the 11-digit reference from the V5C logbook, or the 16-digit reference from a V11 tax reminder. The SORN starts immediately, unless you apply in the month your tax is due to expire, when it starts on the first of the next month. Any full months of tax remaining are refunded automatically — as a cheque, posted to the name and address on the logbook — and a Direct Debit is cancelled for you.

You can also do it by phone (0300 123 4321) or by post on form V890.

How long it lasts

Indefinitely, until you tax the car again or it changes hands. A SORN does not carry over to a new keeper, so if you buy a car that was declared SORN you must declare it again yourself.

Should I declare SORN before I scrap the car?

Usually, no. If the car is taxed and being collected in the next week or two, leave it alone: once we issue the Certificate of Destruction the DVLA record is closed and the tax refund happens anyway. Declaring SORN first just adds a step, and if you apply in the month the tax is due to expire the SORN — and with it the refund — starts a month later.

The exception is a car that will sit untaxed for a while before you get round to scrapping it. If the tax has run out and the car is going to be on the drive for a few weeks, declare SORN so you are not fined in the meantime.

What about insurance?

SORN does not cancel your insurance; you do that with your insurer. It is sensible to keep a SORN car insured against fire and theft if it is worth anything, and it is a legal requirement to keep it insured unless it is declared SORN — an untaxed, uninsured car with no SORN attracts penalties from both the DVLA and the Motor Insurers' Bureau.

After scrapping

Two minutes of admin. The Certificate of Destruction updates the DVLA record, but GOV.UK asks you to tell the DVLA yourself as well that the car went to an ATF — online, with the 11-digit reference from the V5C — and doing it the day the car goes starts the tax refund from that month. Then cancel the insurance yourself. Keep the certificate and the DVLA's confirmation in case anything is ever queried. Read more about the certificate.