The 'E' Type Forum

Reading about Ed Sheeran being find for not insuring his classic Aston. It was in long term restoration and as his car, like ours, is zero rated for vehicle excise duty he assumed any insurance was covered by the restoration company. But it wasn’t. If he had SORNed the car he wouldn’t have had to insure it. But as he had kept the zero rated VED up to date he needed to have insured the car even when in the workshop for a long time.

Just something for us to be aware of if our cars are either at a restorer’s or our own workshop for a long period, keep it insured or SORN it. FYI, that’s all.

Geoff

Well deserved as far as im concerned....its in to be converted to electric

The Good Lord is a Righteous Lord and he vents his wrath (rightly) on all those who defile perfectly good classics by converting them to Fisher Price cars (q.v. Harry & Meghan.....)

I didn’t realise I was going stir up such a hornets’ nest. It was an insurance issue I wasn’t aware of nor aware of the sacrilege he was inflicting on his classic.

I've just gone through this ordeal.
A month before the insurance renewal of 2 of my cars, the insurance company contacted me and said I did not have a valid driving licence. This was true as after a heart operation last August I had a seizure which had to be voluntarily reported to DVLA, which I did. This resulted in my licence being revoked supposedly for 6 months if there were no further seizures.
When the insurance company contacted me I was already 8 months without a licence, not much fun as the muscle contractions from the seizure crushed 2 vertebrae in my spine and the pain of simply standing wasn't pleasant, but not being able to drive allows you to find out how public transport functions or doesn't.
By the renewal date both cars had been taxed (historic) months before but I still didn't have a licence and the insurance company said they could not sell me a full policy (including road risk) but they did offer a laid up policy which suited me.
Some weeks later I received 2 letters from DVLA telling me the cars were not insured and they should be insured or sorned, this I attempted using the references from the tax renewals but this did not work. I rang them and explained they were insured but the halfwit I spoke to did not know what a laid up policy was and insisted they should be sorned, I explained I had tried to do it but it turns out you can only use the reference once which I had done when I taxed the cars, so I should use the V5 reference numbers. I got sidetracked like you do and couldn't really be bothered finding the V5's because as far as I was concerned the cars were taxed and insured.
About a month later I received 2 letters from DVLA telling me to pay a 100 GBP fine for each car or 50 GBP for each if I pay by a set date, but if I ignore the letters I could be fined 1000 GBP for each car and they could be crushed. This I see as harassment and bullying and I decided to appeal their decision giving them the policy number etc. After 3 more weeks I received 2 more letters telling me they agree the cars are insured and no further action will be taken.
The only reason I had a laid up policy was because DVLA had revoked my licence which I didn't get back until 11 months 1 week and a day had passed not the 6 months they tell you.
Dealing with DVLA can be a nightmare, more so if you have to deal with the medical department.

I've been in a similar situation myself so I have some understanding and appreciate the rules over taxation and insurance have some perversities but why didn't you just declare SORN???

Given we don't have to pay any road tax for a classic car it's easy to switch between taxed and SORN at the click of a button.

Hi John, as I stated, I knew the cars were insured and taxed so why SORN them. On top of that I've had a lot to deal with in the last year and DVLA (medical dept.) was a cause of a lot of anger and frustration in the way they dragged their feet. In some ways I wanted them to try and prosecute so that I could get a bit of satisfaction but it didn't get that far.
regards
Tony

Hi Tony.

Trust me, you really wouldn't want it to go legal. If you think dealing with DVLA is difficult, wait until the CPS gets involved. Then you'll learn the meaning of obfuscation and intransigence.

Regards

Hi Stuart,
I had to look up those words.
I guess your correct but believe me I have had to deal with what I can only call imbeciles at DVLA and did so. They actually wrote to a doctor that had never seen me to ask him if I was capable of driving, this related to the seizure which had no treatment whatsoever. Hardly surprising that DVLA Medical Dept. had more than 23,000 complaints last year and this year they got 2 from me in April and May which still haven't been answered, (they aim to answer within 10 working days).
regards
Tony