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Evening all.
Odd question. The Magnum is 46 years old and we have just transferred it from its first keeper (my dad) to me.

Its obviously tax exempt. It was garaged well before SORN was even thought of and dad never declared it SORN nor got reminders/fines about it. Do I need to SORN it now I have transferred it to my name?

Thanks in advance.

I'm pretty sure that you don't, because it's been off the road since before SORN was a thing. I bought my Sportshatch back in 2008, and I have a vague memory of phoning the DVLA to check, and because it had last been taxed in 1988, it didn't need doing.

Best thing to do is to phone the DVLA, if you can. If I'm remembering mine correctly, that was 12 years ago.

Thanks for that. Mine came off the road in 1990 so similar timing.

I will see if I can summon the energy to ring the DVLA. The text on the emails etc after making the transfer was as unclear as anything else DVLA related!!

I personally would get it on the SORN register. I read recently of a car in exactly your situation which had not been taxed after transfer. When it came to getting it back on the road a few years later DVLA claimed to have no record of the vehicle and offered a new age related reg number.

I don't remember the eventual outcome but as SORN costs nothing I would do it just avoid any possible hassle in the future.

That's a fair point, and it's not as if SORN has to be renewed annually any more, so you don't have the headache of remembering to do it.

droopsnoot wrote:That's a fair point, and it's not as if SORN has to be renewed annually any more, so you don't have the headache of remembering to do it.

Ah. I didnt realise it wasnt an annual thing now. I might as well do it I suppose.

Its a way off but how easy is it to put it back on the road once the restoration is done given its not been on the road since 1990?

I would agree with what David says there has been a transfer of registered keeper to you and so they have a current record of activity against the vehicle so SORN it to be safe.

reb78 wrote:how easy is it to put it back on the road once the restoration is done given its not been on the road since 1990?

Very easy, just go to tax it in the normal way, though you'll need the V5C as you won't get a reminder to get a 16-digit number from. I had no trouble putting the hatch on the road. I hadn't sent it off to get it changed to historic taxation, I did that at the same time as taxing it. Needed an MOT at the time, though, so I'm not sure if the procedure is different now.

I know my Chevy is a bit newer, but it was on SORN when I bought it, and assumed that it would continue when ownership changed. I had a lovely letter from the DVLA inviting me to re-SORN it, or pay some tax along with a possible fine if I did neither. As it was, and still is, off the road, I just did the SORN thing. They don’t appear to be as bothered about vehicles having an MoT, but they do seem to want the tax status to be continuous, whether that’s SORN, historic or paid for.

viva les vegas wrote:I know my Chevy is a bit newer

That's the key part, along with how long the car has been off the road. In this case, because it went off the road before SORN was a thing, it shouldn't need to be SORNed or taxed. But it's so easy that it might as well be.

All tax status is "reset" on change of owner - if the vehicle was taxed, the previous owner gets a refund of any complete months, and if it was on SORN, it has to be declared again. I think part of the idea is that you have to agree to various things when you SORN a vehicle (not using it on the road, mainly), and they need to have a new owner agree to those things.