Selling old SORNed car: should I tax & insure?

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Sat 21 May 2016 17:35
Selling old SORNed car: should I tax & insure? - Pondlife

I've got an old car on my drive that's been declared SORN. It's about 15 years old, but runs fine and has MOT until September. I think it's worth around £500 (it's a 2000 reg 3 litre Jaguar S-Type auto if that makes any difference).

I want to sell it to reclaim the space on my drive. I'm wondering if it's worth spending the money to tax and insure it, or whether I'd be better off selling it as a SORN. The options seem to be:

a) Tax and insure it and sell it in the normal way. Probably easier to sell, but I'll end up paying for the tax and insurance for at least a month while I sell it; or

b) Advertise it as SORN, so the buyer needs to get tax and insurance. This sounds more attractive, but will it mean that no one is interested and I'll never sell it?

Has anyone got any thoughts? Given the low value of the car, it would seem logical to discount the asking price by the cost of insurance and tax; but I don't know if potential buyers would see it the same way.

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Sat 21 May 2016 19:05
Selling old SORNed car: should I tax & insure? - elekie&a/c doctor

No point in taxing and insuring it,as neither transfers to the new keeper.I think you will need to go with "b".Is it actually worth anything?There are similar models on flea-bay for less money with no bids.

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Sat 21 May 2016 19:16
Selling old SORNed car: should I tax & insure? - Pondlife

I think it must be worth something, although it's probably around £500 and could be less. Not a huge amount, but it seems a shame to scrap a running car with an MOT when someone could get some more use out of it, or break it and sell the parts.

I'll spend a couple of hours washing it, taking photos and putting it on eBay just to see if anyone wants it.

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Sat 21 May 2016 19:24
Selling old SORNed car: should I tax & insure? - craig-pd130

No point taxing it at all as following the recent rule changes, it will lapse immediately you sell it - so there is no benefit to you or the new owner. Also your insurance will not cover a test drive by a prospective buyer.

My 10p worth - just be honest about its condition and clearly state it is SORN'd in the advert.

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Sat 21 May 2016 20:27
Selling old SORNed car: should I tax & insure? - RT

Bear in mind that if it's SORN'd it can't be driven on the public highway - so no test drive and delivery/collection on a trailer.

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Sun 22 May 2016 14:00
Selling old SORNed car: should I tax & insure? - Big John

Bear in mind that if it's SORN'd it can't be driven on the public highway - so no test drive and delivery/collection on a trailer.

True re no test drive but delivery collection would be OK as the new owner would have to re-tax/insure in their own name anyway and the car is still MOTd

Edited by Big John on 22/05/2016 at 14:01

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Sun 22 May 2016 14:08
Selling old SORNed car: should I tax & insure? - RT

Bear in mind that if it's SORN'd it can't be driven on the public highway - so no test drive and delivery/collection on a trailer.

True re no test drive but delivery collection would be OK as the new owner would have to re-tax/insure in their own name anyway and the car is still MOTd

Yes - depends if the new owner wants to use it or keep it SORN'd.

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Sun 22 May 2016 15:32
Selling old SORNed car: should I tax & insure? - catsdad

Back to OP, I would advertise on Autotrader. Set the price to sell (say 10% under the average of competing cars) and while drawing attention to its good points, also include any known faults in the ad to reduce scope for haggling by buyers.

Such an approach might mean you sell for a bit less than the maximum potentially obtainable but if you are too ambitious you reduce the likelihood of sale and being left with it or having to scrap. At this relatively low value better take a £50-£100 hit and selling it fast than dragging it out for a few quid.

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