Don't think I can SORN on her behalf and as she's travelling the form would never catch up with her, just need to know if the new legislation regarding insurance has kicked in yet.

Rules on insurance:

There is no requirement to insure a vehicle kept or used on private land, whether taxed or SORNd. If you want to use or keep it on a public highway then you have to insure it, and you also require a current MOT (if over three years old).

Rules on tax:

All vehicles (regardless of where they are kept and whether or not they are used) must either be taxed or SORNd. If you SORN a vehicle, you cannot use it or keep it on a public highway unless you are driving to or from a pre-booked MOT test, or to or from a pre-booked garage appointment to have repairs carried out which are necessary for passing the MOT test. This exception exists because you can't tax a vehicle unless it has an MOT, and the garage can only be a 'reasonable distance' away - i.e. you can't book an appointment in Edinburgh and then drive up from London without an MOT or tax. The requirement to have an MOT before you can buy road tax dates from pre-computerisation/ANPR days - it was really the only way (without spot-checking) to ensure you had an MOT. I'm sure this requirement could now be dropped without too much of a problem.

The general feeling seems to be that there is a push towards ensuring continuity of revenue (to the exchequer, to garages, and to the insurance industry) on all vehicles in circulation, all of the time. Do not be surprised if in ten years time we are required to have road tax, insurance and a valid MOT in place on all vehicles we own, regardless of where they are kept and whether or not they are used on public roads.

Already the DVLA take a very tough line with what constitutes keeping a vehicle 'on private land'. There are plenty of stories of them trying to tell people that their driveways do not constitute 'private land' - their rationale being that they are not gated and they are interconnected to the public highway system.

If this car isn't going to be used, I would SORN it and claim the last few months of road tax back. For peace of mind you could keep a TPFT insurance policy in place (i.e. in case someone broke into the garage and stole it, or in case the garage caught fire) but realistically that is unlikely to happen. Most people do not insure SORNd cars unless they are particularly valuable or a serious theft risk - the Yaris is neither.

Edited by gfewster on 24/01/2011 at 16:19