SORN/unSORN

[swill453]

I normally SORN my campervan for 2 or 3 months over winter as it doesn't get used. However this year I am undecided as to whether we're going to use it in October - we've got a lot of other things on, but if the weather is decent we may decided to go away for a few days.

Does anyone think there would be any issues SORNing it, taxing it a couple of weeks later, then SORNing it again soon after?

i.e.:
1. SORN on 30th September - get refund for October onwards.
2. Decide on, say, 15th October I actually want to use it, so tax it, paying full 12 months.
3. SORN on 31st October - get 11 months' tax refunded.

The way I see it I don't lose anything here. I don't gain anything either, of course. But if I decided NOT to use it in October then I save a month's tax.

Scott.

[DrFfybes]

No Problem at all. I SORN 2 of ours over winter and then tax them if I want to use them.

A cheque arrives usually within 10 days for the remaining VED.

Paul

[swill453]

It occurs to me that there's nothing to stop you churning your car tax every month. Since they can't charge extra for credit cards, if you have cashback you could earn a couple of pounds a month.

SORN it just before midnight on the last day of the month, then tax it again the following day.

As long as you can bank the refund cheques without too much faff it could be an easy earner.

Scott.

[chas49]

It occurs to me that there's nothing to stop you churning your car tax every month. Since they can't charge extra for credit cards, if you have cashback you could earn a couple of pounds a month.

SORN it just before midnight on the last day of the month, then tax it again the following day.

As long as you can bank the refund cheques without too much faff it could be an easy earner.

Scott.

I imagine they would find some way to stop this if it became prevalent! When you make a SORN declaration, you state "that they vehicle will not be used or parked on a road from the date given above". There is a warning on the form that "Making a false declaration is an offence".

If you did this once, I can't see a problem. If you did it every month for a year, it would be hard for you to argue that you were genuinely declaring that the vehicle would not be used etc.

[swill453]

I imagine they would find some way to stop this if it became prevalent! When you make a SORN declaration, you state "that they vehicle will not be used or parked on a road from the date given above". There is a warning on the form that "Making a false declaration is an offence".

If you did this once, I can't see a problem. If you did it every month for a year, it would be hard for you to argue that you were genuinely declaring that the vehicle would not be used etc.

I don't see why. I would only SORN it for the period it was off road and unused. That period being between 11.30pm on September 30th and 7am October 1st, etc.

Them's the rules, I didn't invent the system.

Scott.

[chas49]

I imagine they would find some way to stop this if it became prevalent! When you make a SORN declaration, you state "that they vehicle will not be used or parked on a road from the date given above". There is a warning on the form that "Making a false declaration is an offence".

If you did this once, I can't see a problem. If you did it every month for a year, it would be hard for you to argue that you were genuinely declaring that the vehicle would not be used etc.

I don't see why. I would only SORN it for the period it was off road and unused. That period being between 11.30pm on September 30th and 7am October 1st, etc.

Them's the rules, I didn't invent the system.

Scott.

Ok - I suppose that works, although they don't ask for a time for the retaxing do they? It's presumably from 00:00:01 ? - I doubt it's really worth the effort vs. the risk of accidentally getting it wrong or them changing the rules somehow (or a website glitch messing it up) and leaving you untaxed and getting fined....

[swill453]

Ok - I suppose that works, although they don't ask for a time for the retaxing do they? It's presumably from 00:00:01 ?

Nothing so complicated. It's SORNed the instant you SORN it online (so it has to be off the road), and taxed the instant you tax it (so you can now drive it again).

I don't suppose I'll actually do it this way, but I can't see anything wrong with the theory. It would earn me about £24 a year in cashback, assuming I had a zero-cost way of banking the cheques (which I probably would).

Scott.

[swill453]

Ah! I've just found the flaw in the process. When you SORN it, it tells you

Once a SORN is made, you will not be able to transact online for 5 days. The vehicle can be taxed at the Post Office during this period.

So that adds a whole lot more hassle.

Oh well, was an interesting thought.

Scott.