Probably not going to explain this very well, but here goes... In N. Ireland we do our MOT's slightly differenty, but on the whole a lot of the same rules and restrictions apply. I'm going to assume at this stage then that what I'm about to ask applies both here and the rest of the UK, until I find out otherwise. The background is that delays in testing cars here is getting worse and not better and you read of people experiencing up to 6 month delays from the date of application to actual test. As long as you've booked a test and have official confirmation you are 'legally' allowed to continue driving even if your previous test has expired. That's spot on if you don't have to tax your vehicle at some point during the interim. No MOT, even a test appointment means you can't tax / re-tax... end of, you're snookered. Just incase that wasn't inconvenient enough for you the DVLA don't allowed you to apply for a MOT more than 3x months in advance of your vehicles due date. So if you're switched on / wanted to be ahead of the game and book a test well in advance, anticipating a 6 month wait, forget it, you instead have to do so at 3 months knowing there's a potential 3 month wait without MOT built in from the get go. They palm you off by stating there are constant cancellations, but having gone through that with the MK2 it means hours wasted daily queuing to get on their site and even a space does pop up it can be at a test centre on the other side of the country. I can apply at the end of this week for my Up!, it's first test and due in June. My road tax expiry coincides with it. I can live with no MOT for 3 months / drive on an appointment card, but won't be able to tax the car, effectively putting it off the road. What I was thinking of doing was SORN'ing the car at the end of this month. I'll get 2 x months of a refund and only be without the car for 24 hours at the most. I could then re-tax it at the start of next month for 12 months and that'd give me a 10 month buffer to drive around on the MOT appointment card (don't laugh, when this all started pre-covid the MOT delays were being measured in weeks, now it's half a year). I've looked on-line and the closest I can find are quotes from folk who have bought cars that were SORN'd the same day and they were unable to tax it for 5x working days because of rigid computer admin. delays. I can't do without the car for that long. Granted those aren't exactly my circumstances, the tax book details aren't changing for example. There's also claims you can tax the car 'in person' before the 5 days are up at a Post Office, but living rurally, how do you get there? Question is then, has anyone SORN'd their own car and re-taxed it (both on-line) straight away / a day later? Can it be done without causing the DVLA to throw a wobbler?
Well, that’s all quite different to in England, at least. Here you book your MOT with the garage, whenever they can you slot you in. I was talking to my MOT guy today in fact and he was saying that because they were so busy they were booking a week in advance There is no booking direct with the DVLA. With regard to SORN I don’t know as I have never needed to do it, probably because there are no issues with MOT availability. I’d imagine there must be a delay for the computer system to catch up but I cannot imagine why you wouldn’t be able to turn it around almost immediately as it is all done online.
Just did a quick Google and according to the RAC there is no minimum period for SORN, so here at least, your theory would work just fine.
Cheers for that, yes common sense would suggest there should be no reason why you can't do it, but those aren't two words that're usually associated with the DVLA. My concern is they f**k the whole thing up and I'm left sitting unable to tax my car 'till they sort it out... have you tried getting them to answer a phone or email lately? One of their proposed 'fixes' to the whole sorry problem was to have tests become bi-annual... sod road safety, so as long as their work load's reduced. There's a mechanic near me I use, the horror stories he tells of the state of even relatively new cars that come in. Thankfully that's one idea that seems to have come to nothing.
I can't believe the MOT waiting list is so long. I'm usually booking mine in a week or so before expiry! How would a day/two day MOT road trip to the UK work? Would it be classed as valid? Funnily enough I've been looking at the history of a Caddy Life my son is interested in. Not sure how many owners it has had but the MOT history shows multiple tests over many years. That is strange and not something you'd be able to do! https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/results?registration=Nk10fyj
Yes, an MOT obtained elsewhere in the UK's valid here (and vice versa). Expensive solution but apparently it's something dealers are reporting as having to resort to, Scotland on the ferry. They've just very recently started to make NI MOT's viewable on-line, though it's only for those obtained from 2017 todate. For some bizarre reason though they don't include a lot of the details you get such as test location / defect and advisory info. (or even that it received any). Whatever they're doing has fecked up my MK2's number though, according to them it now doesn't exist when you check the MOT history but doing the tax says it does... it's incredible how they manage to make a cock-up of everything (and you wonder why I'm sceptical about them allowing me to SORN/re-tax easily?)
Have had the same experience - i used mot hub if i recall they scan for cancellations etc to get you the next available date for a few £
The MOT booking side of things is probably an NI only site but the checking tax / MOT one appears to be the same UK facility you're probably talking about. If I run my 205, (which was a GB reg. car until about 3 years ago) through it, it'll give me it's complete history - All the GB MOT's, then those from over here (as they're post 2017 because of my ownership). If I run the MK1 and 2 through they only show the cars as being No tax / SORN / MOT is due and nothing else since they've been off the road from before the on-line records commenced. I was going to say that presumably once the VW's are again MOT'd, allbeit in limited NI. form, they'll start to show up but like I say they MK2's history has gone AWOL since it was done late last year. Just logged on to try and book the UP!'s MOT on the off chance it'd work (but no, still outside the 3-months) though I was able to see what slots would've been avaialble at my local test centre. There was one on the 28th June and another on the 29th June (cancellations maybe and probably already gone as I type this), every other date right up to the end of September is gone. That'd take you to over 6 months from now, I'm guessing that's the systems max. and it just rolls on once every day. Yes, have seen the booking apps. that promise to find you a slot. What puzzles me is if some enterprising coder can create it why can't the DVLA do somethin similar? Last year I resorted to ringing them over the MK2 as it was looking like I wasn't going to get it on the road before the bad weather. Guy I eventually spoke to basically did what I was doing and searched for whatever cancellations had just popped up on his screen, got me one a few months away so useful, not. One thing he did confirm is they were aware of the 'commercial' MOT bookers and that was one of the reasons it was so hard for regular punters to get a cancellation, they were hoovering them up as they appeared.
Finished watching some old film that ended just after midnight on Saturday, so logged on to book the MOT (sad I know!) None available at all at my local center (and still the case today) and one on the 30th June at another center twice as far away, so just took it. Have checked a few times since for a cancellation that's sooner (closer), but if there's any it's just a day or two difference in it plus they've only been in places that are even farther away. Here's a screen grab from 30 mins ago - FYI this is the list of all the MOT stations (15) in N.I, those greyed out have no slots whatsoever for at least 6 months, the rest are a minimum of at least a 3x months wait. In case some of you aren't aware we do our first MOT here at 4 years and not the 3 which applies elsewhere in the UK. Going to have a stab at SORN/Re-tax at the end of the month, will update then. If that's not going to work, will just have to squander more time regularly logging onto their site 'till a cancellation happens to appear while I'm there.
So, SORN'd the car this afternoon and only at that point do they say you can't re-tax it (on-line) for 5 x days, though as was mentioned elsewhere you do appear to be able to visit a Post Office and do it in person before that time's up if you wish. Will try that tomorrow (1st of a new month) and see how we get on, fingers crossed!
Really hope I'm not tempting fate by typing this ... but we've reset the clock and are now taxed for a full 12 months. Checked their site when I came back and it's still showing the old tax expiry date from before the SORN, but a time lag between updating records isn't unusual I suppose. Will however keep an eye on it, just in case they've one last go at shafting me. Downside is ironically I'm doing all this the very day the tax rates go up, the 1st of April. Post Office said it wasn't mentioned in the budget, but were expecting it anyhow. Yesterday it was £165, today it's £180 for the Up! Having said that I'd have been paying the new rate in June anyhow, so nothing lost or gained. Must've had a premonition and taxed the MK2 and 205 at the start of last month, had wavered as March isn't known for good weather (which turned out to be the case) but got a few runs out in them regardless. Tax for each yesterday £295, if taxed today £325! This is how they're going to get old, stinky cars off the road... by the back door, making it so expensive that normal folk'll not be able to justify them.
Not really, once they hit 40 they are tax free My 3.0 911 was tax and ULEZ free. My BMW is tax and ULEZ free. No1 sons Golf has to wait another 8 years
Small update... the get around worked insofar as I was able to sort the potential issue of not being able to tax my car in June because of an expired MOT. I can also confirm if you're relying on doing it solely on-line it'll still work, but you'll have to wait a minimum of 5x working days before the DVLA site will allow you... emphasis is on working days, it was a full calendar week before their computer caught up with reality since I was doing it over a week-end. There seems to be that amount of a time drag in their systems. My car was showing as still taxed on the surrendered period for 3 days after doing it, then that changed to being SORN for a further 4 days even though the car had been newly taxed a full 7 days before hand. I'd like to think that any ANPR or similar sightings of my car out on the road over that period will be automatically cancelled as records will now show it was infact taxed, be interesting to see if anything arrives in the post.
Do you have ANPR enforcement of tax over there? We certainly don’t here. Here it based on you either taxing or SORNing (or selling) and if you do neither you get a fine in the post (in theory).
There's tax enforcement vans that sit at random places. They have some sort of kit on portable tripods sitting out, I'm maybe mistaking that for ANPR but regardless they do seem to 'electronically' detect vehicles not taxed for the road. Police here don't prosecute for no tax, but they do still report potential offenders to the DVLA for action.
