Can you insure a SORN car, and should you?
A car with a Statutory Off Road Notification does not legally need insurance. That is the whole point of a SORN: it is the one way to keep a car without insuring or taxing it. But “does not need” and “should not have” are different things, and around a third of SORN’d cars are insured anyway, for reasons that make sense once you look at what can go wrong on a driveway.
What the law requires
Continuous Insurance Enforcement, in force since 2011, means every vehicle registered with DVLA must be insured at all times unless it has a SORN. DVLA compares its records with the Motor Insurance Database and writes to keepers of uninsured, un-SORN’d cars, then fines them £100, then takes it further. Our guide to how AskMID works explains the database behind that check.
Declaring SORN switches that requirement off. You then cannot drive or park the car on a public road, at all, for any reason, with one exception: driving to and from a pre-booked MOT or other test appointment. Even for that journey you must be insured, and a car with a SORN caught on the road is liable to be seized.
So the legal position is simple. SORN’d and off the road: no insurance needed. SORN’d and driven, even to the MOT: insurance needed. Not SORN’d: insurance needed whether it moves or not. How to declare SORN is in our SORN guide.
Why people insure a SORN car anyway
Theft. A car that is not being driven is still a car that can be stolen, and it is more likely to be stolen if it sits in the same place for months. Without insurance, the loss is yours.
Fire and damage. Garage fires, storm damage, a neighbour’s tree, vandalism. A comprehensive or third party, fire and theft policy pays out on these whether the car was moving or not.
Keeping a no claims discount alive. Most insurers let a no claims discount lapse after two years without a policy. If you are laying a car up for eighteen months and expect to insure it again afterwards, staying insured, or moving the discount to another policy, preserves it.
The car is worth something. For a £500 runabout the sums rarely work. For a classic, a car you are restoring, or anything worth more than a couple of thousand pounds, they usually do.
What cover to buy
You have two routes.
Laid-up insurance. A specialist policy that covers fire, theft and accidental damage while the car is off the road, with no cover for driving. Classic car insurers and a few mainstream ones offer it; it is often a fraction of the price of a normal policy because the main risk, driving, has gone. You must still declare the SORN to DVLA separately; the policy does not do that for you.
A normal policy at a reduced rate. Many mainstream insurers will simply keep a comprehensive policy running and, if you tell them the car is SORN’d and garaged, reduce the premium. This is the simplest option if you already have a policy and are laying the car up for a season.
Either way, tell the insurer where the car is kept. A car SORN’d on the road, rather than on a drive or in a garage, is illegal and most laid-up policies will not cover it.
Third party only cover is pointless on a SORN car, because third party cover only pays for damage you do to others while driving. If you buy any cover, buy fire and theft or comprehensive.
Taking a SORN car back on the road
The order matters, and it catches people every spring.
- Insure the car. It needs to be on the Motor Insurance Database before you drive it anywhere, including to the MOT.
- Get an MOT if it needs one. You can drive an uninsured, untaxed SORN’d car to a pre-booked MOT only if it is insured. Our guide on driving without an MOT covers the exemption.
- Tax the car. Taxing it online ends the SORN automatically. In Great Britain you no longer have to show proof of insurance to tax, but you must have it; the details are in our guide to taxing a car without insurance. Our vehicle tax guide covers rates and the direct debit options.
Drive it before step three and you are driving an untaxed car, and if you skipped step one, an uninsured one.
Whether SORN is the right choice at all
If you are only stopping driving for a month or two, the arithmetic can go the other way: cancelling and re-buying insurance often costs more in fees than the premium you save, and you lose any tax refund rounding. Our guide to the pros and cons of SORN works through the break-even, and what SORN actually is covers the basics for anyone new to it.
Frequently asked questions
Do you legally need insurance for a SORN car?
No. A SORN removes the requirement to insure, provided the car is kept off public roads.
Can I drive a SORN car to the MOT without insurance?
No. The MOT exemption covers tax, not insurance. You must be insured for the journey.
Does insuring a SORN car cancel the SORN?
No. Only taxing the car ends the SORN. You can be insured and SORN’d at the same time.
Will my insurer know the car is SORN’d?
Not unless you tell them. Tell them; it usually reduces the premium and it affects what the policy covers.
What happens if a SORN car is stolen and uninsured?
The loss is yours. Report it to the police and DVLA, but there is no one to claim from. Our guide to what happens if your car is stolen covers the process.
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