Reg Plates And SORN Road Tax For Vehicles

All cars registered in the UK have to be taxed annually. Not renewing car tax is a criminal offence, and is picked up very quickly by the police. If you plan to have your car off the road for an extended period of time, you need to apply for something called a Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN) to avoid being liable for tax during that time.

You could be fined up to £2,500 if you drive a car that’s subject to a SORN on the road. One exception to this rule is allowed: if you can prove you’re driving your car to its MoT test.

It makes no difference if your car spends all its time parked up on your drive; it still needs be taxed. If you don’t want to tax it and you’re not going to use it for a while, your only option is to apply to the DVLA for a SORN.

Having one of these means you don’t have to tax your car, as long as you keep it off the road. It could save you a lot of money if you don’t plan to drive your car for a long period of time, like if you’re travelling abroad for more than a month or if it’s not roadworthy for whatever reason. But as soon as the vehicle even touches a road, you’ll need to pay tax, as driving it would overturn the SORN.

What do I need to do to SORN a vehicle?

If you’re absolutely sure you won’t use the vehicle, it’s easy to do by going to www.gov.uk/make-a-sorn, calling the DVLA on 0300 123 4321 or by posting a completed V90 form to its HQ in Swansea.

The 11-digit reference number from your car’s V5C (logbook) or 16-digit reference number from a road-tax renewal letter will be necessary here. Your car’s registration number, make and model will also be required. Enter the date you wish the SORN to begin as well. The DVLA will refund you any unused road tax.

You won’t need to renew the SORN each year. Instead, it’ll lapse when you notify the DVLA you wish to start paying road tax on it again, or it has a change of owner (you might sell it).

Because a SORN cannot be transferred from one owner to another, if you buy a car that’s the subject of a SORN, you have to apply to the DVLA to have it cancelled. Either way, the DVLA will regard the SORN as having ended with the change of owner and road tax will become due once more.

As long as they adhere to a few special conditions, vehicle testers and motor traders don’t have to apply for a SORN.

So what are the top selling number plates in the UK? The DVLA has been selling private plates to UK motorists since 1989. During this time, there have been a number of records set, but most of the top 10 have been bought in the past 15 years. Here’s what currently makes the list:

25 0 – A Ferrari dealer bought this for £518k in 2014. It is now on a £10 million Ferrari 250 SWB.
F 1 – A businessman, Afzal Khan, bought this for £440k in 2008 and put it on his McLaren-Mercedes SLR.
S 1 – This was bought in 2008 for £404k by an anonymous buyer.
1 D – Businessman Nabil Bishara bought this plate in 2009 (before One Direction was formed, so it is not a reference to the band) for £352k.
M 1 – Businessman Mike McCoomb bought this number plate in 2006 for £331k, apparently for his son, who was 10 at the time.
VIP 1 – Chelsea owner and businessman Roman Abramovich bought this plate for £285k in 2006.
51 NGH – This number plate, which looks like the surname Singh, was sold in 2006 for £254k.
1 RH – Businessman Robert Haverson bought this in 2006 for £247k.
K1 NGS – This reg plate, which looks like the word “kings”, was bought anonymously in 1993 for £231k.
1 0 – This very simple but striking number plate was bought anonymously in 2009 for £170k.

These are large amounts of money, but they are all small compared to the top-selling number plates found in other parts of the world. Abu Dhabi, in the UAE, has the record for the most expensive number plate ever sold. That number plate was a simple “1”. It was bought in 2008 by businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri for £7.25 million.

number plates