UK Car - Leaving UK for over a year
 

Hi,

Quick question,

I have a UK Registered car, that I am taking out of the country in May, for over a year. The cars tax and MOT will end in September.

I will be driving through skandinavia, russia, mongolia, eastern europe, spain > morrocco and back upto sweden.

Will this cause me issues having a elapsed MOT and tax after I left the UK?From what I have found searching it won't be a issue?

Also on my return to the UK, I have searched I just have to go back to the nearest MOT station asap and I can buy my tax online?

Any advise?

Ta

The trouble is as your tax runs out you either have to register the vehicle as SORN (statutory off the road notice) or re tax it - you cannot let it just lapse - or you can be fined.

Im pretty sure you can still do the SORN online with DVLA, I would do one after you have left the UK, when you come back to the UK have an MOT booked close to home, this enables you to drive the vehicle to the testing station on the SORN legally.


Ive been out of the UK for a while, is this still the procedure or has it changed - anyone ??

Pretty much so, but there are detail points to be taken into account. For the mega discussion of the "system" take a look in here:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ong-term-39472

but, for the last thoughts on the matter I would start at the back of that sticky and read as much as you want.
An important point is to tell the DVLA nothing - say nothing, just work online and no questions will be asked.:innocent:

Regarding the RFL, the good time to declare SORN is when it expires and not when first going overseas; this gives you 1 year after that first declaration before another SORN statement is due.

Insurance is another matter all together (see the sticky).

Thanks, oops even though I searched I didn't find that sticky.

Thanks for your help :)

You can get a MOT in France, these last for two years. (on the UK plate)
so this way if stopped you car will have a current road worthy although French. I am not really sure how much this helps.

If you Export the vehicle (from dvla) which you have to do legally if out of UK for more than a year. Not actually importing it again to a foreign country might be problematical. My own vehicles have been French registered. So no road tax needed. insurance is cheaper than UK and no MOT's for bikes needed. in any case an MOT runs for two years. You would need a French address for your annual insurance though.

There really isn't a good answer as it is impossible to comply with the dvla's stance as you cannot re tax the vehicle without a current MOT and if you sorn it insurance may not be valid ( in as much as the insureres may have a way out of paying up).

Out of Country
 

Hi Cysne
You have to be a bit naughty- I've taken my bike out a few times for more than 12 months at a time, and as far as the DVLA were concerned it was maybe on my driveway. I was able to legally state that it was not on public roads in Britain.
I SORNed my bike on-line when the reminder came through- in teh days before on-line was available, my Muma nd Dad used to do it as I had their address as the registered place for it, so any post from DVLA goes to them.
I've never had any problems then with geting back, going straight to MOT garage getting that then insurance before getting a new tax disc.

Sounds perfect... Thanks all :)