Car tax
SORN, and the one journey it allows
Checked on 10 September 2026.GOV.UK, Register your vehicle as off the road (SORN) (as of 10 September 2026)
What is a SORN?
A declaration to DVLA that a vehicle is kept off the public road. It stops the legal requirement to tax and insure it, and it stops the automatic penalties that follow an untaxed vehicle. It is free and it lasts until the vehicle is taxed again.
You can declare one online, by phone on 0300 123 4321, or by post on form V890. There is no fee and no annual renewal: it stands until something ends it. The vehicle has to be genuinely off the public road, on a drive, in a garage or on private land. Parking it on a street with a SORN in force is the offence the £2,500 maximum is written for.
How do I make a SORN?
The online service is the usual route when the vehicle is already registered in your name. You need either the 11 digit document reference from the V5C or the 16 digit reference on a tax reminder, which can be a letter, an email or a text. If the address on the log book is wrong, change that first, then make the SORN, because the refund cheque is sent to the name and address DVLA holds.
Phone the 24 hour DVLA vehicle service on 0300 123 4321 if you would rather not use the website. Post is the route when the vehicle is not in your name, when you have no V5C, or when you need to apply for a future month. Send form V890 to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1AR. Without a log book you send a V62 as well, and the usual replacement V5C fee is £25.
- Confirm the vehicle will be kept off a public road, on a drive, in a garage or on private land.
- Have the V5C in your name, or the 16 digit reminder reference, ready. Change the address on the log book first if it is wrong.
- Apply online at the GOV.UK SORN service, by phone on 0300 123 4321, or by post on form V890.
- If you have no log book, send form V62 with the V890. The usual V5C application fee is £25.
- Wait for confirmation. DVLA refunds any full months left on the licence automatically. There is nothing extra to claim.
When does a SORN start?
Two clocks, and mixing them up is the usual mistake. If the tax has already expired, or you are applying in any month other than the month it is due to expire, the SORN starts immediately. If you apply in the month the tax is due to expire, it starts on the first day of the next month. That second rule exists so you can keep using the remaining days of a paid licence. It also means a declaration made on 28 June, with tax running to 30 June, does not cover 28 to 30 June as a SORN. Those days are still taxed days.
Postal applications can ask for this month, next month, or the month after. If you are applying for a later month, include a letter explaining why you cannot send the form nearer the time. Online and phone applications follow the same immediate or first of next month rule as the GOV.UK page states. There is no way to start a SORN on a chosen day in the middle of a month other than by applying on that day, once the expiry month rule is out of the way.
Example
A taxed car declared SORN on 12 March, licence to 30 June
- Licence expiry
- 30 June
- SORN applied
- 12 March
- Tax still in force that month
- Yes, expires in June, not March
- 12 March is not the month the tax is due to expire, so the SORN starts immediately.
- DVLA cancels the remaining licence and refunds any full months left, calculated from the date it gets the information.
- From that start date the car must stay off public roads, except for a pre booked test.
The SORN is in force from 12 March. You cannot keep using the car until 30 June on the old licence, because the declaration has already cancelled it.
Can I drive a SORN car to an MOT?
Yes, to or from a pre booked MOT or other testing appointment, and that is the entire permission GOV.UK publishes. Book the test first. Carry the booking confirmation. Have insurance that covers the trip. Drive the shortest reasonable route. Anything else, a detour to a parts shop, a stop at a friend's house, a run to charge a battery, is use on a road for another reason.
The order of operations catches restorers regularly. If a car has been standing, book the test first, drive to it on the exception, then tax it once it has passed. MOT records can take up to two days to reach the tax service, so a pass at four o'clock does not always let you tax the car that evening. Until the licence is issued the SORN still applies, and the only legal movement remains the booked test journey.
Do I get a tax refund when I make a SORN?
Yes, for any full months left on the licence. After DVLA has the SORN, it cancels the tax and cancels a Direct Debit if you had one. A refund cheque is sent to the name and address on the V5C. The refund is calculated from the date DVLA gets your information, not from the day you decided to take the car off the road. There is no form to fill in for the refund itself, except when the vehicle has been stolen, which GOV.UK says needs a separate application.
You will not get back any card fee, the 5 per cent surcharge on monthly or six monthly Direct Debit, or the 10 per cent extra built into a six month licence. Contact DVLA if the cheque has not arrived after 8 weeks. If it arrives in the wrong name, return it to Refund Section, DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1AL, and tell them the right name. A replacement should be chased if it has not arrived after 4 weeks.
What does it cost to tax the car again?
A SORN does not change the tax class. When you license the vehicle again it pays the rate that applies to its first registration date, CO2 figure or engine size, under the 2026/27 tables. A 2015 diesel at 125 g/km sits in band D and pays £170 for twelve months. A 1999 car at 1,549 cc sits in the lower private and light goods band at £230. A 2018 car pays the flat standard rate of £200 from its second licence, plus the expensive car supplement if the original list price was over £40,000.
Example
A 2015 diesel at 125 g/km coming off SORN
- First registered
- 2015
- Fuel
- Diesel
- CO2
- 125 g/km
- Tax year
- 2026/27
- 2015 sits between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017, so the lettered CO2 bands apply.
- 125 g/km falls in band D, 121 to 130 g/km.
- Band D is £170 for twelve months in 2026/27.
Tax it again at £170 for twelve months, or make a fresh SORN if it is staying off the road.
What happens if I ignore an untaxed car?
Two different penalties, and they are easy to confuse. If a vehicle is untaxed and has no SORN, DVLA's register scan issues a late licensing penalty automatically. The DVLA enforcement policy sets that at £80, reduced to £40 if paid within 33 days. The car does not have to have been seen on a road. Unpaid, the debt can go to a collection agency.
If the vehicle is then used or kept on a public road without tax, DVLA may offer an out of court settlement of £30 plus one and a half times the outstanding tax. Fail to pay that and the case can go to a magistrates' court, where the penalty is £1,000 or five times the tax chargeable, whichever is greater. Use a vehicle that already has a SORN on a public road, other than for the booked test, and the court maximum rises to £2,500 or five times the tax, whichever is greater. Vehicles can also be clamped.
- Late licensing penalty: £80, or £40 within 33 days, issued from the register when there is no tax and no SORN.
- Out of court settlement for use or keeping on a road: £30 plus 1.5 times the outstanding tax.
- Court, no SORN: £1,000 or five times the tax, whichever is greater.
- Court, SORN in force but used on a road: £2,500 or five times the tax, whichever is greater.
What happens to a SORN when I sell the car?
It ends. Tell DVLA you have sold the vehicle in the usual way. Do not make a SORN on a car you have already sold: GOV.UK says to report the sale instead. The buyer cannot inherit your declaration. They tax it in their name, or they make their own SORN, and a gap between those two acts is charged to them as the new keeper. If a reminder later arrives for a car you sold, that is a signal to check the sale was recorded, not a reason to declare a SORN on a vehicle you no longer have.
Export, scrap and a change of keeper all cancel a SORN automatically, in the same way that taxing the vehicle does. The vehicle has to stay in the UK for a SORN to remain valid. If you are taking it out of the country, follow the export process rather than leaving a SORN on the record.
Common SORN mistakes
- Assuming a SORN lets you park on the street. Off the road means private land. A SORN car on a public road is an offence whether it moves or not.
- Driving it to a garage for repairs. The exception is a pre booked test, not a repair booking. Recover it, or tax it, if it needs workshop time.
- Forgetting that a sale ends it. The buyer starts from scratch, and a gap produces an £80 late licensing penalty on a car that sat on a drive.
- Making a SORN in the expiry month and expecting it to start that day. It waits until the first of the next month, and the remaining taxed days are still taxed days.
- Thinking a SORN is an annual renewal. It is not. It stands until the vehicle is taxed, sold, scrapped or exported.
- Trying to backdate it to cover a period you already left untaxed. You cannot. The late licensing penalty for that gap is separate.
Common questions
- Does a SORN transfer to a new owner?
- No. A SORN ends the moment the vehicle changes keeper. The buyer has to make a fresh one in their own name, or tax the vehicle, before it is kept or used. A gap between the sale and the new keeper's tax or SORN is what produces an automatic late licensing penalty on a car that never moved. Tell DVLA you have sold it, and tell the buyer that the SORN dies with the sale so they do not assume the car is already declared off the road.
- When does a SORN start?
- Immediately, unless you apply in the month the tax is due to expire, in which case it starts on the first of the next month. You cannot backdate a SORN. If the tax has already expired, or you are applying in any month other than the expiry month, the declaration takes effect as soon as DVLA accepts it. Apply in the expiry month only when you still need the remaining days of the licence, because the SORN will not cover those days.
- Can I drive a SORN car anywhere at all?
- To or from a pre booked MOT or other testing appointment, and nowhere else. Moving it to a friend's driveway, taking it out to charge the battery, driving it to a garage for repairs, or parking it on a public road are all outside the exception. Using a SORN vehicle on a road for any other reason risks court prosecution and a fine of up to £2,500. Recover it, or tax it first, if it needs to move for any other reason.
- How do I take a car off SORN?
- Tax it. The declaration ends automatically the moment a licence is issued, so there is nothing to cancel and no form to send. The vehicle then needs insurance in place and, where one is due, a current MOT. Records can take up to two days to update after a test, so a pass in the afternoon does not always let you tax the car that evening. Until the tax is issued, the SORN still applies and the MOT journey exception is the only legal movement.
- Do I get a refund when I make a SORN?
- Yes, for any full months left on the current licence. DVLA cancels the tax, cancels a Direct Debit if you had one, and sends a refund cheque to the name and address on the V5C. You do not get the 5 per cent Direct Debit surcharge back, or the 10 per cent extra you paid for a six month licence, or any card fee. Contact DVLA if the cheque has not arrived after 8 weeks. Stolen vehicles need a separate refund application.
- What if I forget to make a SORN on an untaxed car?
- DVLA scans the register and issues a late licensing penalty automatically. That penalty is £80, reduced to £40 if you pay within 33 days of the letter. It is a register offence, so the car does not have to have been seen on a road. If the vehicle is then used or kept on a public road, a separate out of court settlement can follow: £30 plus one and a half times the outstanding tax, or prosecution. Tax it or declare it off the road as soon as you notice the gap.
- Does a SORN car still need insurance?
- Not under continuous insurance enforcement, for as long as the SORN is in force. That is one of the two legal effects of the declaration, alongside ending the tax requirement. The moment you tax it again, insurance has to be in place. The MOT journey exception still needs a policy that covers that trip, because driving to a test is use on a public road. Do not assume a laid up policy covers a test appointment without checking the wording.
- Can I SORN a car that is parked on the street?
- No. Off the road means a garage, a drive or private land, not a public road. A SORN vehicle kept on a road is an offence whether it moves or not, and DVLA treats that as using or keeping it on a public road while declared off the road. The court maximum for that is £2,500 or five times the tax chargeable, whichever is greater. If you have no off road place to keep it, you have to tax it.
Sources
- GOV.UK, Register your vehicle as off the road (SORN) (as of 10 September 2026)
- GOV.UK, When you need to make a SORN (as of 10 September 2026)
- GOV.UK, Cancel your vehicle tax and get a refund (as of 10 September 2026)
- GOV.UK, Check if a vehicle is taxed (as of 10 September 2026)
- GOV.UK, Tax your vehicle (as of 10 September 2026)
- DVLA, DVLA enforcement of vehicle tax, registration and insurance offences (as of 15 July 2026)
- GOV.UK, Tell DVLA you have sold, transferred or bought a vehicle (as of 10 September 2026)
Related pages
- Car tax ratesWhat the vehicle will cost when you tax it again.
- Car tax calculatorCheck the figure before you take it off SORN.
- SORN explainedSORN rules and the legislation behind them.
- How to tax a carThe documents and routes when you license it again.
- Rate changesWhat has moved since you last taxed it.