When do I need to make a SORN for my car?

Make a SORN when a vehicle is kept off public roads and you are taking it out of normal tax and insurance requirements, including where tax or insurance has ended.

In relation to “When do I need to make a SORN for my car?”, for keeper, tax and SORN questions, use the official record rather than assuming a receipt or insurance cancellation updates DVLA automatically.

For “When do I need to make a SORN for my car?”, sORN is about vehicle tax and off-road status; it does not automatically answer every insurance question. Check the policy and where the car is stored, particularly if it still has finance or valuable accessories.

For “When do I need to make a SORN for my car?”, sORN applies to the vehicle keeper and ends on specified events such as sale or taxation. It also requires the vehicle to remain off the public road except for narrow legal exceptions.

For “When do I need to make a SORN for my car?”, this answer is written for a Northern Ireland user, but some vehicle-registration, consumer-credit and insurance functions operate on a UK-wide basis. The attached sources — GOV.UK - Selling a vehicle, GOV.UK - Tell DVLA you sold, transferred or bought a vehicle, and GOV.UK - SORN — are therefore deliberately mixed where the responsible authority is UK-wide. That is more accurate than forcing every point into an NI-only source.

Practical next step for “When do I need to make a SORN for my car?”: complete the relevant official keeper, tax or SORN action and save the confirmation with a dated receipt. If another person now has the vehicle, record the handover date and time as well.