SORN Check: Is This Car Declared Off the Road?

SORN check: is this car declared off the road?

Enter the registration in the search box above. The free check reads the DVLA record and shows the car's tax status as taxed, untaxed or SORN, with the date the status last changed or the tax runs out, and its MOT status and MOT history. It works for any UK registration, including a car you are thinking of buying, and needs no account. The full report adds outstanding finance, write-off and stolen records for the same car.

What SORN means

A Statutory Off Road Notification tells the DVLA that a vehicle is being kept off public roads, so no vehicle tax is due and no insurance is legally required. A SORN car must stay on private land: a drive, a garage or a yard. It can only be driven to or from a pre-booked MOT test or other testing appointment. A SORN lasts until the car is taxed again, sold, scrapped or permanently exported; it doesn't need renewing each year.

Keepers declare SORN when a car is laid up, being restored or waiting for repairs. It's also common on cars for sale: the seller has stopped taxing it while it sits on the drive.

How to check SORN status

All three read the same DVLA record, so a "DVLA SORN check" and the check on this page give the same answer. If you've just declared SORN or just taxed the car, allow a few days for the record to update.

How to SORN a vehicle

Declaring SORN is free and takes a few minutes on GOV.UK. You can only SORN a vehicle you are the registered keeper of.

1. Find your reference number: the 11-digit number from the V5C log book, the 16-digit number from a V11 tax reminder, or the 12-digit number from the new keeper slip (V5C/2) if you have just bought the car and the log book is not yet in your name.
2. Declare it online through the GOV.UK "register your vehicle as off the road" service, by phone to the DVLA, or by post on form V890.
3. Choose when it starts: straight away if the tax has already run out, or from the first day of next month if the car is still taxed.
4. Get the refund. The DVLA cancels any Direct Debit and refunds the full months of tax left automatically, to the address on the V5C.
5. Keep the car off the road from that date. A confirmation email or letter follows; the free check shows the SORN once the record updates.

If you let the tax run out without taxing or SORNing the car, the DVLA issues an £80 late licensing penalty to the keeper, so declare SORN before the tax ends, not after.

SORN, insurance and MOT

• Insurance: not required by law while the car is SORN and off the road, because SORN exempts it from continuous insurance enforcement. Many keepers keep laid-up cover against theft, fire and damage in a garage.
• MOT: not required while the car is off the road. The MOT history will show a gap. Before the car goes back on the road it needs a valid MOT or a pre-booked test, and it can be driven only to that test.
• Tax: the SORN ends the moment the car is taxed again, which you can do online with the V5C reference. There is no need to cancel the SORN separately.

Buying a SORN car

A SORN car can be bought and sold like any other, but you can't drive it home. The SORN ends when the car changes keeper, so the new keeper must tax it (and insure it, and have a valid MOT if one is due) before it goes on the road. Tax it online with the 12-digit reference on the new keeper slip, or arrange transport. A SORN car with no MOT needs a pre-booked test before it can legally be driven anywhere else.

Ask why the car has been off the road. A car laid up for a year or two may have flat-spotted tyres, a dead battery, seized brakes or perished seals, and its MOT history will show a gap. Our guide covers what to look for when buying a SORN car.

Driving a SORN car

Driving or keeping a SORN vehicle on a public road is an offence: the keeper can be fined up to £2,500, and the car can be clamped or removed. The only exception is driving to or from a pre-booked MOT or testing appointment, and the car must be insured for that journey. There is no grace period after the SORN ends: tax it before the wheels touch the road.

SORN, untaxed or no MOT: the combinations

• SORN, MOT valid: the car can be taxed online in minutes and driven straight away, once insured.
• SORN, no MOT: book a test first; the car may be driven to it. Budget for the test and any repairs; the MOT due date check explains the rules.
• Untaxed, not SORN: the keeper is liable for the late licensing penalty; it also tells you how carefully the car has been looked after.
• Taxed: tax doesn't transfer with the car. See the car tax check.

What the free check shows, and what the full report adds

A car that has been off the road for a while is exactly the kind whose paperwork is worth checking: of the cars our customers checked in full between March 2023 and October 2026, 30.1% had at least one risk record. The full car history check shows them in one report.

SORN check FAQs