The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hello All,
I'm looking for some DVLA-type advice please on my Restoration Dolomite project car, ( currently on SORN ) from someone who has actually done this. I am thinking ahead a bit here, for when the Dolomite is back on the road.

I need to ...

1. Get a new log-book (V5)
2. Get it recorded as Historic.
3. Get the MOT exemption
4. And finally take it off SORN and get my free "tax-disc".

I think the steps are...

* Get on-road insurance . ( This is the easy bit )
* Fill in the V62 and pay £25 as I've lost the log-book.
* Fill in V890 and declare SORN again. (Section G on the V62 refers. I think this is new.)
* Fill in V112 ( Exemption from an MOT )
Question : Do I also need to fill in a V70 ( Application to change vehicle tax. This seems to be more relevant to HGVs )
* Now I did read on another web-site that after restoration you need a 1st MOT. I think this applies only in Northern Ireland though. Ref; Historic vehicles p2/3. Is this so ?
* Am I right in thinking that the Historic status automatically occurs when the new V5 is issued ?

Thanks ,
Tony.

Historic change is easy to do at the Post Office once you have the V5 and if it's then Historic and VED free why do you need to actually put the car on sorn?

_________________
1979 Dolomite SE (Black Obviously)
2000 Saab 'Viggen' Convertible in 'Lightening Blue'

Dave

Right, The first thing, as you so so rightly state, is to get a V5. I'd have done this as soon as I knew I hadn't got one, but whatever! I'm presuming the vehicle is not already registered in your name. If so, put the purchase date down as last week or they'll fine you for not sorning it. If it IS in your name and already sorned, no problem and no need to re-sorn.

When you apply for the V5 you MUST tax or declare sorn at the same time. DON'T confuse them with more than one job at the same time or they'll mess you about fersure!

Once you have the V5 in hand, and the car is ready for the road, get some insurance and tootle down to the local PO, change the tax group to historic, fill in the exemption form for the MOT and get it taxed. Job done!

There is absolutely NO requirement to get a car MOT'd after restoration UNLESS the car is "substantially modified" by DVSA (MOT) rules.

HTH, Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

According to DVLA, a car may only exist in one of 2 states, Taxed (even if free) or SORNed. There are a couple of loopholes (putting it into "trade" is my favourite) but that's basically the rules. When you buy a car, any tax or SORN it currently carries is voided and you must start again from scratch. So if you apply for a V5 for ANY car, it's just like buying ANY car, you must tax it or SORN it, more or less at point of sale. Or when you apply for the V5.

Historic cars are treated by DVLA just the same as moderns that have to pay tax. Now it's true that you can, with MOT exemption, keep a pile of bolts in the corner of your garage, legally "on the road" if you want to insure the pile of parts as a car, that's your business. But from DVLA's point of view, you MUST have insurance or the car's tax, even if free, will be cancelled. So, if you take a car OFF the road for an extended period and want to save the insurance cost, you must SORN it. They aren't so much worried about their non existent loss of revenue, or even the potential lack of roadworthiness of no MOT. It's the insurance that is the main concern, it's ALWAYS been a thing that you have to show proof of insurance to get a car taxed and it still is, even on historics!

In this day and age, when everything is on a database and the databases can be linked, the bit of paper is no longer needed (like the tax disc) so a cop in his car behind you can tell in seconds if you have insurance. But the check is still there, at least once a year, as a hangover of a bygone age!

If you are like me and buy project cars, sans V5 and with a 90s tax disc in the screen that shows last use around 30 years ago, this car will NOT be on DVLA's computer records and you may have trouble getting DVLA to accept you have found it in a barn or whatever. So far i've not personally had a problem, but I know others who've had an enormous fight! So it's always my first task to apply for the V5! It'd be a right PITA to do, say, a 5 year resto costing thousands and then find the car has no legal existence!

Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

Thanks for all your comments folks ! O.K. so I can tear-up the V70 and bin it. I can see a big advantage to finding the V5 which is in my name from when I bought it. That's going to be another job for sometime.
And thank's Steve for clarifying the situation around SORN etc;
I'll let you know how it goes.
Happy 2024 All,
Cheers for now,
Tony.

One final clarification (cos I missed it the first time!)

The above is ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE!

There is NO automatic Historic status awarded, you 100% have to ASK for it! I know 1 or 2 people who have needlessly paid VED for several years because they believed DVLA would tell them when it due.

Nothing could be further from the truth, not only will they happily take your money for as many years as you are prepared to give it to them, they will categorically refuse to refund you for VED paid when the car was elegible for historic status.

THE ONUS IS 100% ON YOU TO DECLARE THE CAR HISTORIC, AS SOON AS IT IS ELEGIBLE! This is on April 1st in the year after the 40th anniversary of the car's date of first registration (or build date if the 2 are significantly different) Since the last Dolomite rolled out of the factory in or around November of 1980 this means that ALL Dolomites are now of historic status and therefore VED free. And have been since at least April 1st 2021. If you don't declare this, that's YOUR fault!

HTH, Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.

Well that's true, you CAN ask them to do more than a single task at a time!

But in my personal experience it doesn't pay, they just get confused and your whole application gets "lost"!

The tax status is easily changed at the PO when you go in to tax it and it's done on the spot by someone who KNOWS what they are doing! Not some nameless faceless drone at DVLA.

Steve

_________________
'73 2 door Toledo with Vauxhall Carlton 2.0 8v engine (The Carledo)
'78 Sprint Auto with Vauxhall Omega 2.2 16v engine (The Dolomega)
'72 Triumph 1500FWD in Slate Grey, Now with RWD and Carledo powertrain!

Maverick Triumph, Servicing, Repairs, Electrical, Recomissioning, MOT prep, Trackerjack brake fitting service.
Apprentice served Triumph Specialist for 50 years. PM for more info or quotes.