Vehicle SORN numbers up 9% during pandemic

Kwik Fit has taken a look at data published by the government and notes that the pandemic was responsible for an additional quarter of a million cars being taken off UK roads. The automotive servicing and repair company reached this conclusion after comparing the number of vehicles officially off road with a registered SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) in the last quarter of 2020 with figures for the final quarter of 2019.

It found that 3,261,901 cars were officially registered off road at the end of 2020, up from 2,984,042 a year earlier – an increase of 277,859 vehicles. This is a 9.3 per cent nationwide increase in cars with a SORN, but figures varied considerably from region to region. In Guildford the number rose by 27.5 per cent in the last twelve months. This was followed by Watford, which saw a 12.5 per cent increase in cars designated as being off road, then Worcester (12.0 per cent), Southall (11.9 per cent) and Oxford (11.6 per cent).

The increase in vehicles taken off the road was mirrored in part by a reduction in licensed cars over the same period, which fell by 0.57 per cent, some 187,000 cars.

The Kwik Fit analysis found that all areas of the country saw an increase in the number of cars being taken off the road over the twelve months. In purely volume terms, the British towns and cities seeing the biggest increases were: Guildford (8,796 additional cars with SORNs); Birmingham (6,735); Peterborough (5,762); Swansea (4,479); and Nottingham (4,317).

The areas which saw the lowest proportional increases were East Central London (EC postcode) with just a 4.0 per cent increase, Doncaster (4.6 per cent), Torquay (4.7 per cent) and Bromley (4.9 per cent).

“It was clearly a sensible move for many owners to save money on tax and insurance during the pandemic by taking their cars off road and registering a SORN,” observes Roger Griggs, communications director at Kwik Fit. “However, we anticipate that many of those SORN registered cars have now been brought back on to the road as the country has opened up and traffic volumes have returned to normal levels.

Check MOT status

“We know that there are still many cars which should have had an MOT which have not been tested so we remind any driver who registered a SORN for any length of time to check the status of their MOT,” Griggs adds. “It is legal to drive car with a SORN on a public road if you are going to a prebooked MOT test appointment, so it is possible for owners to get a valid MOT certificate before removing the SORN.”

The law states that drivers must insure and tax their vehicle if they do not have a SORN. If they do not, they will automatically be fined £80 for not having a SORN. There’s also a fine for having an uninsured vehicle.

Kwik Fit reminds drivers that they can have their car tested up to one month (minus a day) before its MOT expiry date to maintain the same anniversary and therefore not lose any time from their previous valid MOT.