Spare-O-Deck 1989

[becca]

may mean he ends up with a very large charge for never SORNing it

Doesn't work that way.
If they were going to fine him, it would have already happened (a couple of months after the last time it was taxed/last SORN expired).
Also, if it was already off the road/tax expired before SORN started, then no worries anyway - it wasn't retrospective. My Sunny and one of my CX's aren't SORN'd, because they were off the road then. I moved and sent off the V5 for a change of address and they've stayed that way (not SORN'd and no nasty letters etc.).

So seriously, if that the main reason why the thinking is the car won't go back on the road, then the car should be making it back onto the road!

Innnnnteresting! I think it was after all the SORN stuff came in - but I always thought if they get a notification of change of ownership they might then think 'oh look at this - it's never been SORN, let's charge them a drokk-ton of money!' especially as he's changed address and not changed the log book to say so. I tried to look it up on google to see what the protocol is in that situation but there was a lot of conflicting information

It has sat a verrry long time outside though, no engine inside, probably not one good engine out of the two scattered about the yard either. The guy just forgot about it tbh, we offered him a couple of hundred for it last year but then didn't have the space for it in the end and he was happy to just know it was no longer his responsibility ha!

[wurlycorner]

Just apply as the new owner/address and that would be fine.
You would need to SORN it though.

[becca]

Just apply as the new owner/address and that would be fine.
You would need to SORN it though.

As in, the same way you can claim an abandoned car - they contact the owner, no reply in a certain timeframe and then it's considered yours?

I tried to do some research on doing that too - very interesting topic as apparently the real owner is still the legal owner, you just become the 'keeper', and the true owner can claim it back via court. Something to do with having to have actually paid for it or something.*


*(obviously wouldn't matter in my situation though as the guy is happy to be rid of it, just what I've read!)

[Crazy_C]

They can send a fine in if it's reported. I accidentally reported the previous owner of my donor bug cos I bought it, and then declared SORN online, and it came up saying that a fine was due to be paid on that vehicle, so I phoned up, enquired about the fine, and was told not to worry as I had notified them that I was a new owner and that they would pass the fine on to the previous owner.

The bug was a 1600cc 1979, so the higher of the old style tax brackets, and had been off the road but not SORN since March '00. They backdate the tax amount that would have been paid. It was something like £2500!!! It had been MOT'd up until '06 though, so that may have been part the reason why they wanted to fine them.


If in doubt, phone up and just say "I'm looking to buy a car off a friend, I know it's been off the road for xxx years but it's not been SORN. If I buy it and put it back on the road, will they get any sort of fine for not SORNing cos I don't want to buy it and end up upsetting them by them getting a fine". The calls are recorded so if they say that there'd be no fine to them, make a note of the date and time (and who you spoke to as well if you can), and even ask them to send you an email so you can "show it to your friend to persuade them to sell their car to you". If they say there would be a fine, just end the call there

[wurlycorner]

As in, the same way you can claim an abandoned car - they contact the owner, no reply in a certain timeframe and then it's considered yours?

If no objection within a certain timeframe, they will issue you the v5, yes. The DVLA have no idea who the owner of any vehicle is ever, only the registered keeper.

Something to do with having to have actually paid for it or something.*

Money doesn't have the change hands in order for there to be a change of owner. Easiest way of showing change of ownership is by writing a reciept, signed by both parties.

In theory yes if you claimed an abandoned vehicle a previous owner could turn up in later years to claim ownership, but they would have to prove they owned it (not just that they were a registered keeper) and they wouldn't own any new parts you'd fitted to it!

[becca]

Got the cars moved into the unit the other day...

I knew the spareodeck had got mouldy pretty quick about 3 weeks ago, but I didn't expect it to look like this when it was dropped off the truck

Going to strip everything out to dry out / de-mould. Got an odour bomb too because it's like a biohazard in there right now and it stinks!


Dash pocket things (technical term?) are actually full of water! I'm guessing it must have frozen inside the windscreen and melted off to drip in there, I can't think of any other logical explanation for how it would get there because AFAIK the windscreen has never been an issue for leaks - just the sunroof and guttering.



Gearknob has actually rusted, front seats are covered in mould (rears are surprisingly fine)





Gross right?

[NafemanNathan]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[becca]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

I wish I could somehow portray the smell on here. Just so I could share how disgusting it is

[NafemanNathan]

I'm glad you can't

[becca]

Also, a little update on the future for the spare...

Well. We've been chatting about the idea of the SR20 red conversion and with all the suspension modifications, etc. came to the conclusion that the best option is to literally cut the two cars in half and drop the deck shell on the S14 chassis.

I've been, possibly, quite obsessive about it. And checked all the measurements to see how it would likely line up. Yes, I was also surprised with the fact the Accord has a longer wheelbase, I expected the opposite.


These are the dimensions as per Wikipedia:

Accord Dimensions

Wheelbase
2,601 mm (102.4 in)

Length
Hatchback: 4,440 mm (174.8 in)

Width
Hatchback: 1,694 mm (66.7 in)

Height
Hatchback: 1,336 mm (52.6 in)



S14 Dimensions

Wheelbase
2525 mm (99.4 in)

Length
4498 mm (177.0 in)

Width
1727 mm (68.0 in)

Height
1288 mm (50.7 in)


Using these and a rudimentary scale, I scaled down the best 'side on' shots of each car that google images had to offer resulting in:

(although they aren't necessarily bumper to edge of scale, that's from where the image was moved after they were scaled, scale is done by each number being 1m)





And here is the Accord shell cut and dropped onto the S14 wheelbase and vice versa







Obviously they're VERY basic, and the scale isn't perfect (I used the grid on PS to line up with each mark between 1-2m) but it gives a good idea of how feasible it may be...