Inherited Vehicle

[HenryFord]

Hi Everyone. I have recently inherited my dads car, but I don't need it and my mum does need it. Its currently registered in my dads name, but obviously that will need to change....ie it will have to be registered to either me or to my mum. I would be the owner of the vehicle, as I have inherited it....but who should be the registered keeper - me or my mum.
Also, my mum is the main user, I am an occasional user....how would the insurance work?

[ToraToraTora]

Just register it in her name. The owner and keep can be different.

[barry1010]

Your mum as registered keeper, insurance in her name with you as named driver

[Hymie]

Don’t forget that any remaining road tax on the vehicle is not transferred – you will need to claim a refund and then re-tax the vehicle.

[Hopkirk]

Mostly correct, but you don't have to claim a refund now. It is automatically refunded.

Because only complete months are refunded your family will end up paying twice for one month.

[bhg481]

To avoid paying tax twice for April don't register the ownership change until the 30th and then buy the new tax from May 1st.

[Hopkirk]

Not sure that works BHG.
Unless the car us SORNed, the new keeper will be liable for the April tax.

[bhg481]

OK, SORN it late on the 30th, sell it and then tax it early on the 1st.

[barry1010]

"If you tax your car on the last day of the month, you've essentially lost a whole month of tax.

Best practice is to tax your car from the first date of the next month instead.

But if you choose to do this, it's vital that you're not driving your car whatsoever on the last day of the month. You also can't have your car parked on a public road."
https://www.confused.com/car-insurance/guides/how-to-tax-your-car

[bhg481]

barry - you can drive it/keep it on a public road right up to the moment you SORN it. If you SORN it at 23:59 on the last and tax it at 00:01 on the first you'd be very, VERY unlucky to be caught out.

[New Judge]

Leaving aside selling a car into the trade, paying twice for one month of tax cannot be avoided unless the vehicle is declared SORN.

Using April/May as an example, If the Registered Keeper (RK) is changed on the last day of April, the old keeper (O) will not get a refund for that month. The new keeper (N) - having acquired it during April - will have to pay tax from the first of April.

The way to avoid this is for O to declare the car SORN on the last day of April (or earlier if neither he nor N want to use it), ensuring it is kept off road. O will not get a rebate for April. However, provided the SORN is not removed until the first day of May, N will only have to pay tax from the 1st of that month.

I've been through all this before. As far as I can see, the only way to avoid losing a month's tax one way or the other without declaring it SORN would be to change the Registered Keeper precisely at midnight on the last/first day of a month. However, “midnight” does not exist for these purposes. It is a fleeting moment in time of no duration which divides two days. When the change is made the DVLA’s clock will either show 23:59 on the 30th April or 00:00 on the 1st May.

Of course the new owner could simply try taxing the car from the 1st May and he may get away with it. But he shouldn’t.