1.8 Million Drivers Take Vehicles Off The Road To Save Cash

Monday, 27 September 2010

Nearly 1.8 million vehicles were taken off the road last year by their cash-strapped owners, the highest annual figure ever and over 200,000 vehicles more than five years ago, according to research by motor insurer swiftcover.com.
swiftcover.com found that owners of 1,799,000 vehicles made Statutory Off Road Notifications (SORN) last year, meaning they do not need to tax, insure or MOT their vehicles so long as they keep them off public highways. This has steadily risen since 2005, when 1,565,000 vehicles were declared SORN. In 2008, when the full impact of the recession was felt by drivers renewing their tax and insurance, the number of SORN declarations was 232,000 higher than 2005.
Of the 1.8 Million vehicles currently off the road, the highest proportion is for private cars, with 1,042,000 being declared SORN in 2009, although this is lower than the peak of the financial crisis in 2008, when there were 1,072,000 cars declared SORN, up from 977,000 in 2005. swiftcover.com says this shows that hundreds of thousands of drivers are still struggling with the cost of motoring, but probably feel that they will lose out if they try and sell their cars.
Tina Shortle, Marketing Director for swiftcover.com, explains: “We have noticed this year that at the time of their insurance renewal, more customers are telling us they cannot afford to keep their cars on the road. This is backed up by the increase in SORN declarations, with drivers choosing to take their vehicles off the road until their financial worries ease.
“Many of the cars declared off road in the past few years could be second cars, where households cannot afford to run multiple vehicles. There has also been a sharp rise in motorcycle SORNs, which suggests that a lot of people see their motorbikes as luxuries they cannot afford to run right now.”

Number of vehicles declared SORN: 2005-2009 (figures in 000s, Source DVLA Figures 2005-2009)

*Includes rear diggers, lift trucks, rollers, ambulances, Hackney Carriages, three wheelers and agricultural vehicles

SORN vehicles accounted for 5.25% of all vehicles registered in 2009 compared to 4.75% in 2005. However, with the number of new vehicle sales making up just 7% of the total vehicles registered in 2009, compared to 9.1% in 2005, it is clear that the actual number of vehicles on our roads is falling.
Although the number of cars being declared SORN has actually fallen, it seems that the owners of motorcycles and vans are still struggling with running costs. In 2009, motorcycle SORNs reached a peak of 449,000, an increase of 122,000 on 2005. SORNs for light commercial vehicles also saw an increase from 170,000 in 2005 to 200,000 last year, highlighting that businesses suffered during the recession and are still hurting post-recession as they continue to take vehicles off the road.
The only commercial vehicle SORN figures that stayed stable throughout the recession were in the category for buses and coaches – with only 12,000 declared off road last year compared with 13,000 in 2005 – suggesting that mass transportation vehicles have been kept on the road as the public utilises more cost-effective travel methods to save money.
Tina Shortle continues: “Small businesses have obviously been hit hard by the recession, with the number of light commercial SORNs continuing to rise, showing they are still struggling with motoring costs. The fact that the number of coaches and buses taken off the road has remained static shows that there is still a demand for mass-transport, probably more so than ever before considering the number of cash-strapped motorists.”
Although declaring a vehicle SORN could save drivers several hundred, possibly even thousands of pounds in tax, insurance, MOT, petrol and other running costs, Shortle warned drivers not to use their vehicles without the correct documents.
She said: “Driving without tax and insurance is highly illegal and if a vehicle has not been serviced recently and no longer has a valid MOT, it could be dangerous too. Not only will drivers have to pay from their own pockets should they have an accident and are uninsured, they are also likely to face police action that could result in a fine or even a prison sentence.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors
For press enquiries please contact:
Paul Beadle or Joshua Van Raalte
Brazil (PR agency for swiftcover.com)
01865 556 000
swiftcover@agencybrazil.com

About swiftcover:

Based in Cobham, Surrey and employing over 800 people, www.swiftcover.com started trading in June 2005 and was born out of a desire to revolutionise the general insurance market.
swiftcover.com offers car, travel and pet insurance online, and is Britain's only insurance company without call centres, which means that the cost savings can be passed directly onto the customer and premiums are kept low. In 2008 swiftcover.com featured as the cheapest insurance quote on the comparison website moneysupermarket.com more often than any other insurer.

This powerful operating model combined with successful marketing and competitive pricing has proven to be a tremendous success. In 2008 swiftcover.com achieved over half a million live policies and in May 2009 sold their one millionth policy. They are considered to be the fastest-growing insurer in the UK.

In 2007, AXA UK acquired swiftcover.com. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of AXA Insurance UK PLC which forms part of AXA Group.

About AXA:

AXA UK is a part of the AXA Group. AXA is a world leader in financial protection. AXA’s operations are diverse with major operations in Western Europe, North America and the Asia/Pacific area. AXA employs 120,000 staff and tied agents and, as of June 30 2006, had €1,091 billion in assets under management. AXA reported total IFRS revenues of €72 billion and IFRS underlying earnings of €3,258 million for the full year 2005. Our previous company performance is not a guide to how we may perform in the future.

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