We now own most bits!
RR02 HAR's naked rear end
Payment is going through for the LR 130 Chassis Crew Cab and all the paperwork should be with Roger Young Ltd to allow us to be owners of RR02 HAR from 1/3/10. Thanks to Debbie and Anthony at RY – they’ve been a big help and offered great service.
(BTW – Our bank account now looks empty and we are officially, really, full-on, Overland impoverished.)
We will need to arrange to get the base vehicle up to OEC to allow the adaptations to begin (I can’t drive it until hand-controls are fitted – which will be part of the whole build programme).
Good news though; to all intents and purposes we now own both the front and the ar5e end of an Azalai. We just need Anton et al to put it all together.
Taxing News – an update
A quick update on progress (of sorts).
OEC are behind on their current build. Ostensibly because of the well documented winter weather having complicated things like parts delivery and staff getting into work. To that end the 130 DC Chassis will be registered in March. We have been sorting out things like:
- Road Tax – we need to re-classify our VW Transporter from Disabled and get that classification transferred to the Land Rover. This isn’t entirely straight-forward. Because we have been renewing the tax disc online over the last few years, the hard copy certificate (of exemption) has expired. This means that it needs to go back to the DWP in Blackpool. Rather helpfully they advised “If you send it to us by registered post, at least we’ll open it the same day. Otherwise it might sit in a pile for a couple of weeks!” Fingers crossed that will come through sooner rather than later. Roger Young Land Rover maintain that they need it to zero-rate the vehicle for VAT purposes, even with hand-control adaptations.
- Insurance – only three companies quoted! The issues being:
- The vehicle is not yet converted
- The conversion will take too long
- The gross value is too high
- It’s not on the list of ‘recognised’ manufacturers/conversion
The ones that did are all at or just above £600, fully-comp, self & spouse. The Brokers were:
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- Adrian Flux (who can provide specialist RV cover and the cheapest offering two policies – the cheapest conditional on Thatcham 2 security being fitted. Very good and efficient over the phone)
- Fish Insurance (Specialist disability brokers – slightly more and no cover for camp things (awnings and gas etc)
For a short while I thought no-one was going to offer cover! It will of course be much easier and competitive come renewal time and we have an ownership history of a completed Azalai.
- Registration – we need to assign RR02 HAR
When we have all of the above we should be in a position to complete the base vehicle purchase and get it up to OEC.
Looking forward to the work starting in earnest. As with any project there are always snags and the early time slippage is testament to that universal truth.
White Rhino male Hluhluwe, KZN RSA
Things you may or may not know: UK Care Tax
Taking your vehicle abroad for less than 12 months (temporary export)
If a UK registered vehicle is taken abroad temporarily, it remains subject to UK law. This means that you as the keeper, must by law make sure that the vehicle stays taxed while it’s overseas. Providing the vehicle has a current MOT certificate and insurance, you’ll be able to tax the vehicle.
If you don’t tax the vehicle and it’s brought back to the UK untaxed, the vehicle will need to be transported and not driven upon entry back to the UK and SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) should be declared straight away.
You can tax or SORN online or by telephone, but please note that SORN can’t be made while the vehicle is abroad.
If you don’t have a registration certificate and you are taking the vehicle out the country on a temporary basis you can get a replacement from DVLA by phoning or applying by post.
You can tax your vehicle online, by phone, or get someone to tax it for you if you’re going to be abroad when your vehicle tax expires. You can also tax your vehicle in advance of going away.