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Who is the registered keeper of the car? If the RK is deceased then write the clampers/DVLA informing them of the fact. Not your problem to pay any fines for someone else.

Quote from: roythebus on August 04, 2024, 11:36:22 pm

Who is the registered keeper of the car? If the RK is deceased then write the clampers/DVLA informing them of the fact. Not your problem to pay any fines for someone else.

It is however the Estate of the deceased's problem?

Exactly this, it will be a very small estate so I'm trying to help them minimise how much has to be paid out in fines and fees if they are at all avoidable.

I was hoping someone here has experience of a car being impounded and whether it is accurate that an alternative to paying hundreds in fees is to simply sign over the car to the state/pound/clamper?

If the car is worth very little I don't see any point in worrying about it. Let them keep the car and dispose of it. It'll svae you the hassle.

Agreed but I don't want to suggest that if it means the fines/fees just get even larger especially when they start adding £21 a day storage fees.

The concern is if the estate will still owe all that even once the car has been crushed or is there some mechanism whereby having the car crushed extinguishes most of the fees just leaving a token DVLA fine and a nominal amount of back tax?

I suggested the OP try here for advice.

As far as I can make out from

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-enforcement-policy/dvla-enforcement-of-vehicle-tax-registration-and-insurance-offences
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-enforcement-policy/dvla-enforcement-of-vehicle-tax-registration-and-insurance-offences#wheelclamping

The Out of Court Settlement for having a SORN'd vehicle on the road is £30 + twice the backtax (presumably upto 31 July 24 because you have to tax it today)

As the vehicle is clamped there is a £100 clamp release fee, which I assume (maybe incorrectly) is the alternative to the £30 OOCS.
There is also the £160 refundable surety as the vehicle has no MOT and cannot be taxed before unclamping.

The OP says the release fee is £280, so there is an extra £20 which must be twice the backtax??


I suggested they let the DVLA remove the vehicle and then sign it away in lieu of fees, which should leave the DVLA seeking their pound of flesh at twice the backtax, plus no doubt, the OOCS of £30, so the estate would only be liable for £50 rather than the current £280.

However, if I am wrong, the impound release fee is £200, plus £21 a day, plus the £160 surety and that extra £20, so £380 +£21 a day increasing.


So the question is-

If the vehicle isn't collected within 14 days do they still pursue the keeper for the impound & storage fees, or are they cancelled by the disposal of the vehicle?


(If they are "release fees" then surely if you don't want it/didn't have it released you don't have to pay them?)

But the "Using a SORN'd vehicle on the road" offence is complete and would be outstanding, unless the DVLA waive it due to the death of the RK.

Somewhere on the DVLA website it says the vehicle can be signed away in lieu of the impound fees. But that's something the registered keeper has to do. Presumably now they have died somebody needs some form of executors powers. Who might that be ?

Regarding the penalty. It is an offer to settle the matter out of court. (Has a penalty actually been received or was it just clamped).

Not accepting the offer should eventually result in a DVLA prosecution. But of whom? I would imagine that they would choose not to proceed when notified.

would i be correct in thinking, regardless of an vehicle forming part of a deceased persons estate, (which may or may not be subject to probate which could affect any relevant time scales), DVLA are only interested in the RK and  beneficiaries of said estate are irrelevant?

Presumably now they have died somebody needs some form of executors powers. Who might that be ?

Good question. The estate is intestate so no will and no Executor. The family are currently still at the information-gathering stage to ensure the estate is solvent (it now appears to be) and so no-one has yet applied to be Administrator.

Regarding the penalty. It is an offer to settle the matter out of court. (Has a penalty actually been received or was it just clamped).

It's only recently been clamped and there's an offer to settle the matter out of court.

Not accepting the offer should eventually result in a DVLA prosecution. But of whom? I would imagine that they would choose not to proceed when notified.

So thanks to the helpful comments here (and particularly @facade for directing me here) it seems the family can allow the car to be towed, politely decline or simply ignore any Out of Court Settlement offers and then once DVLA become aware the RK has passed away they should drop any further action.

I'll update the thread if/when DVLA respond or if there are any further developments.