There may be an occasion at sometime during the time you own a classic car that you will need to take it off the road to have it restored. So, what is the situation as far as insuring the vehicle is concerned?
Classic car requiring restoration
One of the considerations is how long you anticipate the restoration work taking. If it is only for a short period you could of course just continue with your existing classic car insurance. Alternatively, as long as you have declared the vehicle SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification) and removed it from the public road, you could cancel your insurance but this is perhaps not a sensible course of action as it is likely to have a substantial value.
The other option is to arrange Laid Up cover through your existing classic car insurer. This level of cover is only available if you have declared your vehicle SORN and garaged it. You would be covered if your car were stolen or damaged whilst an attempt was made to steal it or if it were damaged in a fire. So, if you were carrying out restoration work to it and accidentally set your car on fire, it would be covered.
You may also be covered if you took the vehicle by trailer to an exhibition and it was damaged at the exhibition or in transit. If you were taking the car to a professional restorer and it was damaged either whilst being repaired or in transit you are likely to be covered.
You may also decide to take your car off the road for a few months during the winter so you could cancel your existing classic car insurance and arrange Laid Up cover instead assuming that it is still financially viable to do that. The cost of providing Laid Up cover is lower than that of normal classic car insurance.
