The primary business of Copart is disposal of insurance write off vehicles i.e. they are a salvage dealer. On this basis unless you visit and inspect the car you should assume that the car is fit only for being broken up as spares. You may be surprised how common it is for vehicles with serious gear box or engine faults which make them just barely drivable to hit in the rear and written off either genuinely or staged. The owner is hardly going to volunteer to the insurer that it needs thousands of pounds of repairs aside from the accident damage and the car goes off to salvage. The salvage agent will not spend time checking the gearbox as that is up to the buyer to do so before bidding. This is why dealing in salvage vehicles carries a high level of financial risk with very low returns.

Just a thought on this matter the OP states he took advise from the DVLA and paid them £50 to place the vehicle on SORN when he received the first fine. The DVLA do not charge to SORN a vehicle or for advise but a number of sites have been set up by companies offering to carry out services for a fee (normally £50). These sites often look very official with only a small desclaimer to give the game away. The question to the OP is could you have visited one of these websites for advise rather than the DVLA and paid them £50 to SORN your car. If this is the case and they then failed to regster the SORN with the DVLA could this be the basis of a successfull defence to the court action. I would suggest checking your bank statement to see who the £50 went to. If the OP could post back on this point I am sure one of the more legally qualified people on this site will then be able to advise on how to go about defending the new fine and court summons. Of course I could be completely wrong but it is an avenue worth checking on.

In reply to Connif I have now owned 3 Meganes and as a result I have become something on an expert on renault wiring as there is alway something wrong with a Megane but they are still better than Vauxhalls.

I have to state as an owner of the same model of Megane shown in the clip it can only be described as sensationalist journalism. I can change the bulbs on my Megane in about 3-5 minutes with no tools simply by following the instructions in the manual ie turn the wheel into the wheel arch on full lock to allow assess to the access cover for the lights. I admit it is uncomfortable and fiddly but entirely possible and it does not take 30 minutes, which the break down man should be aware of.