A British friend of mine is trying to import his car from Spain to Portugal. He previously was a resident in Spain and now lives here in Portugal. He is having problems arranging a document to prove he has given up pernamently his residency in Spain.

Does anyone know where he should get this from.... better still does anyone have a draft of what this letter/document should look like??

Any help greatly appreciated, Ged

p.s the idea is not to pay the I.A (imposto automovel

It wouldn't be any different to coming from the UK so he would need the following:

Proof from Financas in PT that he hasn't submitted any tax returns for past 3 years

Certificate of residency in PT either obtained from the Camara or local Immigration office, if it's near Lagos its the immigration office near Casa in Lagos

Atestado from the Junta da Freguesia of what date he became resident here

Then he needs to go to the Spanish Consulate in Portugal, I imagine in Faro, to denounce residency in Spain/transfer residency to here

He would need at least a years gas/electric bills from Spain showing he was resident there for more than a year

He needs the cars certificate of conformity, this is taken to the IMTT to check that the car can be registered here (must be recognised in PT) they then allocate in a homolog-thingy number on a form called Modelo 9

While in Faro you need to get a Pedido de Beneficio form and the DAV form (Declaracao Aduaneira de Veiculo) both from the Tesouraria at Faro Customs. I left most form filling out until I went to hand them in as you won't know a lot of the codes they use and they help out with all of it.

Take the Modelo 9 form to an MOT station, has to be certain ones for matriculation purposes. They then issue a stamp to put in the car window, fill out more bits of the Modelo 9 form and issue a certificate for obtaining the new plates.

He won't be able to show date of car coming into Portugal as I imagine he just drove straight in but as much proof he can get the better.

Everything must be done within 6 months of being here, so say his bills in Spain go up to end December he has till end June to get all the documents in to customs in Faro but it's best if the residency is done asap as with me they queried a 3 week gap between my last bill and my residency dates, even though the car was only brought into the country a week before my residency dates.

He'll need the original log book, drivers licence (both parts) and his passport or ID card, and take copies of every single piece of paper twice over before you take them all to customs.

What he must be aware of is this, once you hand those forms in, if for any reason they doubt the transfer of residency they will charge the car tax and you either have to pay or remove the car from the country.

HTH
G

Thanks for the reply Supremegermalene(tongue twister that one), he has everything else sorted (an agent is dealing with it) the problem was the document to prove he left Spain. What you say about the Spanish Consulate here does make sense!! He as been in contact with the local council where he was in Spain but they have been no help! The whole process is held up due to this one document.

Regarding the "certificate of conformity" I was always of that understanding also but the agent said "bullshit" (words to that affect) and she has done loads of these for our clients without this certificate.... I guess it just depends on how fussy the alfamega are(however its spelt)

thanks again, Ged

We have been asked for our CoC 3 times, first at IMTT to double check stuff for the Modelo 9 form, then again at the IPO centre, and again at customs when we handed in the docs.

We only have a Ford Galaxy which there are many in PT so I'm not sure how you'd get away with not having one....

I presume you have to go to the Spanish Consulate as I had to go to the British Consulate...best place to start I'd guess then work from there.

G

Supre.....,

with all you know about this you could start charging!

I appreciate that you own the car and had oh drive it to portugal for you (after you sensibly did not do the Bay of Biscay ferry crossing! and flew instead). So, for you it is worth going through all of this paperwork and presumably days spent traipsing across town from one office to another.

If you did not have the UK car, would it make sense just to buy a Portuguese car, for a much higher price than a similar car in the UK and then, when you want to, sell it for more than you would get for a similar car in the Uk, with the net difference between buy and sell price, being pretty much the same as it would be, if you had done it all in the UK?

Try Ford Portugal....they issue COC.

If I didn't have 3 children = big car, then yes I would definitely have bought something here and sold mine. My problem was the money I'd have got for mine in the UK wouldn't come close to what I'd need for a people carrier here, they are so expensive, and I need one as I need 3 kids car seats to fit. If I could have bought a 4x4 or hatchback that was just a bit older for the same money I would have got for mine then yes, it's not worth the hassle and the jumpy nerves every time a GNR drives behind you/past you! Also, people cut me up all the time and do stupid things like go when it's my right of way just because the car is UK plates, and that's with both me or hubby driving before anyone makes any funny comments LOL it drives him mad and he ends up shouting in PT at them and they look rather sheepish.

I wish I could have a small 4x4 here, like a LR Freelander or something as especially with this rain the roads have developed huge holes and the number of times I've been driving along then into a huge pothole that hadn't been there the day before, it must be wrecking my suspension and tracking!

G