cheshiregirl

Hi everyone
Hope some one out there can give us some advise my husband and I are moving over to Praia Da Luz area for a year and need some advice about cars is it better to take a car over or buy one there we have a holiday home there so address and fiscal number not a problem is it better to take uk car and drive it over. Then when the six months runs out then drive over to Spain then back into Portugal is this ok to do?
Is insururance high in Portugal to get on cars does it go on the value of the vehicle or the persons driving the car? hope someone out there can give us some help on this.Thanks

peterfc

Hi Cheshiregirl

It's not as simple as driving over the border. You can only have a car in Portugal for six months then it has to be Matriculated or removed from the country.

As for insurance Ibex in Spain and Abbeygate also in Spain insure UK cars in both Spain and Portugal. I used one as my insurance ran out before i had Matriculated my car. As for price i paid less than i would have paid in the UK at present rates.

There is a recent post about Matriculating in a day. By myself or it's on my Blog.

Good luck

Peter

cheshiregirl

Hi Peter
Many thanks for your reply does that meen you have to bring it back to the uk ?if you are not becoming a resident do you still have to Matriculating a car? I read your blog but it lelt me more confused we are thinking of taking a left hand car to Portugal it may be that we have to drive it back to the uk .Thanks CHeshiregirl

gedscottish

I was reading it as to insure a Portuguese plated car?! If so..
:
Insurance prices are not bad considering Portugal has one of the highest accidents rates in Europe. The value of the car is a factor(with fully comp especially) also the drivers age,years with licence and with X amount of years of no claims(if you can prove it) are all factors. The good thing here is... its not a certain named driver who can use the car but anyone can drive it!

p.s loads and loads of threads on this with more information than you will ever need if you scroll back the pages

peterfc

Hi Cheshiregirl

What the law means is you can only have the car in Portugal for six months and where you take it after that is up to you. You could just try and get away with having the car here after the six months are up.

I am sorry you feel a little confused but so long as you prepare for the Matriculation it is so easy. I did it in a day.

The preparation is as follows.
1. Certificate of Conformity. Copy must be in Portuguese
2. Statuary Declaration at the British Consulate.
3. Take out Residency
4. Convert headlights to LHD and possible rear lights/ fog etc.
5. Car must have a Portuguese MOT
6. Print of the forms from the IMTT site to submit with the car for the MOT

The lights are easy to fit as most have fitting that are automatically correct but not all.

This can be all don in a day i did. Then it's the trips to Customs and IMTT now everything is prepared.

Or pay an agent 400€ up to well as much as they can get of you.

Peter

Peter

cheshiregirl

Thanks Peter for your help alot to think about but it looks as if we might just take a left hand drive car over for six month then hubby can drive back as we have the dog to take with us and flying is so costly looks as if she will be going by car and not air, so much to think about
Any thought on medical care do we need to take out private heath care looked into that as well but the quotes were about 400 plus euros per month any pointers on that subject.Thanks for your advise.Cheshiregirl.

mikelincs

There are problems with the way you are thinking, how will you be able to prove, to the police, that the car has been out of the country, there is really only one way, and that is to have ferry tickets showing the date the car left the UK.

sir recorder

A parking ticket from another country should be sufficient proof that the car has been in another country

masterbaits

Sorry Sir recorder this one you are wrong.

Pt GNR will demand a return ticket booking , many people I know have told me this as personally not third party experiences.THus a parking permit ticket wont work.

The algarve has auto plate recognition now , they know how long a car is there as long as it shows up on the computer and can easilly check.Not just on the A22 but other roads and on the police units themselves.

Its not worth dodging , the fines are huge.Legalise , matriculate or buy local.

So cheshire girl , if your here for a year as you say then you need a legal car , health insurance , and like your a car after 183 days both of you must be declared and legalised.

Insurance for healthcare , Ehic card might cover you for up to the first six months , but as basic rates the same as nationals care , they pay for part of their treatment costs.

Another option is to pay the equivelant of the NIC , but again that would only get you their semi NHS and again charges apply but with discounts.IT may be worth your time seeing what kind of discount your PT bank or AFPOP can get you , but if you have pre-existing conditions expect higher premiums.

Dog freight is another option , might be worth checking out , and of course you will need a pet passport sorting , you would be surprised at how many dont have it.Then you can negotiate a hire car , obviously minus the busy season and fly cheaply and wait for the delivery of the pet.

Fredbargate

How does this work if you and your vehicle come from a country that does not require a ferry crossing?

masterbaits

Dont know , we are talking british plates here.OP question.

Would guess that you would therfore be asked for bills , passport and confirmation of exit dates being notarised at a police station.IF it progresses to that far they can then be absolute bstards and check up on insurance , road tax , licence , mot etc.

I often wonder that very q when i see tonnes of NL and D platers . the brits and the porutguese are a soft touch at stops.But this ANPR stuff means no deniability.

mikelincs

For healthcare, could you not get an S1 form from the DWP, tell them you are moving abroad, this should give 2 years cover.

gedscottish

Seems very expensive but then again that depends on how many of you there are and a major factor is your ages.

PM your ages and I will give you a price on a good package from multicare. Medis is another "big one" here worth looking at.

sir recorder

That can't be right. I might want to travel the whole continent (including PT), without having made a return booking, i.e. I have only bought a one-way ticket, reserving the opportunity to return when I want to and choose to, i.e. open. Sounds completely contrary to European law. PT police have no right to demand that I show a return ticket at all.

Fredbargate

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