tootlewagon

Have just received a Car Tax refund from the DVLA, after exporting my car to Portugal in April.

No big deal, (I hear you say), except that I HAVE NOT YET got around to advising the DVLA of the export.

My only conclusion is the IMTT and the DVLA do actually talk to each other, otherwise how else could this have happened??

Anyone out there who thinks that their UK reg cars are safe out there, now that the UK Tax Discs have been discontinued, might want to think again.......

Red Eric

Presumably you've started the matriculation process though, Toots. Somebody who doesn't intend to do so wouldn't inform the IMTT of the import.

tootlewagon

Eric,

Matriculation is all finished and the car is now on PT plates - that's the whole point here, IMTT and the DVLA must have some channel of communication...

Red Eric

They do indeed have channels of communication but they're only used when a driver approaches the IMTT (eg for matriculation or licence exchange). The IMTT doesn't go out spotting UK plated cars.


Customs do, though

SMENI

we were with friends in a UK plated car last October and were stopped by the tax people and although there was another 2 weeks left of the 6 month allowance, they made a real fuss about it, keeping us for over an hour, going through paperwork, making phone calls, etc. Part of their questions included "why dont you buy a Portuguese car?!!" Make them a bit cheaper and perhaps our friends would! Anyway eventually they let the car go and said dont think this is the end of the investigation, my boss may decide to take this further! Needless to say our friends heard no more (Car was legal ) and they returned to UK within timescale.

EMR

If there were not so many Brits and others breaking the laws regarding cars, some driving cars with no tax, no mot, questionable insurance then the GNR would not have any reason to stop foreign reg vehicles.

MikeJ

Do the 'tax people' have the powers of stop and search in Portugal?

Red Eric

I suspect it was probably the Brigada Fiscal, which is not quite the same thing most of us would understand as the "tax people".


You don't mess with them - but if they stop you perhaps you could ask if they have the required authority and report back if you're still able to after their response.

SMENI

she only said it was a "tax inspection" and she was guarded by several police officers (NOT GNR) when you see guns, you stop and do as you are told!

Afrique

I live in an apartment block in Porto and parked in our shared garage are two cars on French plates, they have been parked here for two years, (that I know of). The owners are Portuguese and they live and work in France.They return once a year (around August) and then drive around in the cars for the three weeks they are here, then return them back to the garage, where they sit gathering dust and bird droppings. So it is not only 'Brits' that use the 'cheaper' option.If they get stopped I think they must say 'we don't live here we live and work in France and here's the proof, but their cars live here in our garage.

algarveandroid

can concur its not just the brits , I have seen F , D , NL and B regs that are in no fit condition to return for their national inspections , all being driven regularly.

I would reckon that its a far higher percentage fo PT reg cars that just shouldn't be on the road ,with Bald tyres , belching from busted turbos , drifting steering , no brake lights or no brakes on hills , and of course nearly all cars including new ones with indicators that dont seem to work .

blownaway

Wonder what happened with our Greek registered car then (now matriculated in Portugal)? Never had a tax refund from the Greeks !

I know many foreign cars been in Portugal for a couple of years or more.

Depends if the local GNR clock the reg. and then clock it again at a later date and again or if a warning is issued due to the car being stopped.

Generally these things only ever happen in The Algarve.....

SMENI

our stoppage was near Lourinha (north of Lisbon)!

Ingles

There is a Portuguese family who bought a large house in the area I live in.
2 cars -1 NL plate -1 L Plate
They have been here well over 3 years
I agree, it's not only the Brits

cardi

If there weren't so many Brits and others thinking that UK tax and MOT had any 'legal' meaning outside UK or that insurance, when paid for, can be questionable these threads would be much more informative and less wishful thinking.