Fred James

Yes, that's correct.

Fredbargate

I bow to the superior knowledge of the above posts but

If you are staying in another EU country for less than 6 months and have not registered your car there, you may not legally lend or rent your car to a resident of that country, who may only drive your car if you are in the car with him/her.
There is a circumstance where you can drive a foreign registered car although very limited.
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens...s/index_en.htm

My previous post was pointing out the problems with Gib registered cars.

Someone from the UK can hire a Spanish registered car in Spain and drive it into Gib, but they cannot hire a Gib registered car in Gib and drive it into Spain.

To this point hire companies in Gib use Spanish registered vehicles.
When this first happened it was proved Spain was acting illegally on this point, But the companies decided that it was not worth the hassle their customers were getting and bowed to pressure for the sake of their reputations.

lutonlad

A related issue. I only recently discovered that technically you are not allowed to drive a foreign registered car in the UK if you are resident there.
So, if you are a non-res in Spain, have a Spanish car and drive it back to the UK it is illegal to use it according to the dvla if you reside in the UK.

Mitzyboy

That depends if you are in the act of doing what is necessary to re register it of course.

Simon_100

Yes, I did mean the tax disk - sorry

I also seem to have stirred up a hornet's nest on the whole license/residency issue. I sorted all this out fifteen years ago so for me it's all academic. But one tip that affected us badly: we lived in a remote province, Lleida, which then had about a dozen resident Brits so the funcaionarios were't used to dealing with license changes. Nor could they believe that Mrs s had a Class 1 LGV license, so they made us have an official translation done on the whole document - including all the meaningless small print on the back - at about 12 ptas per word.

Not only that we each had to have a certified translation of in effect identical documents, so double the price! Needless to say had we used a gestor to do this all would have gone smoothly!

Regs

Simon

ukhozi

Originally Posted by snikpoh View Post
What MoT disc - do you mean tax disc?

"There is NO problem having a Spanish license and driving a UK plated car - none at all."

Apart from the fact that as a resident you are no longer allowed to drive a UK plated car
.

[QUOTE=jimenato;11165447]So according to the last few posts, you can only have a Spanish License if you are a Spanish resident and you can't drive a UK plated car in Spain if you are a Spanish resident.

You can have a Spanish license but there is no advantage, actually until a few years back we were required to change from UK to Spanish if resident but the EU changed all that in fact it is a disadvantage as the police are less likely to have your license and dock points if it is a UK one, (if you commit a serious offense your UK license will be docked points anyway).
The fact is that unless you are a genuine TOURIST (6 month rule in any 12 calender months) and NOT a resident in any way shape or form, you cannot drive a none Spanish reg car in Spain at all, irrespective of what license you hold. All EU licenses are valid in all EU countries, when it expires (age 70) you can only renew it after a medical and if resident in Spain it would be a Spanish one or you would need an address in the UK and attend a physical/eye sight test in the UK.

Domino

[QUOTE=ukhozi;11166335]Originally Posted by snikpoh View Post
What MoT disc - do you mean tax disc?

"There is NO problem having a Spanish license and driving a UK plated car - none at all."

Apart from the fact that as a resident you are no longer allowed to drive a UK plated car
.

so when you go back to the UK you have to use only Spanish plated cars ??
sorry that is tosh.

and there are certain parts of Spain where UK plated cars with out of date UK tax disc are quite common. This is because Traffic Police have no interest in the tax relationship twixt driver and DVLA, its outside their remit.
So long as you have insurance and valid driving licence that is all they are interested in.

Fred James

Correct. In Spain, road tax is a municipal tax and the police are not interested in it. In the UK it is a state tax and the police there are interested.

In Spain you can go to prison if you have no insurance or no licence, but road tax is not an issue.

EMR

But how can you get insurance if you have no UK MOT or Spanish ITV.
Are these UK plated cars a danger to themselves and everybody else.
If the Spanish are so hard up perhaps its time they started targetting these vehicles.

jimenato

If you are resident in Spain you cannot drive a UK plated car IN SPAIN.

andyrich666

I know a few people that are doing that, so......... one of them even has a Spanish licence and passed his test here in Spain, he drives a UK 52 plate Jag

You don't need a MOT to get insurance, a non MOT'd car does not mean it is dangerous either.

Also they are quite hot on UK Cars here,

ukhozi

They are, barely a week goes by without me seeing a UK or German reg car on a police grue.

Also, according Barrister and Spanish law expert (he should know) David Searle's book "You and the law in Spain", all vehicles in the EU must be road legal in the country of registration", this means tax, test and insurance.

Whilst many people do drive their UK cars in Spain, on god only knows what papers, they are liable to seizure and confiscation.

I have a UK 'Q' reg car in my garage for the past 14 years and although I would love to drive it I dare not, nor can I get an ITV or insurance for it and getting it changed to Spanish without a COC or homogenization is almost impossible and will certainly be expensive. Having it carried to the UK and re-taxing it and MoT etc will not help because as a resident I couldn't drive it here afterwards.

Years of trying, talking to lawyers, ITV station managers and insurance companies have made me a bit of an expert in this area.

Back to OP, NO

mikelincs

I made that post way back in post#4.

EMR

Many insurance policies include that clause but of course the brokers rarely ask for proof that the vehicle is legal.
The Monty Python sketch on this subject of insurance comes to mind.
" of course you are insured, until you come to make a claim ".