emjharts

When we take our car over to Spain what do we do about tax, insurance and breakdown cover when we immediately get there and up until the 6 months where we have to register our car?
Can we keep the UK insurance as it is as long as it doesn't expire in those 6 months? Do we need to immediately start paying road tax and how do we go about that? Lastly, what about breakdown cover? We can get european breakdown cover for our drive down there and maybe for a few weeks after but we need longer term breakdown cover and so can anyone advise where we can get this from please?
Thanks

Mitzyboy

I understood that you were moving here and would become resident? If thats the case you should really start the matriculation process within a few months

As soon as my insurance company knew I was moving abroad with a UK car they advised they could no longer insure me as they wont insure non UK residents. In theory you have a period when you can be "on holiday", but thats generally 90 days approx. If you are driving it here it must be fully legal in the UK, i.e. MOT

When you take out insurance in Spain you will get breakdown cover included, but you should check out exactly what it covers you for

"Road tax" in Spain is payable on a Spanish registered car, not a UK plated one

GCM

All these problems can be solved by re-registering your car once you get to Spain - and you have 60 days to do this not 6 months.

Most Spanish insurance comes with breakdown cover - if it is fully comprehensive.

Good Luck....Mark

Fred James

You do have 6 months - it's 60 days if you want to avoid the registration tax.

Rostra

Watch out for your MOT. Don't forget that if it expires while you are driving on your UK insurance as a visitor, the insurance is no longer valid. The moment you get your Spanish plates when the car is imported you have to change to a Spanish insurance policy.

GCM

I remember taking my UK car and it seemed the easy option at the time but in hindsight I wished I had sold it and bought afresh in Spain.

I eventually re-registered it but it was all a hassle and expense.

Rostra

I ALWAYS tell folks who want help with importing their car to Spain NOT to do it - to sell and buy another one with the steering wheel on the 'right' side. As you say - it is rarely worth the bother unless the car is something very special.

Im_and_Er

On the single point of an expired MOT invalidating insurance this is a complete and utter fallacy.

It's not even an endorsable offence, merely a fixed penalty fine.

Rosemary

Depends on the insurance company. Lloyds TSB, in the exclusion clauses states that no MOT invalidates the insurance, some other companies just state that the car must be in roadworthy condition and that becomes a moot point or possibly a getout clause to be used if necessary. The only way that one can be certain is to check through the small print or ask. Do not take anyone´s word on a forum find out yourself.

Graham

Fred James

The lack of an MOT does not prove a car is not roadworthy any more than a valid MOT proves that it is.

Unless it is a specific condition written into the policy it doesn't matter.

I am insured with Linea Directa and I asked them that question. They confirmed to me in writing that the lack of an ITV would not affect the policy. Other companies may be different.

Rostra

Sorry- personal experience here! I just had a silly bump with my UK car (handbrake not holding) with very small damage to third party immovable object, so had to initiate a claim. MOT was out of date because I'd been back to Spain and stayed longer than expected, during which time MOT expired.

The accident was entirely my own fault - I had not applied the handbrake properly and had knocked the car out of gear while retrieving my handbag from the passenger footwell.

Insurance documents (Barlays) state that insurance not valid if no valid MOT. I expected to have to pay for all damage myself.

Before reporting claim I made appointment for MOT. Assessor arrived before MOT could be carried out and said that in principle I was not insured.

However, a) since the car was clearly in good condition;
b) although the car would clearly fail the MOT because of bodywork damage, the reason for failure had nothing to do with the cause of the accident;
c) There was a good reason which I coud demonstrate with airline tickets for allowing the MOT to expire;
d) and he was a nice guy
he would allow the claim to go through.

He confirmed that an expired MOT will always invalidate your insurance, although some companies allow their assessors some discretion, provided the accident has nothing to do with anything which might cause the vehicle to fail its MOT.

Not worth taking a chance, in my book.

Im_and_Er

It's unlikely that they would be able to defend that in court as under section 148 RTA 1988 insurance companies cannot invalidate a certificate issued as far as making it a criminal offence i.e. to use without Insurance.

This does not not however prevent them from taking action to recover certain costs under the civil law.

Domino

I have just come to renew my uk road tax - except on going on-line DVLC told me I don't have a valid insurance on vehicle and refused.

knowing I had paid the renewal in Feb this year, after much searching to get a reasonable premium on a low mileage car, started reading every line of the insurance docs. only on the second read did I realise the registration was incorrect ! double checked all emails etc and it was correct to that point.

contacted insurance co, suggesting they had made the error on issueing docs and they didnt even blink, apologised profusely, and raised new docs for the remaining 6m without discussing any surcharges etc...

having now got the tax disc on the windscreen I am wondering what would have happened if I had had need of that insurance. and should I have had new docs dating from Feb ??

emjharts

Thanks so far for your answers. I think that we do not really have a choice and will have to take our car as 1. we need to get there with our important items that we cannot fly with and 2. we need to be able to travel around when we get there as we will be looking at houses to rent and 3. we would have to rent a car and by the time we have found a car to buy etc we could have spent lot on renting, plus, how do we know that the car we buy is from a trustworthy source not knowing anything about buying and selling cars in Spain?
The car is only a fiat panda 2005 but it is special to my husband and the fact that it does on average 70 miles to the gallon means it is very economical and cheap to run. he has driven in europe before and doesn't have a problem with driving on the 'wrong' side. I think it will be fine for us to register the car, it will be cheap as its considered the car with the least CO2 emissions (apparently registration tax in spain is based on that), its just passed an MOT in the UK so we have a year on that so i think in our case it may be better to take the car.

snikpoh

As said previously, ONLY if you are not resident here and can prove that you are going back to England on a regular basis.

Once you live here, the clock starts ticking and all bets are off!