BritBull

I guess they are better with car insurance

jdr

I found them very good on breakdown service, my wifes car was gruered from Marbella to Benalmadena cos she was on her own, they usually only take you to the nearest garage, then its a taxi home

paulandlyn

All these ex-pat policies in English are issued by Ibex at Lloyds. The roadside assistance is very good but has absolutely nothing to do with the Broker - you do not contact them but a control centre in Madrid (I think)

The best of the brokers on the Costa Del Sol is probably AbbeyGate. They give a price promise so you know they will always be the cheapest as well. The do Ibex and accept UK and Spanish plated cars

Try the at http://www.abbeygateinsure.com all the phone numbers and some more info is there.

jdr

You can not legally insure a UK plated car in Spain, they may take your money but they wont pay out.
If the car is in Spain for more than six months its illegal

paulandlyn

Two trains of thoughts on that at the moment - it is questionable under EC law that you do have to re-register the car now. Needs a test case first! However it is clear that you no longer need to change from a UK driving licence.

The easy way to make sure you remain 100% legal at the moment is to remove the car every 24 weeks or so. A little trip to Safeways (sorry - Morrisons) is all it takes and the next six months starts on arrival back in Spain that afternoon. A £5 pay and display fine for overstay gives you all the documentary evidence you need!

Ibex are quite aware that many of the UK plated cars they insure are not "legal" as such but will accept a Spanish ITV as proof of roadworthyness. A friend of mine who had his car insured by Gary Ford (now taken over by Knight) through Ibex has just been paid in full by them for a write-off and his UK plated car has been insured by them in Spain for the past five years - and no questions asked.

jdr

It is illegal to use a UK vehicle any more than 6 months of any year, the Guardia used to seal them up. I dont think a trip to Gib would do any good at all
If you live in Spain you must re-register to Spanish plates.
At the moment they are having a purge on un taxed UK plated cars near me cos they know they are in Spain illegally.
Spanish itv on UK vehicle is a waste of paper, it must be tested in country of origin, to be legal for 6 months only.
There have been threads on this every week for a long while.
The positive test is take a UK car to a dealer and try to sell it

Mitzyboy

He's absolutely right .... only way around it is to take the car off the road for six months every year, but how are you going to prove it to the nice Guardia that stops you one day, and would you want to risk it, bearing in mind the conseuqnces.

An insurance company might be happy to take your money & cover you for more than 6 months on a UK plate, but whats going to happen in reality if you kill someone in a road accident? Do you want to risk your house and everything you own for the sake of EUR 600 tops?

pwwm

As jdr has said, the Guardia are having a blitz on UK plated cars up and down the coast including around the Costa Tropical area, where quite a few vehicles have been stopped and some have been impounded.

pwwm

rogerb

I am with Linea Directa , about 350E for a Ford Focus, IIRC. They have been highly recommended and were slightly less expensive than Ibex via knights.

I am in the process of making a claim, having been t-boned this morning. The initial handling has been good, we'll see how it goes from here, as it may be a write-off.

Fortunately there were no injuries, but I'm glad I was alone in a RHD car, as the lh side is completely pushed-in

Beachcomber

There is no question that you have to re-register your vehicle if you want to keep it here and, although you do not need to change your licence, it is still an offence in Spain to use a licence with an incorrect address which is unavoidable because DVLA will not put a non-UK address on a UK driving licence. It must, therefore, be validated with your NIE number and Spanish address. See the bottom of page IX (eleven) of this document on the British Embassy web site:

http://media.ukinspain.com/documents...ving_spain.pdf

mikelincs

The need to re register is likely to disappear sometime in 2007, but no-one yet knows the date of implementation. If you are in a UK reg car, and the guardia stop you they will need to see your ferry ticket, listing the car, as proof that you haven't been here more than 6 months, they may also check to see if you are on the padron, if you are then the 6 months doesn't count as you are registered as living in Spain. If you don't have the requisite ferry ticket, then they are likely to impound the car and tell you to prove you haven't been here more than 6 months. No chance to go home and produce the ticket later, as with Spanish car paperwork you must always have it with you.

Beachcomber

Could you quote an official source for this information.

mikelincs

It was in an article written by Brian Deller who as written the two 'Motoring in Spain' books, and who writes for several English Language newspapers on the coast. He was quoting, as far as I know, government sources. Mind you it has supposed to have happened before, but he was replying to questions about re registration, and his own view was that, don't rely on the fact that it is supposed to happen in 2007, he's heard it before and so far it hasn't happened, but is supposed to. His own recommendation is to act as if it won't happen, driving illegally waiting for it to happen won't be a defence.

Beachcomber

My own sources state that this will NOT happen until there is some kind of Eurpopean Licensing Bureaux. No country is going to allow untraceable vehicles on its roads.

DVLA is unlikely to allow UK registered vehicles to be registered with a non-UK address (as per the driving licence question) and the Spanish registration system cannot accommodate UK style registration numbers in its database.

Back to square one, then.

Fred James

So how come the new Spanish licences do not have your address on them?