After how long do you need to register a UK if you're using it in Spain and what are the approximate costs?
Also, if you then take the car back to the UK, are the costs as expensive to replate it back again or can you keep your old licence plater and just have it declared SORN?

This subject has been covered at considerable length many times on this forum and you will find all the answers you need.

Just try this link which is a search on the forum about registering foreign cars in Spain.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/searc...archid=2401297

If you cannot find the information you need please post very specific questions and we will all try and answer them - but I am pretty sure they have all been answered before.

Link above doesn;t work, but have done some searches on google...
How easy is the process? It's more the converting back to UK plates that I'm worried about.
After 3 months, we have to register as resident in Spain even though not tax resdient and at the same time, we must then replate the car and organise Spanish insurance as UK insurers won't cover it as soon as we are resident in Spain?
Also, can we use "tourist plates" instead?

Also, there seems to be confusion between the 3 and 6 month rule in some places:
Because headlights need to be changed, it sounds like more hassle - maybe it would be easier to sell the car in the UK and buy a new one out in Spain?
Then there's the added problem that we were going to use the car to transport our belongings when first moving to Spain - hmm.

Well the link works OK for me.

Use the search this forum box and enter "registering british car" (without the quotes)

Converting back to UK plates is very easy as they keep the records and you will even get your old number back. - Don't worry about that aspect of it.

Tourist plates are not an option. They only apply to non EU residents who buy a car in Spain with the intention of exporting it.

You are obliged to re-register your car within 6 months of becoming resident although if you wish to avoid the registration tax you must do it within 60 days of signing on the padron.

There are many views on the validity of insurance under these circumstances but it should be possible to get unlimited foreign cover while out of the UK (Saga do this). Just signing on to the register of foreigners does not necessarily mean that you are no longer UK resident or Spanish tax resident.

The easiest solution is to buy a car in Spain but of course that doesn't get round the carriage of you stuff from the UK.

The best solution is to bring the UK car down to Spain with all your stuff and then take it back to the UK as soon as possible and sell it. Then just buy a car in Spain - that's exactly what we did.

Or swop/sell with one of the expats who are returning to the UK.

So, if I plan on staying in SPain for 6 months but that is 3 months at the end of the year and then 3 months next year, I don't need to do any Spanish registering of the car?
I just need a UK insurer that will insure me for longer than 30 days in another EU country?

It's not quite that simple. If you are non resident then the rule that says a car can only stay in Spain for 6 months does indeed apply to the calendar year so it is, in theory possible to keep it in Spain for almost 12 months.

However, as a resident, you are not allowed to operate a foreign plated car but you are given up to 6 months to register it - that is 6 months from the time you became resident.

If you are only going to spend less than 6 months in Spain then you have no problem even if you do sign on the foreigner's register after 90 days.

Essentially you are on a six month holiday in Spain and so long as your UK insurance is happy with this, then you're OK. There are thousand of Brits who drive down every year for an extended stay and there is no requirement that they re-register their cars - that would be just ludicrous.

I've got to disagree with you on the above paragraph Fred, I think you'll find it's 6 months in any 12 month period that starts counting from the date the vehicle enters the Country.

Whilst we are on this subject. How about a resident of 5 yrs going back to UK, buying a car and then driving it to Spain. After all second hand cars are a damn site cheaper in uk than here. What length of time then applies to re-regiistering it? Would the six months still apply from the date it was brought to Spain?

They would have to do it immediately and get stuffed for the duty or whatever they like to call it as they have not owned it in the UK for 6 months.

No, I think you will find it is 6 months in any calendar year, just like tax residency.

If you check in David Searle's book on the law in Spain, he is quite clear about that point. Although he could be wrong I have yet to see anyone prove otherwise.

Yes, that's right.

Anyone can import a car from another EU country - many thousands do so every year. The reregistration process starts immediately (although it still can take some time) and is expensive and there are the usual tests and conformity issues.

When you move permanently to Spain and bring a car with you, you can avoid the tax if you start the process within 60 days. This is a special concession for tax free importation of your possessions. Until a few years ago cars were not included in your possessions but that changed and now they are, with the proviso that you have owned the car for 6 months in your old country of residence.

Take your point on that but they could have bought in the Uk more than six months previous to bringing here. What then?

As I said, the six months ownership rule ONLY applies when you import a car as part of your personal possessions at the time you become resident.

If you have been resident for 5 years this clearly does not apply and you can bring in any car you like whether or not you have previously owned it but you will have to pay all the normal taxes and costs of registration and the process must start immediately.

Loads of people who are resident buy used cars from dealers in Germany and bring them into Spain and (allegedly) still save money compared to buying in Spain.

I thought if the car was bought in the EU it didn't matter, ie bought in EU, no import tax to pay on it ever.