MatthewT

I am in the UK and will move to Spain in December.
I have bought a Gibraltar registered car in the UK to drive down to Spain. I am having a problem finding a company to insure it for the journey to Spain whilst it is still Gib registered.
No Spanish insurer that I have talked to will insure it unless it on temporary "Green Plates" or is in Spain already. Not possible as the car is in the UK.
No UK insurer that I have spoken to will insure it unless it is UK registered or going to be UK registered, and only for journeys to the relevant testing stations etc to achieve UK registration, not for general use. Not possible as it it prohibitively expensive and time consuming.
No Gibraltar insurer that I have spoken to will insure it unless I have a registered address in Gibraltar. Not possible as I don't.
Ideally, I need a Spanish insurer that will insure it temporarily on the Chassis Number or Gib plates, pending Spanish registration. I will then take out normal insurance for the year with them.
I have engaged a Gestor in Spain to register the car upon my arrival on the 18/19th of December.
I would really appreciate any advice or suggestions of insurance companies that have an understanding of this requirement. Most 'normal' insurance companies can't accommodate such things, so I need a specialist.
Any advice or help would be graciously and gratefully received
Many Thanks.

EuroTrash

A Spanish insurer offering an insurance quote on a Gib registered vehicle currently being kept and potentially driven in the UK by a UK resident (who is presumably not the car's registered owner?). Good luck with that.
I suspect a trailer or car transporter will turn out to be the best / only legal way to get it to Spain but it will be interesting to see what you uncover, keep us posted!.

Fredbargate

To own a Gib registered car registered in your own name you have to be resident in Gibraltar.

You could try https://www.ibexinsure.com/ but I doubt they can help and in that case I believe nobody can

Where in th UK are you?

Fredbargate

Also please note all my attempts to import a Gib registered car into Spain have failed

MatthewT

I'm in Bristol.

MatthewT

Are you saying that even if the car is in Spain, registering as Spanish vehicle may be a challenge?

Fredbargate

To drive a Gib registered car in Spain you have to be resident in Gibraltar
No one else can drive it under Spanish law

Fredbargate

Sorry my earlier posts should have been more explicit

If you had been near myself at present in Sutton I would have suggested a chat and beer

EuroTrash

As a last resort I suppose you could register it in the UK (DVLA is not too fussy about papertrails from what you hear), then you could insure it with a UK insurer, and then there would be a straightforward route to to reregister in Spain once the car is officially in your name on the logbook and being brought into Spain by you from your own country of residence.
With Brexit that may involve import taxes, but if you're importing a car purchased in the UK into the EU would these not apply in any case, even if it isn't UK registered? Complicated.

Bomber Harris

It's not a case of they "can't accommodate such things", it's a case of them not being willing to insure you to drive a car illegally in the UK.
It's the same throughout the EU as well as the UK. It is illegal for a resident of country 'A' to drive a car in country 'A' that is registered in country 'B'. There are a couple of exemptions (one being going through the process of re-registration to country 'A') but what you want to do isn't one of those exemptions.

Loco

Have you been able to register the change of ownership in Gib into your name ?

If so you have no problem but I guess you haven't ?

Regards
Loco

MatthewT

Hi Loco, no I haven't been able to register it in my name in Gib as I don't have a Gib address. The current registered owner is no longer a Gib resident.

Bomber Harris

The vehicle being registered in his name makes no difference to it being illegal for him to drive it in the UK.

Listen Very Carefully

So if I read this correctly you have bought a GIB registered car from a private individual who has moved back to the UK.There are several issues here and I am afraid that you have fallen foul of all of them.Firstly a UK resident cannot own/sell or drive a foreign registered car except for as long as it takes to re register it.You must insure it on the VIN and the insurance company will only insure it for such purposes as getting an MOT or getting repairs done for it to pass the MOT You personally will be unable to re register in the UK because the GIB registration document is not in your name and neither will you be able to register it Spain for the same reason.What should have happened is that once the original owner arrived in the UK he should have re registered it in his name in the UK and once that is done he could lawfully drive it sell it etc.This means that when you bought it you could then just do a change of ownership on the V5 and when you got to Spain you could then re register it no problem. My own personal advice would be to go back to the seller get them to either refund you or to reregister it in their name and then "sell" it to you so you have all the paperwork sorted. A charitable interpretation is that the seller did not know what they were doing but having been an expat for a number of years and seen all the "wizard wheezes" I would be uncharitable....I suppose a lot is going to depend on the sellers willingness to help you out of the hole

Fredbargate

I have legally driven a Gib registered vehicle in the UK