Re: mot a car
 

Just something different for people bringing a car over here, DON'T BRING A MODIFIED ONE, if you have modified it from the manufacturers spec, then you will have to undo all the mods before it can be re registered. Found this out from a letter in a paper answered by a garage over here where someone had been quoted some €20,000 before his car could be rere-registeredhe'd taken it to several garages, and to an ITV centre, and they had all told him the same story, the mods would have to be undone. Not sure what he had had done.

Re: mot a car
 

Hi,
I help people change their english cars to Spanish. It is not a difficult process but will take some time & effort. It costs around 750 euros (max) plus headlights which must dip correctly. Modifications CAN be ok, depending, if in doubt go to your (friendly) ITV station and ask. A number of ladies here prefer a right hand drive car as they are nearer to the ditch and can judge the distance easier. Dave

Re: mot a car
 

I suppose it depends on the modification, but this guy had obviously had a load done for the cost to be that. Certainly something for people bringing English cars over here to be aware of and thinking about, problem is that you don't know what are OK and what not until you try, and at that time it could well be too late, so my advice really was, in general, not to bring them over, especially highly modified ones.

Re: mot a car
 

I once imported a Triumph Spitfire which had a small racing steering wheel. Luckily I had kept the old one and I had to put it back on to get it through the initial ITV and each time I took it subsequently.

Re: mot a car
 

Hi
I am taking over my grand jeep also, I also have a spanish car for the wife already, there are loads of companies in the local newspapers who will do the complete transfer inc plates for about 500 euros Including ITV, you have to change the head lamps to LHD and pay for these yourself, plus buy triangles and high vis jackets. Maybe cheeper in the UK before you go plenty on E-bay, just dont use at night in UK and leave for journey to continent by day and you'll be fine.

I really wanted to change to a LHD 4x4 in Spain but my car worth 10k here would cost 19k in euros.

Let somebody else take the work on its easier and won't cost much less than using a gestoria, the pocess takes about 10 days, you will be given temp papers, and recieve the new ones from the trafico either direct or to the company doing the change over. Finally make sure you have owned the car in the UK over six months, and the transfer must now be done within one month of entry. Keep your ferry or train ticket as proof. Notify your UK insurers that you are holidaying abroad for a month, when transfer complete try Linea Directa online or by phone english operators, and transfer no claims over, plus cancel UK insurance. You need a Spanish bank account and address.

Regards,

Paul

Re: mot a car
 

Dont forget your replacement bulb pack and pack of surgeons gloves, that are also a requirement.
I dont think a RHD Jeep would be worth 19,000€ here though. ;)

Re: mot a car
 

Certainly RHD cars are on sale for peanuts here, unless you get someone wanting one who is returning to the UK, I've seen relatively new ones, for only 1000€ but then again they have no tax, are still UK registered and presumably have no insurance, so not the bargain they appear to be. There are some garages offering to buy RHD cars, not sure what sort of deal you would get for them. Don't forget, RHD cars are at a disadvantage on the roads here, difficulty seeing to overtake, having to get out at all barrier car parks and toll booths unless you have a passenger, and, even more of a liability, you get into one tired or distracted, and drive off on the wrong side of the road, I've seen it done :scared:

Re: mot a car
 

Hey Mikelincs,

Good advice and you're indeed correct!

All vehicles sold to the EU legitimately (ie not thru grey import channels) come with EU type appoval. This means the vehicle meets the legal requirements to be driven in the EU.

These include such things as noise levels, emissions, nox level, co2 levels, front and side impact levels, steering, safety systems, alarm, immobilizer to name just a few.

The problem exists that a single change to any key factor to it's EU type approval means the approval is now useless as the levels and type approval numbers will be wrong.

This can be done with simple things like replacing it with a sports exhaust, getting rid of the cat, changing steering wheels, seats, alarm, bumpers.. anything really.

It's not just Spain, if a car was say bought in Spain and modified and bought back to the UK it wouldn't be able to gain registeration without putting it back to normal OR spending 3500+ pounds for individual tests.

This also has no bearing on wether it is a LHD or RHD vehicle, so make sure your LHD vehicle you purchase to take to Spain is also 100% original.

As someone was surprised about the sum of €20,000 this could be just 3-4 modifications depending on the vehicle.

Re: mot a car
 

[QUOTE=zel]Hey Mikelincs,

Good advice and you're indeed correct!
These include such things as noise levels, emissions, nox level, co2 levels, front and side impact levels, steering, safety systems, alarm, immobilizer to name just a few.

We are taking our RHD Honda crv......long story but we don't have much choice at the moment. As far as I'm aware the only mods we've had done is tinted windows. Would this be a problem?
Mary

Re: mot a car
 

[QUOTE=maryg]Hi, Yes we did a Toyota with tinted windows, ITV noticed and they were forced to remove the tinting (two mins work as it turned out) DXF

Re: mot a car
 

I always bow to your superior knowledge, but this part is not strictly correct .... As you know I imported from Japan. The car arrived in the UK and had a fog light fitted. That was all that was needed and the SVA approval test to allow it UK registration cost less than £200 iirc. So it is now legally accepted in the UK as EU spec and theoretically also in Spain (but time will tell). But the manufacturers would have you believe often that to change to EU/UK spec will cost you a small fortune whereas this is not the case so long as a model report exists for the car in question. Often all that is needed is a fog light and change of tyres, didn't even have to have the speedo changed to MPH!

Re: mot a car
 

Hi JDR seen a few advertised on a 2002 plate like mine fully loaded for more than that.

Re: mot a car
 

Sorry i was talking equiverlant LHD the cost of me selling my RHD here and buying LHD there

Re: mot a car
 

Firstly I was talking about vehicles that are EU sourced and sold, not grey imports, tho the regulations are similar, but not the same.

Secondly;

1> Your vehicle is pre '97 from what I remember so it has a basic 'does it have 4 wheels and an engine' SVA test
2> The SVA centre did something illegal by passing your vehicle with a KMH speedo (the odometre can still record in KMH tho)
3> Your vehicle does not come with an EU spec/approval, it's officialy classed as a grey import that has passed a very basic of basic SVA test to gain registration. So it has passed what the UK (not the EU) says it considers legal, this is NOT recongized throughout the EU.

The UK registration (and SVA) bears no meaning or relevance when registering a vehicle in another member state when registering the vehicle as an import (not a personal import)

The UK V5 is purely evidence that you've owned the vehicle for longer than six months, if you had not owned it for longer than six months in YOUR CASE only (or anyone else with a non EU import) would have to undergo an SVA type test in Spain (if there is indeed one available, some EU countries have stopped allowing non EU type approved vehicles period)

Your saving grace is you've owned it for six months so you are bringing it in under the personal import scheme, which has very relaxed rules/laws.

This in theory is the same for anyone who has owned an EU type approved vehicle that has owned it for six months, I assume the person who had to fork out 20,000 euros was bringing it in as an import (not a personal import, ie he/she hadn't owned it for six months)

Unless he has some crazy illegal modifications that anyone at an ITV would notice (like having it de-cat and have huge exhausts that have terrible emissions, changing the steering wheel for a non eu approvaed variety or without an airbag)

I believe your only issue will be if your vehicle does not pass a basic emissions test when it's ITV'd for its Spanish registration (as you have the headlamps situation sorted)

So to recap; unless you import a pre 97 vehicle from Japan then any modifications that go against the main factors of the car would need to be replace with original parts before an ESVA certificate would be issued, doesn't matter if a model report is available or not.

A model report is mearly a document which says for example the emissions and noise levels SHOULD be, so if the vehicle has a after market exhaust or has been de-cat then those figures would be wrong and thus could not legally pass an ESVA test as the figures wouldn't match up, this is not to say some don't fall thru the net.

It's basicly the same as if you take your car into an MOT and your vehicle does not pass the emissions test against their set figures. If it doesn't it fails until you sort it, but with an MOT there is a much large leway with the figures than an ESVA test has.

This is the LAW wether or not the SVA test centre obeys but it is another matter, but as all but 1 of the SVA test centres in the UK are government owned and run you'd hope they would.

Re: mot a car
 

Zel,
Are you scaremongering or what? Do you have any official capacity? From my experience (AROUND 100 CARS IMPORTED FOR CLIENTS), the normal guy in the normal ITV station, has a normal specification in front of him, and if it is reasonable, he is not out to make waves, he will pass any imported car. The normal person has nothing to worry about.
Dave XF