Chicken soup

Hello. I have an old English registered car which I would like to take and use exclusively in Spain until the end of its life. Has anybody here registered a English car in Spain? What is the procedure and how much does it cost?

Dxf

Hi

Firstly welcome to the forum.

There is a procedure to follow; apart from changing the front and rear lights to LHD standards, the cost is around 600€ from memory.

Is the "Old English car" a vintage car or simply a much loved car? The procedure changes somewhat.

If you make three posts then you can use pm´s (private messages) and I can send you a copy of what needs to be done (there is a copy in the "Free Beer" thread I think

Davexf

Chicken soup

Thank you very much for your reply. The car is just much loved and not a classic. I am not resident in Spain but just come for long holidays. Thanks for your help.

Chicken soup

I looked in the free beer section but could not find what you were referring to, any chance of a pointer?

Fred James

It's not in the free beer section, it's in the Wiki.

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Spain_...ng_information

Michael M

Before you bring the car to Spain, get a garage to look at the UK vehicle registration book to ensure all the info required for a Spanish "MOT" is on it. My wife drove her P reg Rover down to CE three years ago with the idea of legalising it as a runaround when we made our regular visits. It was still in mint condition with only 40,000 miles on the clock. We encountered a problem which could not be resolved. When we went to a garage to have it matriculated we discovered that a vital piece of information was missing. The solution was to acquire, as an alternative, a European Certificate of Conformity for the car. This potentially would cost at least £100. Because Rover had gone into administration a few years ago we could not obtain one. Without this it was not possible to have the car tested and thus have it made legal to drive in Spain. We thus had the choice of returning the car to the UK, using it illegally in Spain/Portugal or scrapping it. As it happened a local property management company offered to take it off of our hands. They continued to use it around Costa Esuri, but we noticed last year that it was no longer to be seen.

Domino

yes, did one car 2 years ago and another a couple of months ago.

cost for the last one - about €2000.
but if you consider the theoretical value increase out here compared with the UK, you will probably break even.

the main things to look out for are
a) Lights, usually you will be required to change to proper LHD lights rather than any fudges
b) tyres - be very careful about the tyre specn for the original car - not what you actually have on the wheels now. Watch especially the tyre speed rating.

Loads of people will tell you they have got through without any problems, it was a cakewalk, it was a doddle, etc etc.
Just take the attittude that you will get pulled up.!!

The ITV checks are the same as if it is a brand new never registered car in Spain (which essentially it is). It must comply with the original specn of that make/model. If it has any go faster mods, etc, then they will have to be removed for the test.

Dependent on where you are as to whether you may have a local garage that has done one or two before. They are not as common as some claim.

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Jon-Bxl

Hi Domino

I didn't realise cars were that much more expensive in Spain, especially RHD ones..which I assume is the OP's car in question here.

With the crisis, I would have guessed 2nd hand cars were cheaper in Spain ... and even pre-crisis a UK transfer would not have been worth more.....

Just curious...

Also anyone know if there is any price-advantage to bringing a LHD car from another EU country eg France, Belgium??

Thanks

Jon

Domino

It would appear that second hand prices are higher in Spain compared with the UK. I have looked at a couple and checked online to find that to be the case.

I know a German guy who is married to a senorita and he changes his cars regularly - buying in Germany and selling here. But never discussed the cost differences with him - he is currently on a contract in Russia so that will have to wait for a while.

At the end of the day it has to be up to the individual. I decided that with my car being valued at £2,500 that I might as well pay the €2,000 to keep a decent low mileage quality car that I know than to buy here and find I have a problem car with hidden fines etc.

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sunstroke

U can only legally keep it there for 6 months then u will need to get it matriculated - or take it back to uk for not