jackytoo

Changes published today. Includes raising the speed limit to 130. Last para mentions foreign cars.

http://www.diariosur.es/v/20140321/m...-20140321.html

cricketman

Yes, apparently (despite what people said on here), it was never illegal to be registered in Spain with a foreign plated car, it was only illegal not to have paid the registration tax.

But from now on, if you are resident in Spain, you will not be allowed to have a foreign plated car

andyrich666

Is that against any EU rules ?

I think if there was not such a ridiculous tax many people would have changed over.

Neptuno

Good-about time!
As for the "ridiculous tax" we all have to pay it, why should some think they can ignore the and get away with it, as they have done for years.

Chiclanagir

It will be interesting to see if the Police now stop the Brit registered vehicles which are still being driven around.

Fred James

It isn't necessarily a ridiculous tax. I have just matriculated a new 140HP petrol car and the tax was zero.

andyrich666

Its a unfair tax maybe I need to look into it more, different cars is different prices, my situation is this change car at say £2k week after everything goes tits up and you have to go back to UK, they going to give you the 2k back ?

or worse the car / engine dies after you done it, what a waste of money. Like I say some people its 4% some 12% some 16% some 0% some based on emissions.

I have a cheapie here too which I would happily matriculate cos its worth doing, its just been lowered a little so I am not sure If I would have to have that sorted first.

It would be cheaper for me to do 3 months here, back to UK for 3 and then back again, toying with it

Sorry I love you chiclanagirl, but while I am at it

What about the Dutch and Lithunanian, Scandinavian's or just a purge on Brits, sorry but............where I am there is loads of Brit motors, streets full of them in fact but my neighbour they were here when we looked at this house last year, they already had a accident and they were not insured they was allowed to drive home with the car smashed up, there cars have been here for 18 months at least, but cos they are Lithuanian and LHD with nice white Spanish looking plates, they are excluded ?

EMR

Across the border UK reg vehicles are targetted because of the high % of illegal vehicles.
The belief is that other nationalities break the laws less than Brits. ?????
The other factor is that many of the UK vehicles are shall we say getting on a bit whereas the Germans. Dutch etc drive newer more expensive vehicles.
In PT cars can be confiscated at the roadside so I think Spain has some way to go yet.

cricketman

Yes that's true! I remember that from when I lived on the CDS

It used to make me think the British must really only just be scraping a living. While the Germans, Dutch etc had the brand new Beamers and Mercedes

Chiclanagir

I would love to be able to do that but not possible I am afraid. I am against the UK plated cars because so many of them are not insured.

HBG

I've always been surprised by the amount of Schadenfreude on this forum towards British expats who have the temerity to have brought their cars to Spain and sometimes keep them here for longer than they should, and who are then targeted by the police. The targeting doesn't happen very often because the police are usually too busy dealing with the horrendous crime load caused by foreign criminals robbing people and large scale drug dealing, and people trafficking etc etc.

The police will only bother to actually seize a British car when their is no other way, and also because their 'British' car pound is full-up, the cars with yellow number plates are piled four storeys high. The expats don't bother to collect them because they have to make them legal first and it often costs more than the car itself if it's an old banger.

However, it is easy and cheap to matriculate a decent British car, umpteen specialists advertising in the Costa Blanca News will do it for you.

andyrich666

Really I cant believe that, honestly and when I got pulled by the Guardia twice in one night the second time sadly for me they took the VIN cos I wound them up, but they called it through and they knew it was insured, I had no papers on me but they knew so they can tell, so although there are some that may not be if they had a purge and nicked the uninsured and untaxed (maybe) and unroadworthy I would be ok with that. ]

The same Guardia have also waved me on at a check point, he remembered me.

I really dont think there is that many like that, most of the people I see have late cars and seem responsible people.

You can check a UK Plated car online, maybe they do to check if its insured or not, if you strongly believe they are not insured put it through and report them, its a shame that some spoil it for others.

The Guardia are more sneaky than the UK Police with regards to hiding in bushes etc, anyone who thinks they can just take the backroads and avoid the checkpoints on roundabouts will one day fall foul of that.

andyrich666

I agree with this, I bought a 52 plate Saxo VTR for £250, needed a MOT nothing major, it cost me about £150 to get it through a test, if I lost it tomorrow I would not be too annoyed but its simply to just drive to Lidl . Consum local pubs, unlikely it will go out the Arches TBH, this one I will consider matriculating but like you say for the £400 it owes me + cost of getting it here, the same car is prolly £2 - £2.5k to buy here absolutley ridiculous, so if it gets pulled id just buy another cheapie on eBay fix it up and drive it down, I am still going to be £'s in

The local police could not give 2 hoots about it, the only think I ever think ion my paranoid mind is that maybe they get a commision for reporting UK Plated motors they see every day, but I don't think so, I kind of asked them this they did not care, just the GC worry me.

Thats the advantage of the UK you can just go one eBay buy a car pick it up and drive it, none of this traffico crap.

HBG

It's interesting to compare British with German expats because both are here in great numbers. Their cars are of some help, definitely not because of their quality but because of the far easier colour of the number plates.

It's more difficult to tell them apart away from their cars, in fact it's impossible. But you can tell which part of their respective country they come from.

In the UK our scruffy, poorer lot come from up north (where I come from), in Germany their sruffier, poorer lot come from the east, the former Communist part.

Perhaps a Lada can be compared to an Escort, I don't think either would be worth putting on Spanish plates.

andyrich666

The only old bangers I see here is Spanish ones, esp the little citroen vans with windows all round

there a guy for instance who has a Bentley with number plate F1 Bob, I yet to see any UK Plated bangers