Hillybilly

A first ITV, for this purpose, does cost more - there is a price list up in the ITV stations. I guess it's a more thorough check, encompassing more elements?

Unexpat

1. Yes, RHD.

2. Yes, new headlights. You're quite right, you could save money DIY, but I'm short of time at the moment, since I suddenly have a lot of work on. The (first) re-test costs 30% of the original fee if I'm not mistaken - this may be region dependent, or I may have read it wrong.

3. Yes, la ficha tecnica (also referred to as a (masc.) fichero <something> which I can't immediately recall) is separate to the ITV and they will not undertake an ITV on a RHD or import vehicle without it. Actually, in my case they did, but only because they knew that the technical engineer (ingeniero tecnico) was going to write-up and give them the paperwork right after the test. The ITV centre gave me the names of 4 engineers to call. The day before the test I called the one that worked out of the ITV centre, so the test centre people knew him. He needed the V5 registration document to check the vehicle details and sight of the vehicle and chassis numbers etc. to confirm that the specifications of the vehicle were acceptable within Spanish law (no mods, etc. I suppose). These engineers are out and about, so you need to arrange an appointment, or take the vehicle and paperwork to their place of operation.

4. Can't comment, other than to say an ITV on a Spanish vehicle may cost less than a UK one, or again it's region dependent, or it maybe that costs have just gone up. My (Spanish) cousin didn't raise any eyebrows when I told him how much it had cost.

5. The paperwork had a blank space where the vehicle registration should be. I specifically queried this. They said it would be assigned by trafico, but I had to get it road taxed first in the ayuntamiento. The ayuntamiento had no problem with it and they knew exactly what they were doing (they had a separate form for a European vehicle undergoing this process). They confirmed the sequence of events. The road tax stamp does not carry the vehicle registration number in any case. I can only assume that "you can't tax an English plated car in Spain" if you do not have the ficha tecnica document, otherwise, you can by my experience.

6. Yes, as far as I am concerned the vehicle is still legal because it is covered by UK Road Tax, MOT and insurance (which is actually the limiting factor for me, since the UK insurance company said they would only cover me for 3 months without extra charges and I have 1 month left of that).

Edit. PS you could ask them to post-date the road tax to the day you actually go to trafico and maximise your road tax period. I did not because I could not be bothered to make a separate journey to pay the road tax (you get the paper with a payment counter-foil and payment is a separate process). Besides I intend to get the last few steps done soon.

bfg69bug

so, unexpat, any progress ? whats it all cost you so far ?

Unexpat

Haven't moved on. As I explained in a recent thread, I got stymied by hacienda and the requirement for a baja de residencia (from the UK via the British Consul in Alicante) and that was the straw the temporarily broke the camel's back.

So I re-insured the car until the MOT and tax runs out in September, through a UK insurance company and I will continue with the saga later (or drive the car into the hacienda's fachada, los muy hijo putas )

Actually my cunning plan is to see if the rules change in a few months and make it simpler for European Comunitarios - i.e. not having to jump through so many hoops - well I can hope, right?