kevd

Does anyone know if it is possible to get a vw classic camper transported to the canary islands possibly fuerteventura.? If so roughly how much.Thanks

Casa Santo Estevo

Surly it would have to go inside a container. So maybe ask a local shipping agent. Or find someone who ships classic cars via an advert in one of the many classic car publications.
In the end it may be cheaper to purchase one out there, given all the costs of registration (more difficult if you are importing), importing costs (taxes if you have not owned it longer than 6 months) ITV, conversion of headlights etc etc.
If the car is old and you are importing it get a Historic matricular, or they will do an ITV as per a new car. We know this now as we imported an Austin Westminster got a new registration and now the car has failed because it cannot pass the emissions test. But no one told us of an historical plate when we was registering the car.

petew

Why not take it on the car ferry?

petew

Sorry I assumed, wrongly I think, that you were asking about shipping it from Spain. From the U.K you could drive to Cadiz and get a ferry to Tenerife, to link up with the inter island network of car ferries. It would be quite expensive but would make a nice holiday!

I don't know how much it would cost to ship from the U.K. If it's right hand drive I don't think you would be able to put it on Spanish plates.

kevd

Thanks for the info.
The van is left hand drive from california originally but now on uk plates.
We will have to weigh up the cost of getting there by ferry or shipping it and see which is the most viable.
As usual loads of red tape to sift through first though.
Thanks again

zel

At last someone with some taste in cars ... well vans

When I finally get to Spain my plan is to buy a Samba or Split screen and restore it as a hobby!

Anyway, back on track.

Registration could be a hassle being it's not an EU car, not that it was even alive when the mutual recognition scheme was introduced.

What's important though is I believe the easiest way of getting it registered (and happily then tax free) is make sure it's been in your name on UK plates for at least six months. As then it can be bought in as a 'personal import' and this bypasses a lot of the red tape.

If you do however have any problems message a moderator on here called "mitzyboy" as he imported a Japanese car which I would imagine has a similar process.

Nige

The ferry goes from Cadiz and details are on http://www.trasmediterranea.es

I had a LHD Japanese Suzuki on UK plates needing Spanish 'matriculation' and managed to do all the torrid paperwork etc using the services of Chiclana based guys who were so helpful. As Chiclana is near Cadiz maybe this could be a good starter ? Perhaps it could be easier doing the 'matriculation' once over on the island - I am not sure about this aspect. the vehicle would have to get what is called a 'ficha technica' which is basically the dimensions and all the other basic specification of the vehicle. This is written up by an engineer and is needed when you appear at the iTV (equiv MOT) test centre where the vehicle must meet the quite tough statndards set on that day. For example, I had one tyre that was different to the other 3 and was told that it would fail so I hurriedly took the 'odd' tyre off and replaced it with the matching spare on that had previously had a puncture.

zel

Seeing as Japan is RHD I imagine it was an EU supplied vehicle.

What I meant was if the vehicle was not sold to the EU to begin with (ie its first reg location) then things start getting messy.

It's fine if it's an non EU manufacturer as long as the vehicle was first supplied to an EU country so it would then come with the certificate of EU compliance.

But seeing as the vehicle in question pre-dates the regulations, the original poster would probably have to get in touch with Volkswagen for a certificate of compliance which will have all the information that is needed for the Ficha Technica. It'll probably save some time and hassle to get that document from VW UK before going.

It's also worth noting that if the vehicle is in any way not original than you might run into problems depending how knowledgeable (or caring) they are when its inspected.

I've never seen a US import van but I did used to import Beetles some 15+ years ago and some of them were water cooled which if your van is like that you may stumble apon problems as this was never available in Europe.

Nige

My Suzuki was made in Japan for the Middle East market so was LHD and was a 'grey import' into UK when it was first registered. It did not have any latest EU chassis number of course. In fact it did have a stamped chassis number on one wheel arch that could be used by iTV to take a transfer image to verify the number. I am told that if the vehicle licensing people in UK have provided a licence then Spain should accept it ! I did ask Suzuki UK for some help including getting what you call some 'compliance' cert or whatever, but this was useless. In the end the boys in Chiclana just got it 'matriculated'. Of course Spain is a country with lots of potential pitfalls and depends a lot on the region and the way each office accepts the situation. I do not know what the rules are like in the Canaries.

zel

Yeah it's the same in the UK mate, the rules change over night and no-one every tells me (trade) it's going to happen. So I get all the documents ready (sometimes at great expense) turn up at the dvla to be turned away again as they've changed the way again!

I've got a Certificate of Compliance II (there is type 1 or 2 which maybe you had the 'wrong' one) in front of me now for a Japanese car that we're trying to register tomorrow (the new Nissan GT-R) and it definitely shows everything, from basics like weight, dimensions etc, to really obscure things like the freq the immobilizer/central locking works on.

So it has def got most if not all of everything the Ficha Technica has, but I guess thinking skeptically if you're paying someone to provide a service then perhaps they won't make the same profit margins if you supply them with documents that will aid them? Who knows, like you say it's different not only from location to location in Spain, but person to person.

In terms of registering is as long as it has a UK plate, is not actually true according to the EU 'law' but generally if you have owned the vehicle for longer than six months in the country you've just come from (ie the UK) then it's not going to be a gigantic hassle. Stupid EU laws are here to try us all! and oh they do