shaneskkk

Hi. I am bringing my car over to spain in November. It is taxed/mot'd in UK. I have a house in Spain but I live and work in the UK. I come to Spain for 4 days once a month to my Spanish house so essentially i am in Spain for approx 48 days per year. The car will be parked at Alicante airport for me to use and return to the airport when flying from/to the UK. My 2 QUESTIONS are:
1. Do i legally have to have it changed over to Spanish papers/registration due to my length of 48 days in Spain??
2. Who do I get in touch with to register it over to stay Spain??
Thanks Kev

Bri and Katee

1. YES. Irrespective of your length of stay, the vehicle is in the country for longer than the requisite period of time.
2.To replate it there are a couple to choose from should you not want to do it yourself. Replatematecostablanca is one, but is in south Costa Blanca, fine if you are in the Torrevieja area, but if you are north like Benidorm its a long way to go, he uses the Redovan ITV station.

shaneskkk

Thankyou Bri and Katie. I thought I was allowed 6 months in spain in any calendar year before registering is needed?
I have now found out that there mayb e such a thing as a voluntary ITV ?

Longlegpete

It's not the stay of the car but the individual, its been covered on other threads but the information you need is here,
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/vehicles/registration/taxes/index_en.htm

You will notice reference is made to you and not the car, it of course must be road legal in its country of registration

snikpoh

I have to disagree with you.

If he is only in Spain for a maximum of 48 days per calendar year, then it will NOT need replating (matriculating).

However, there are some issues;

1. You will need to get it MOT'd in UK every year
2. You will need to get it taxed in UK as this is where it is registered
3. It will need to be insured in UK as that is where you are living

So, every year you will have to drive it back to UK!

You will also have to make sure that any insurance allows for the car to be kept out of UK for such a long period. This may be the stumbling point. When you tell them that is is permanently kept in Spain, they may not want to insure it.


By far the best solution is to get it matriculated in Spain or to buy a Spanish car for your use here.

Longlegpete

I agree with most of what you say with the exception of insurance, it is relatively easily to get insurance in Spain for a UK car for use throughout EU countries for any length of time for the duration of the policy, ours is with Liberty Seguros

shaneskkk

Thanks everyone-yes i think it is just easiest (and cheapest in the long run) to get it registered in spain (matriculated!?)
Can Anyone please email me an address or company who does this sort of thing (registering in spain) please???

Casa Santo Estevo

You are correct however have you read what the policy covers when you keep the car outside of the British Isles for so long? A lot of policies do lower the cover to the very basic required of the country you make a claim in. Nothing like the cover you have at home.

Fred James

You are quite correct. It is the owner not the car that has restrictions on use.

The usual problem is the need for a UK Mot and UK tax. That said, the easier option (but expensive) is to re-plate it in Spain.

Incidentally, there are a few UK insurance companies that do not have restrictions on foreign cover.

mikelincs

There are many thousands of British cars without tax or MOT in Spain, and for years they have gone unchecked, but the Spanish police do now have the ability to access the DVLA database to check onMOT and Tax, which is catching people out, as it should, and remember the Spanish poice are not as lenient if your car isn't legal, they just impound it.

Fred James

You are quite right. Here, the local police recently held a meeting where all the rules about foreign cars were discussed.

This has resulted in action being taken against offenders. A friend told me the story about his son, who has an expensive holiday home here and where he keeps a couple of UK registered cars. He was recently stopped by the local police who showed him their hand held computer which showed, from a UK website, that his car was not taxed or MOTd in the UK.

They impounded the car immediately. He then asked what he should do, they said he would have to transport the car back to the UK on a trailer to get it MOTd and taxed. Needless to say, he is now registering it in Spain.

Longlegpete

The cover is the almost the same regardless of where you are so no sacrifice of cover, the policy is in English which for me is a help, the only difference is a replacement car is not available if your vehicle is none Spanish reg

Indeed Fred but the one's I found were expensive to say the least, I managed to find 2 company's that offered effectively the same cover as with our Spanish policy, the cheapest quote was £652 plus extra for breakdown cover, our Spanish policy was €362 which came with a years EU breakdown cover, Incidentally Saga offer insurance that gives 365 days cover at a reasonable cost throughout Europe but one of there provisos is you need to stay in the same country as the car, no good to leave at the airport then!

Jolly good to see as well, the more they impounded the better

Mitzyboy

For 48 days a year, think you might want to weigh up the very cheap rentals that you can get in some places now against one off matriculation and then ongoing ITV, storage, Insurance & Spanish road tax?

Currently on DoyouSpain.com, starting just on a Ford Ka for a months rental it's €45 for the whole of November and a VW Golf is €95

https://www.doyouspain.com/formulari...dioma=EN&id2=P

shaneskkk

Hi Mitzy boy..thanks for that however prices are not that in summer PLUS they then get you on Fuel surcharges, rip off FULLY FULL FULLY comp!! and also I would have to pay tax/insurance/MOT in uk so its only the 300 euros per annum storage at Alicante (under shelter) and the changeover that I see as the extra-!
Do you or anyoner know WHO/HOW I contact about getting the the car to be re-registered????????

Fred James

I spotted this company some time ago. I can't give you a personal recommendation, but it might be worth a try.

http://www.replatematecostablanca.com/