Ummm, I wondered why the Spanish menfolk buy their ladies red knickers at the time of the new year. ;-))

Just took a pic of Jdrs Market Stall.....Second hand..... For sale .. Kept in good nick.......hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm:

I have spent some time discussing this with my Spanish Solicitor, and Insurance Companies. It is my understanding --
1. If you live in Spain and are Resident six months per year or more, you must have a Spanish registered vehicle, or you are breaking the Law.
2. If you have a Uk home and do not spend six months or more, and are not full Spanish resident, you may keep your English registered vechicle in Spain, and Spanish ITV, the important point here is you personally must not be in Spain for Six Months or more. This is on a yearly basis ( so you could stay from September to June or July the following year

Wrong, Spain has it`s own rules and after 3 months you must register at the police station and they give you a residencia certificate and an NIE number, you then have to change your vehicles to Spanish plates.
See free beer thread "residencia"

PS. sack your solicitor.

Read them but actually they don't help! My understanding, and I may be wrong, is similar to the advice given by Bengy's lawyer. Will be happy to be proved wrong as I drive here and spend just under 6 months every year in the same UK registered car.

PS Bengy suggest you clarify it with your solicitor before you sack him.

Jim

The link goes to the Spanish immigration office and they say if you are in Spain for more than 3 months you have to register with the police, click the Union flag it is in English too.
When you register you are given a residencia certificate cos the cards are no longer if you are an EU citizen.
If you are a Spanish resident which you then are, it is illegal to own a foreign vehicle and they have to be matriculated.

PS, does your UK insurance cover you for that long ?

Holy crap! This one AGAIN!

MOT, I am trying to be helpful here, anyone who has property, has to have an NIE No. And you may have a Residencia cert, without being a full Spanish resident, ( sack your solicitor Quotes are not very helpful when stated by unqualified persons) If you have a UK main home, pay your taxes in Uk, Pay your holiday home taxes to Valencia. You are a full UK Citizen with a UK Passport and a UK Car, one can leave it in Spain at your property, as previously stated. I think some replies are being driven by personal issues.

No you can't.

So you know more than the Spanish immigration office then regarding residencia in Spain. lol
Show your Lawyer the link and ask him to explain it to you.
There was a time when you could leave a car here but you had to have it sealed by customs and excise when you left Spain and then unsealed when you returned.

There are two types of resident temporary or permanent. My understanding is that if you are a 3 month resident then matriculation is not necessary until the 6 month point.

My insurance does cover me for that length of time.

I will of course be happy to be corrected if I am shown to be incorrect.

Jim

I aggree with that
Bengy

Bengy I dont think its personal issues, its that the question of cars comes up so often on here.

Many people think they can live here and pay their taxes in the UK
Many think they can still use the NHS when they are no longer UK residents
And more than anything, many people think they can bring a UK car over to Spain and just leave it here forever and a day legally ....... and they can't.

The fact that they do it doesnt make it legal, its just that they get away with it. There are all kinds of issues re MOT, road tax, insurance etc etc.

Point me to the bit about tempory resident on the Spanish immigration site.
You are allowed to stay in Spain for up to 3 months as a tourist then you become resident.

JDR, I am not sure you are 100% right on this point.

Yes, the law now requires you to sign on the foreigners register after 90 days in Spain but that does not necessarily make you a legal resident of Spain. Let's be quite clear here, you do not get issued with a "residencia certificate". You "apply for registration as an EU citizen on the central register of foreigners". This does not necessarily make you a "resident".

There are actually two different certificates. If you have lived in Spain for 5 years you can apply for a certificate of entitlement to permanent residence in Spain. The certificate looks identical but the wording is slightly different. If you hold one of these then you could reasonably be expected to be a true "resident" but by then you would have become tax resident anyway.

Under this law all those thousands of holiday home owners who regularly spend a few months in Spain in the winter are also obliged to sign on this register (not than any of them do so).

If they did, that clearly would not make them resident with regard to the laws applying to foreign cars in Spain as many of them quite legally drive down to Spain and return at the end of their holiday.

The only clearly defined form of Spanish residency is tax residency, which I am sure we all know is when you spend more than 183 days in Spain in one calendar year. It is also this type of residency that determines you rights to not pay NR taxes, CGT and IHT. The holding of a foreigners registration certificate is not considered to be relevant in these cases.

The rules about replating you car when you become resident are simple - when you become permanently resident you should replate it as soon as possible and at worst within 6 months - that is the EU wide rule laid down by the EU.

The problem is that residency status is not clearly defined (apart from tax residency and right to permanent residency) and the new 90 day requirement for a registration certificate has confused the situation even more.

On the very few (sadly) occasions where people have had their cars impounded it has been quite clear to the Guardia that they are long term residents from obvious "clues" like the kids go to the local school or they have been driving their old van around with builders materials in it for the last few years. In the simplest cases the lack of a UK tax disk is good enough proof.

Unfortunately is is still a "grey" area (even more than before the changes) so there will be many conflicting and often wrong interpretations of the way these new rules affect such things as car ownership etc.