UK Plated Cars (again)
Nov 28th 2011, 2:23 pm
#1
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Thread Starter
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Location: near Colmenar, Prov de Malaga
Posts: 5,174
UK Plated Cars (again)
Don't know the provenance of this info, but just spotted it on a local forum. Please be advised that foreign residents in Spain who are caught driving UK plated vehicles in Spain are being given only 5 days to start the importation process. Following this, the vehicle may be impounded (incurring extra costs!).
Accurate quotes for importation can only be issued once a copy of the vehicle log book is produced.
Accurate quotes for importation can only be issued once a copy of the vehicle log book is produced.
Nov 28th 2011, 2:50 pm
#2
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Joined: Jan 2007
Location: Seville
Posts: 572
Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
Don't know the provenance of this info, but just spotted it on a local forum. Please be advised that foreign residents in Spain who are caught driving UK plated vehicles in Spain are being given only 5 days to start the importation process. Following this, the vehicle may be impounded (incurring extra costs!).
Accurate quotes for importation can only be issued once a copy of the vehicle log book is produced.
Accurate quotes for importation can only be issued once a copy of the vehicle log book is produced.
Last edited by rafikiphoto; Nov 28th 2011 at 2:54 pm.
Nov 28th 2011, 2:53 pm
#3
Lost in BE Cyberspace
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Nov 28th 2011, 2:56 pm
#4
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Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
(looks like my edit crossed with your post.
Last edited by rafikiphoto; Nov 28th 2011 at 2:58 pm.
Nov 28th 2011, 3:24 pm
#5
Joined: Jun 2006
Location: Granada Costa
Posts: 10,894
Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
Don't know the provenance of this info, but just spotted it on a local forum. Please be advised that foreign residents in Spain who are caught driving UK plated vehicles in Spain are being given only 5 days to start the importation process. Following this, the vehicle may be impounded (incurring extra costs!).
Accurate quotes for importation can only be issued once a copy of the vehicle log book is produced.
Accurate quotes for importation can only be issued once a copy of the vehicle log book is produced.
For a start there is no such thing as an "importation process". It's just a process of registering the car in Spain.
EU law gives you 6 months to re-register the car. If you want to avoid the registration tax then you have to do it almost as soon as you become resident - like 60 days.
It is possible that if you are "caught" outside the 6 month windows that the car will be impounded - it did happen to a friend a few years ago.
Judging by the extremely few reported cases of the Guardia taking any notice at all of the thousands of "illegal" cars on the roads it sounds like just another "Internet Story".
Nov 28th 2011, 3:47 pm
#6
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Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
Yes I agree. I was told by someone high up in the Guardia Civil that they just do not have the money and resources to do it. Once close to our home there was an abandoned GB plated removal van on a dual carriageway. It was there over 3 months despite many complaints, the local Police said the "procedures" were long and complicated.
Nov 28th 2011, 4:35 pm
#7
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Thread Starter
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Location: near Colmenar, Prov de Malaga
Posts: 5,174
Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
Fair enough. What do I know! We bought a LHD Spanish plated car and wouldn't have done any different. Just not for us. In the case of this story, I just thought it sounded like something more definite than it is!
UPDATE
Just found the provenance of the story. It's a company which re-plates cars. Surprise surprise.
Sorry all.
Thread closed. (no, I know it's not but effectively.......!)
UPDATE
Just found the provenance of the story. It's a company which re-plates cars. Surprise surprise.
Sorry all.
Thread closed. (no, I know it's not but effectively.......!)
Last edited by fionamw; Nov 28th 2011 at 5:23 pm. Reason: apols all.
Nov 28th 2011, 6:09 pm
#8
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Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Costa Blanca
Posts: 3,142
Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
I have always wondered........Is it only the Brits or do the Germans, Dutch etc drive round in illegal cars also?
Nov 28th 2011, 6:24 pm
#9
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Joined: Dec 2006
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Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
Yes they do, at least on the CDS. Plenty of German cars around and regularly parked in the same place. Knew a couple of Swedish ones too, and some Italians.
Nov 28th 2011, 7:20 pm
#10
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Location: Benalmadena Pueblo,Spain
Posts: 20,156
Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
Dutch guy near us got pulled and had to take his car back to where it was registered as it was too expensive for him to register here.
Nov 29th 2011, 6:06 am
#11
Retired and loving it!
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: Ontinyent - Valencia region (campo)
Posts: 5,156
Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
We also have one Brit who has changed their yellow, rear plate for a white one (home made) in the hope of fooling the authorities!!!
Nov 29th 2011, 6:22 am
#12
Ex Expat
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: West Midlands, ex Granada province
Posts: 2,140
Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
Car scams happens in UK too. On our summer visit two years ago, we saw a DVLA bloke outside looking at our RHD but Spanish plated car and tapping things into a hand-held computer.
When asked why, he wouldn't tell us initially, but waited for information to come back to him, then said 'that's fine, your car has been officially imported into Spain on (date). It's quite legal'.
Then he explained that there is a widespread scam amongst Europeans entering the UK. They bring old car plates from their country of origin, buy an old banger Brit car and then put on their Rumanian (or whaever) plates. Never register, tax, MOT or insure it. And sometimes get away with it for years.
So our RHD car with Spanish plates was suspect and he was checking the chassis number to see if anything came up. I'm very glad to say that bureaucracy both in UK and Spain had done their work for once and it came back as perfectly legal.
The DVLA man had actually come to our street to clamp an untaxed vehicle; he just noticed ours while he was doing this.
So....good result. Our car was officially 'cleared' and the untaxed car got clamped and a great big notice saying UNTAXED VEHICLE stuck on it for all to see!
When asked why, he wouldn't tell us initially, but waited for information to come back to him, then said 'that's fine, your car has been officially imported into Spain on (date). It's quite legal'.
Then he explained that there is a widespread scam amongst Europeans entering the UK. They bring old car plates from their country of origin, buy an old banger Brit car and then put on their Rumanian (or whaever) plates. Never register, tax, MOT or insure it. And sometimes get away with it for years.
So our RHD car with Spanish plates was suspect and he was checking the chassis number to see if anything came up. I'm very glad to say that bureaucracy both in UK and Spain had done their work for once and it came back as perfectly legal.
The DVLA man had actually come to our street to clamp an untaxed vehicle; he just noticed ours while he was doing this.
So....good result. Our car was officially 'cleared' and the untaxed car got clamped and a great big notice saying UNTAXED VEHICLE stuck on it for all to see!
Last edited by scampicat; Nov 29th 2011 at 6:32 am.
Nov 29th 2011, 9:46 am
#13
Banned
Joined: Feb 2011
Location: Mallorca
Posts: 19,367
Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
About 5 years ago, it was routine business here in Mallorca to confiscate cars with foreign plates (always in the winter, never during tourist season).
The rationale was that any car with foreign plates in the winter was highly suspect of being illegal - in other words, the owners were suspected of living in Spain and not changing to Spanish plates.
Most people I knew at that time had their cars confiscated at one point or another (including myself only 1 month after arriving in Mallorca with German plates on the car).
The process worked like this:
Guardia civil set up a checkpoints at busy roundabouts. They would stop all cars with foreign plates. Without further discussion, they would immediately put the car on a grua and haul it away, hand you a paper telling you to show up at the aduana on a certain date and time, carrying any papers which prove the legitimacy of the vehicle. Transport from that location was your problem. Usually the Taxis would line up in anticipation that people would need them.
After you prove the legitimacy of your car, you pay them €240 for the towing and you get your car back. If you are resident in Spain, and cannot prove how long the vehicle was on Spanish soil, you pay a huge fine. If you don't pay the fine, you don't get the car back.
Luckily, at the time they confiscated my car, I was not yet a resident, and had the papers from the ferry which brough the car over one month prior, so I got away with €240 for the towing. There was a big outrage about this many years ago.
Well, I read in a local paper a few of years back that they (mistakenly?) did this to a high-ranking EU minister who had driven a Belgian-plated car down from Brussels. Confiscated the car, and made him go through the process. The EU minister took the experience back to Brussels and started a political process to seriously reprimand the Balearic government and put a stop to it.
Subsequently, the practice has been ordered to stop, and I haven't heard of it happening again since.
Well, that's progress.
The rationale was that any car with foreign plates in the winter was highly suspect of being illegal - in other words, the owners were suspected of living in Spain and not changing to Spanish plates.
Most people I knew at that time had their cars confiscated at one point or another (including myself only 1 month after arriving in Mallorca with German plates on the car).
The process worked like this:
Guardia civil set up a checkpoints at busy roundabouts. They would stop all cars with foreign plates. Without further discussion, they would immediately put the car on a grua and haul it away, hand you a paper telling you to show up at the aduana on a certain date and time, carrying any papers which prove the legitimacy of the vehicle. Transport from that location was your problem. Usually the Taxis would line up in anticipation that people would need them.
After you prove the legitimacy of your car, you pay them €240 for the towing and you get your car back. If you are resident in Spain, and cannot prove how long the vehicle was on Spanish soil, you pay a huge fine. If you don't pay the fine, you don't get the car back.
Luckily, at the time they confiscated my car, I was not yet a resident, and had the papers from the ferry which brough the car over one month prior, so I got away with €240 for the towing. There was a big outrage about this many years ago.
Well, I read in a local paper a few of years back that they (mistakenly?) did this to a high-ranking EU minister who had driven a Belgian-plated car down from Brussels. Confiscated the car, and made him go through the process. The EU minister took the experience back to Brussels and started a political process to seriously reprimand the Balearic government and put a stop to it.
Subsequently, the practice has been ordered to stop, and I haven't heard of it happening again since.
Well, that's progress.
Last edited by amideislas; Nov 29th 2011 at 9:51 am.
Nov 29th 2011, 9:54 am
#14
Ex Expat
Joined: Oct 2006
Location: West Midlands, ex Granada province
Posts: 2,140
Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
About 5 years ago, it was routine business here in Mallorca to confiscate cars with foreign plates (always in the winter, never during tourist season).
The rationale was that any car with foreign plates in the winter was highly suspect of being illegal - in other words, the owners were suspected of living in Spain and not changing to Spanish plates.
Most people I knew at that time had their cars confiscated at one point or another (including myself only 1 month after arriving in Mallorca with German plates on the car).
The process worked like this:
Guardia civil set up a checkpoints at busy roundabouts. They would stop all cars with foreign plates. Without further discussion, they would immediately put the car on a grua and haul it away, hand you a paper telling you to show up at the aduana on a certain date and time, carrying any papers which prove the legitimacy of the vehicle. Transport from that location was your problem. Usually the Taxis would line up in anticipation that people would need them.
After you prove the legitimacy of your car, you pay them €240 for the towing and you get your car back. If you are resident in Spain, and cannot prove how long the vehicle was on Spanish soil, you pay a huge fine. If you don't pay the fine, you don't get the car back.
Luckily, at the time they confiscated my car, I was not yet a resident, and had the papers from the ferry which brough the car over one month prior, so I got away with €240 for the towing. There was a big outrage about this many years ago.
Well, I read in a local paper a few of years back that they (mistakenly?) did this to a high-ranking EU minister who had driven a Belgian-plated car down from Brussels. Confiscated the car, and made him go through the process. The EU minister took the experience back to Brussels and started a political process to seriously reprimand the Balearic government and put a stop to it.
Subsequently, the practice has been ordered to stop, and I haven't heard of it happening again since.
Well, that's progress.
The rationale was that any car with foreign plates in the winter was highly suspect of being illegal - in other words, the owners were suspected of living in Spain and not changing to Spanish plates.
Most people I knew at that time had their cars confiscated at one point or another (including myself only 1 month after arriving in Mallorca with German plates on the car).
The process worked like this:
Guardia civil set up a checkpoints at busy roundabouts. They would stop all cars with foreign plates. Without further discussion, they would immediately put the car on a grua and haul it away, hand you a paper telling you to show up at the aduana on a certain date and time, carrying any papers which prove the legitimacy of the vehicle. Transport from that location was your problem. Usually the Taxis would line up in anticipation that people would need them.
After you prove the legitimacy of your car, you pay them €240 for the towing and you get your car back. If you are resident in Spain, and cannot prove how long the vehicle was on Spanish soil, you pay a huge fine. If you don't pay the fine, you don't get the car back.
Luckily, at the time they confiscated my car, I was not yet a resident, and had the papers from the ferry which brough the car over one month prior, so I got away with €240 for the towing. There was a big outrage about this many years ago.
Well, I read in a local paper a few of years back that they (mistakenly?) did this to a high-ranking EU minister who had driven a Belgian-plated car down from Brussels. Confiscated the car, and made him go through the process. The EU minister took the experience back to Brussels and started a political process to seriously reprimand the Balearic government and put a stop to it.
Subsequently, the practice has been ordered to stop, and I haven't heard of it happening again since.
Well, that's progress.
Nov 29th 2011, 4:11 pm
#15
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Joined: Nov 2003
Location: Chiclana
Posts: 3,327
Re: UK Plated Cars (again)
Several near us one in particular whit e van taxed several years ago parks up in local venta next to Guardia car. Guardia get in to car and just ignore the Brit vehicle. Makes my blood boil.
