15 Jun 2012 8:26 AM:

Thanks for that Gus.   All very useful info.  If I understand you correctly, you would always have minimum cover but they would come after you through the courts to recover what they have had to pay out.  

Thread: New laws and taxes on bringing uk car on uk plates.

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15 Jun 2012 1:49 AM:

The registration laws in Spain are exactly the same as in the UK or indeed any EU member state country.  i.e.  If you intend to keep a UK registered car in Spain then it must be re-registered with Spanish plates within six months.  Conversely, if you intend to keep a Spanish registered car in the UK then it must be re-registered with UK plates within six months.  

EU law states that all vehicles in the EU must be fully road legal in the country of registration.  In the case of a UK registered car then it must have a valid MOT from the UK and valid road tax from the UK.    

You can only keep your UK registered car in any EU member state country for up to 183 days in any 365   i.e. 6 months in any one year.  After that time the vehicle must be taken off the road or be returned to the country of registration for a further continuous six months.

If, after six months, your car is still being used on a daily basis on Spanish public roads then you are using the car illegally.  It is completely irrelavent whether it is still legal in the UK.   After 6 months of continuous use on public roads in any EU member state country other than the country of registration, then it is being used illegally.  Period.

At this point your insurance cover could be withdrawn by the underwriter  (n.b. not by the insurance company or by the agent who sold you the policy but by the underwriter  i.e. Lloyds of London)   This is because the underwriter will issue a policy on the assumption that you are supplying them with a road legal vehicle.   If you have not re-registered your car within six months with the national plates of the country you intend to keep the car in then your car (under EU law) is no longer 'road legal' and  your insurance cover could be withdrawn.   

Remember,  a certificate of road worthiness (MOT , ITV) is only valid when it is issued in the country of registration.  Knowingly using a vehicle on EU public roads without a valid certificate of road worthiness could result in insurance cover being withdrawn by the underwriter.

Chris     carimportinspain

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thread: New laws and taxes on bringing uk car on uk plates.

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11 Sep 2009 12:00 AM:

You can only keep a UK registered car in Spain for up to 182 days in any 365. Then it has to be taken off the road for a full continuous six month period or be re-registered with Spanish national plates. That's EU law.  Until it has been re-registered it must remain fully road legal in the country of registration.  That means that it must have a valid MOT from the UK and display a current UK tax disc.  In spite of what you may have heard, a Spanish ITV on a UK registered vehicle is not valid.

The easiest thing to do is re-register your car with Spanish plates, pay Spanish road tax, have a Spanish certificate of roadworthiness and buy Spanish insurance.  You can then drive knowing that you are 100% legal.  Muy facil no?

 

Thread: UK registered cars in Spain

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