Permanently basing a UK car in Spain

Is anyone leaving a UK car at CdA or the airport permanently? Or can anyone direct us to the rules and regs for doing this? Looking at it long term is it just better to buy a vehicle in Spain?

We have the chance of having a fairly good saloon car with 12 months MOT and at a moderate cost (a family members vehicle) but want to weigh up the best options.

We know its possible to leave a car at the airports (for an annual fee- approx 300 euro's with some drop off/collection at the airport entrance doors incl) but dont have any idea of the long term requirements of insurances, MOT's etc and how they cross over from UK rules and Spanish rules.

Also, when driving over to CdA which of the ports and which ferry company is considered a better arrival point, Bilboa or Santander? What I have read so far suggests Santander or going to Valencia- but some of the fees are almost the price of a small car when you add toll prices!!  We have driven from Valencia to CdA before and know its just over 3 hours. .

Any advice would be appreciated.

I have found a little bit of general information on EOS regarding car insurance but it isnt clear if you have to insure the vehicle in Spain or can use a UK insurance in the first instance.

Hi there,

I have briefly looked at this and it depends on how long you will be in Spain before it becomes viable financially to leave a UK car over there. Car hire is relatively cheap in Spain and in my case I visit about 6 times a year which costs me round £1000 for a car including insurance, tax and maintenance.

You can run a UK registered car in Spain for 6 months without any problem along as it is MOT'd and insured in the UK. Beyond that it should be registered as a Spanish car which requires the equivalent MOT and DVLA process and costs about 1000 euros to do it. There are plenty of companies who will do this for you and some banks are quite helpful with the paperwork. Once registered in Spain it requires insurance - typically up to 500 euros per year and the MOT whih costs around 100 euros. So you can see, registering a UK car is only worth while if you ae going to be out there much more than 6 weeks or even permanantly.

Buying a car in Spain is expensive. Even old ex rental small hatcbacks that have been hammered still fetch 4000 euros or more, but it maybe worth seing if a UK dealer can supply a left hand drive car if you were thinking of buying new as cars are cheap here in comparison.

I am waiting to see what impact Corvera airport has on things as a taxi ride from there will be a lot cheaper that one from Murcia or Alicante airport due to much shorter distance. If this does work out, I may then consider the one off investment to base a car at CDA for when I arrive.

If you drive around Camposol, you will see alot of old ex UK cars driving around and still unregistered. That may work if you are only travelling around the campus, but surely the point of having a car is to travel a bit and I would not fancy being pulled on the motorway by the Guarda Civil in an illegal UK car!!

Hope this helps. Jon Faulkner

Thanks for all that info John.

We are probably looking at spending about 8 weeks max a year in Spain and then family members would add to that a bit but I'd expect under 16 weeks a year all told from us all in the forseeable future. This is what we were wondering about as we are trying a balance car hire against taking or buying our own vehicle. We have a very good low offer to buy a family member's car which would cost far more in any other private sale and more again froma garage . However the cost of registering it etc and getting it there has to be weighed up and we would want to do it properly, especially if offering it to other family to use.

We felt we are seeing increased costs for car hire rather than finding it relatively cheap  so this has prompted us to look at this option. But we are likely to continuing to hire if purchasing a vehicle and all the other costs mount up alot too- it may be a wait and see decision. As you say Corvera could change a few things. We remember our Polaris rep telling us that there would be shuttle buses from Corvera to the various resorts- wonder if that will happen?

Hi  there

We are in cda @ 12 weeks per year and after waying up all the options and working out what car hire was costing us per year, we bit the bullet and brought our car over to keep out in spain permenantly. Having had the car out here since July,it has so far worked out ok and a lot less hassle as we dont need to cart over kids seats on every flight etc

The costs are @350 euros per year for parking at Alicante with a meet and greet service

Insurance for my group 18 car was a very reasonable 450 euros a year including english speaking breakdown cover

I am currently just about to reregister the car at @ 800 euros all in its maximum of one year on emglish plates, mot tax insurance then you need to reregister

For me the decision was made as i was looking to change cars and the amount of time we spend out here made it financially viable. From a negative view point this is another hassle having to look after the car out in spain with the language barrier etc (really must learn some spanish!!!)

With regards getting it over i went from portsmouth to Bilbao, but wouldnt recommend that crossing as the ferry is very old. i understand the Santander ferry is newer, the drive from each is about the same @ 500 miles at 6-7 hours

hope this helps let me know if you need any more details

Regards

Neil

Loughton Essex and Jardin 4

Many thanks- jury is still out but we are weighing everything up.