using a UK registered Car in Spain

Hi

Can I use my UK registered car indefinitely in spain if I keep the UK MOT and Tax upto date?

What insurance cover will I need?

Will I need spanish cover or will UK insurers cover me even though I will be spending most of my time in spain and returning to the UK say every 2 months for a week or so?

What breakdown cover is recommended?

Thanks

Paul

You can drive round spain for 180days on a uk reg car fully insured car. tell your insurance company what your are doing they might not insure you or they will charge you more, LV insurane did not have a problem with that, but others do..

 HI Paul, 

My car insurance company in the UK would only cover me in Spain for 3 months (90 days) but I'm sure it's more with other companies such as direct line. Thats why we switched ours to Spanish plates and insurance but I was reluctant. 

The rules I researched said that a UK car whilst being in Spain needs to have all bits up to date, and if you are spending more than 6 months here at any time then the plates need to be changed. However if you are driving back and forth I don't feel it will be a problem to keep it the way it is.

With breakdown, my old car was insured with direct line in the UK and it included breakdown throughout europe. I'm insured now here in Spain with Linea Directa again and it's the same thing, with Home start too..

:) Sara

I see it has been arranged with Alhama council to have police presence onsite once a week to check car documents?

Is this essential with most owners in hire cars?

They do their checks at roundabouts where no one can escape so why be on site hassling us? I have all my documents in order but wonder who exactly they are after.

One plus with living in Spain is avoiding british police targeting motorists for easy revenue.

By EU law any vehicle must be registered in the counrty in which it spends the majority of it's time, effectively this means that any vehicle that spends more than 6 months in Spain should be reregistered on Spanish plates.  So even if you keep UK tax, MOT and insurance up to date you are breaking the law if you have a do not change to Spanish plates.   In practice many people do not reregister and rely on the fact that the local Police will not know how long the vehicle has been in Spain, there are plenty of "dodges" around the system but this not make them legal.  

Even if you take the vehicle back to the UK once a year for it's MOT and keep the tax upto date, or if you are returning for a week every two months, if the vehicle spends the majority of it's time here you are still technically breaking the law.

For insurance most UK policies will provide you with the legal minimum cover for driving anywhere in the UK,  the 90, 180 days metioned below are the periods for which you will get FULL cover i.e comprehensive but normally you will get third party cover for the entire year.  Of course if you tell the insurance company that the vehicle is kept in Spain full time they may not insure you.

The local police will be carrying out checks at condado to ensure that all vehicles are legal, basically this is becase there are a large number of cars & quad bikes driving around on non Spanish plates which are almost certainly uninsured.  There are UK and French cars and quads here that do not have valid tax or the relivant "MOT" from their country of origin, if you were involved in an accident with one of these vehicles I'm sure you would be very unhappy to find they were uninsured. 

So why must they come on site instead of checking everyone at a roundabout?

Police come on to la torre alot, i think  they think people who own  or holiday on golf courses have lots of money, they have fined 4 lots of people in the last week 200 euro each for parking in the disabled bays

ptan's posting is not quite correct:- It is not the amount of time the car spends in Spain, it is the ampount of time it is used on Spanish roads that counts:

"UK registered vehicles being driven in Spain must comply with all UK requirements for Road Tax, M.O.T. and third party insurance covering the full time period the vehicle is used in Spain, up to the six month limit"

Source:-British Embassy, Madrid, web-site

ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-spain/cars

Ian 

This message was last edited by ian_golfer on 18/08/2011.

There is an old bus type vehicle parked on outer road behind Jardin 1 car park. This cannot be driven so will not get caught at any roundabout, it is also out of Tax (UK) and probably not insured. If I owned this I would shift it quickly to avoid fine.

Hi Ian, I don't think I am no.  If the vehicle is IN spain for more than 6 months on the year is will need to be reregistered.  Some people are mis interpeting and think that it means 6 months use or that the timer only counts if you are also in the county.  it does not.    "up to the six month limit" means from the date of entry of the vehicle into Spain.   You may get away with it if you are taking your car back to the UK to have it MOT'ed, as I'm sure you are, but if stopped they may find your self in problems if they decide to check up on the entry date of the vehicle.  Of course if you are resident in Spain then all this changes, so be careful about pardon, residentcia etc

ptan, so you disagree with the British Embassy in Madrid!

Odd, but I guess we are all entitled to our views!!!

Ian

 Ian,

I'm am not disagreeing with the embassy, just your interpretation.  Also which part of my original post do you think is wrong or in disagreement with the statement?   Just look around there are many caes of the police fining people for not reregistering, all they go on is the date of entry of the vehicle. They keep checks and if they see the same car time and time again over a period of longer than six months they will probably stop you.  If you want to try arguing with them and try to show that you have been in and out the country and have spend less than 6 months in Spain that's up to you.

The embassy wrote ;-

Importing your UK registered vehicle from the UK to Spain

If you spend longer than six months of the year in Spain with your UK registered car, Spanish law says you must register your vehicle with the Spanish authorities. For information on how to do this (including how to change your licence plate) consult with the Dirección General de Trafico . The RACE (Real Automóvil Club de España) also provides useful guidance about all aspects of importing your vehicle.

Please note that it is unlikely that you will be able to register right hand drive vehicles such as vans and commercial vehicles.

UK registered vehicles being driven in Spain must comply with all UK requirements for Road Tax, M.O.T. and third party insurance covering the full time period the vehicle is used in Spain, up to the six month limit.

This statement, by the embassy, is a simplication of the EU laws on driving a vehicle other than the one of origin.

Having just spent quite a bit of time registering a UK car to Spanish plates, I completely agree with ptan

Ian, the key is "up to the six month limit" .....once you are in, the clock starts...how they can determine that is open for interpretation but believing it is each time you enter is a bit disingenuous......but the police need to just go round the resort and note all non Spanish reg plates on a weekly basis.....on the 27th week they just take  your car and crush it...simples...not promoting this by the way, but depends on purpose of checks they are doing and how keen they are to uphold the law...

Also how many people are really going to drive back to get a car MOT'd....by the time you've done that you might as well just change the b**** plates...

Hi

I changed my plates this year. I did use the vehicle for a year while the MOT was valid, but new it was a risk and new I would be changing over at a certain date. Had to change headlamps too but that is a different subject. I do feel that it is up to the person who has the car and how much you use it, but at some point you will be stopped and if you are not fully leagal then this is gonna hurt.

I would change if I were you.

Neil