UK Reg Vehicle & Road Fund License

I intend taking a UK registered & plated vehicle to Spain.

It will be insured by a Spanish insurance company.

When the UK Road Fund License is due for renewal will the

Spanish Insurance Certificate be acceptable to the DVLA ??

Lots of info on UK cars going to Spain on forum, Richard. One point, your MOT needs to be done in the UK as I understand it & without a MOT everything else is void. Be careful!

See this thread English MOT and English road tax ... (click blue link) look at April 15th 22:54 by Jimbothescott

 

why not put the car on Spanish plates?

This winter the police were stopping more cars than ever.

Putting your car on Spanish plates is easy and saves a lot of hassle!

Our English plate car has Spanish insurance which is underwritten by lloyds of London so we could get UK tax.  If you go on the DVLA web site http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_10034732  (don't know if link will work) you can check if the vehicle is on the uk database, its on the taxing your vehicle online section.

Saying that we intend to re-regisiter to Spanish plates as soon as possible.

Hope this helps

I re-registered. The roughly 1,000€ it cost was a brilliant investment for there was no way I could have got a similar quality car for under 6,000€. The difference between UK and Spanish second-hand cars was so enormous they were buying them in the UK for two grand; re-plating them here and selling them at a good profit. I think Spanish prices have dropped since though.

As another poster says, it isn't worth ducking and diving. Re-plate

Richard, are you going to keep your car in Spain? You don't mention where you're located so I searched your posts & found you could be in the Alicante to Murcia area. In that case put your car on Spanish plates as the police ARE stopping UK plated cars all the time, it's not worth the hassles.

It's ok some on here saying how easy it is to diy the process but for what it costs over & above what you NEED to pay I suggest you contact Tom of http://www.reregcar.info/ in La Marina, near Alicante as we did, very informative. Was going to cost us around 1000€ but it was all itemised & they made very little for taking the worry from you.

We decided we'd need to buy another car in the UK if ours was driven & left in Spain & I don't want to drive on the Spanish roadssitting on the other side of the car, God forbid it's hard ENOUGH, so we bought a Spanish car even though it cost!!

 Thanks for all your replies & helpful links.

The car will be kept in Spain & will be fully legal.

I do NOT intend to run an illegal vehicle.

It will be a new car so will not need a UK MOT until it is 3 years

old, I then intend to take it back to the UK & sell it.

 btbird........

Have you renewed your UK Road Fund License using your

Spanish Insurance details ????

Regardless of  Tax. Insurance etc., once you exceed the 6 month grace for visitors ( 60 days for residents) then you are illegal full stop !!!!

Freddy

So the UK plated & registered vehicle with spanish

insurance is only allowed in Spain for 6 months ??

How on earth do the Trafico know how long the vehicle has been

in the country.??

richard4848uk - we insured the car in Spain with a broker on the internet and had all the documents sent of our uk address. Policy states uk reg and spanish address, taxed the car on line in the uk then drove over to Spain.  The reason we had this policy was it included european breakdown cover, allowed anyone over 30 to drive and I also intend to re-regisiter in Spain before the 6 months are up so uk insurance would not have worked for us.  All in it was cheaper than uk policy plus european breakdown.
 

 Thanks for that btbird.

That is exactly the road ( sorry awful pun ) that I intend to go down.

But I had not heard about the '6 month' rule until freddy mentioned it.

How do Trafico know how long you have had the car in the country ???

By the way I a not a Spanish resident if that makes any difference.

When stopped you will have to prove when the vehicle was brought over...Ferry receipts etc., If you are unable to do so, and I am told the onus is on you , then the vehicle can be impounded until you can prove it's legal to drive. failing to do so means Trafico have the right to confiscate.

I looked at all the options as I had a 'spare' car in the UK which would have been ideal for here but decided the easiest way was to purchase here.

The other option is to have the car re registered here in Spain. My pal has done this and although a right hooker, he can drive around with impunity.

 Thanks freddy.........

Yes I suppose ferry receipts would be the obvious one.

I will be buying a brand new car in the UK as I have a feeling that it will

be cheaper to do that what with exchange rates etc.

Not having any experience of buying a car in a foreign country but loads of experience buying cars in the UK.

& have it re registered rather than buy the car in Spain.

I will have a look at the costs of re registering.....looks around 1000 euro if you get somebody to do it for you

One thing I did hear of, yet never did anything about it, was to purchase a new car and have it first registered in Spain ....

A couple of years ago I purchased a new car from Belguim though one of the major 'car supermarkets' in the UK and it was delivered  and then first registerd in England.....I wonder if this could be done through a Spanish importer...Might be an import tax but you could end up with a perfectly legal LHD car of your choice at much less than Spainsh prices..

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has gone down this route.

Hi again Richard. We're all now learning more of what you want to do, your 1st post was too vague really.

As you obviously didn't know about the 6 month rule .. surprizingly .. &, as you were planning to drive a new UK plated car into Spain etc etc, I'm wondering what else you don't know. My husband & I have never gone into great detail about what we would need to drive from the UK down France into Spain as we never had any intention of doing it but I do know many things all the same as we've had a Spanish car in Spain a year now.

As you say your plan is/was to buy a new car in the UK as you assume it will be cheaper than buying one in Spain there's a few things to consider in my opinion. You will be driving a RH drive car which I would find awkward though many seem happy enough but I feel there are enough crazy drivers there to keep you on your toes without adding to the problem especially when driving on motorways.

You will need roughly 1000€ for changing a car such as a 5 dr 1.4 Peugeot 206 3 year old to legal Spanish status. (That is the car we were wondering about bringing over from the UK). The cost depends on many things, headlight replacements, emissions .. initially it is put through a very stringent test .. engine size to name some. Tom of http://www.reregcar.info/ who I told you about will explain the necessary costs & legalities in detail.

We actually bought an 18 month old demonstrator Fiesta with 4500km on the clock like new from the main Ford garage in Torrevieja for 9,300€ to give you some idea, you don't have an ITV (MOT) in Spain for 4 years then, until it's 10 years old, it's every 2 years then annually. They sorted out all the paperwork, we had to show NIE, passport & Copia Simple (copy of the deeds of our property) if not on the Padron.

I believe you need to adjust your headlights or .. (?) when driving through France plus you require a fire extinguisher ... others here will advise if you do drive down. Once in Spain the law requires that you carry spare specs if you wear them for driving, a hi vis vest is necessary IN THE CAR  for every person travelling in the car, wear them IF you are asked to leave the car or need to get out after an accident etc. You need a set of spare bulbs  (it might have changed lately but the police are so picky they will have you for everything possible) two warning triangles, wear sandals with backs not bare feet or flipflops, the list goes on. Drink driving laws are very strict, my OH  NEVER  EVER drinks if he is driving. If you value your licence you don't!

So much to know. Someone on another forum also said 'carry 130€ as the police will have you for something even if you've done nothing'. You don't argue with Spanish police who tend to tap on their guns as they stare you out & speak Spanish at you.

Hi morerosado

Thanks for you input........

I have driven to France / Spain / Portugal many times over the last 15 years so I do

have some knowledge of driving & the various laws.

However just driving in those countries is completely different to buying & keeping a car

in Spain. As they say you learn something new every day !!!

Regarding car prices..... I can buy a brand new car in the UK drive it to Spain & re register

it for about the same as you have paid for the secondhand Peugeot.

Driving wrong 'handed' does not really bother us at all.

I didn't buy a second hand Peugeot, Richard  

And I typed all that with one finger AND look at the time I posted it TOO!

At the end of the day someone will bang into whatever you drive.

Sorry misread your post.

Going to have a word with Tom using your link.