Beware travelling in Spain!

[Dave2000]

There seems to be a lot of confusion with owners of UK registered vehicles and driving them in Spain so, I thought I would give you the latest 'apparent' rules.

I say 'apparent' because it depends on the province you are travelling in at the time of the stop or worse accident.

There are some 'cast in stone' rules though.

First, you cannot bring a UK registered vehicle into Spain and keep it here for more than 180 days, on the 181st day you will have to be entering the 'matriculation' process. To aid this law most insurers only issue 90 or 180 day 'green cards'.

Second, there is a rumour that assuming you have managed to stay for a year (you can get 1 year green cards under certain circumstances) and you decide to stay even longer that you can get an ITV (MOT) certificate to cover you, this is NOT true. The safety certificate is called a 'voluntario', it tells the police your vehicle is safe to drive on Spanish roads BUT your car remains UNINSURED and you could still be fined and most certainly will not be covered in the event of an accident.

There are insurance companies operating outside of Spanish law (often in Portugal) and offering you insurance cover, this is not legal! You have the certificate but you are not insured under Spanish law unless you have a valid inspection certificate which you don't for your UK registered car. There has been a lot of debate about this and a friend actually had his vehicle hit by a spare wheel falling from under a lorry, insurance policy (full comp) instantly became 'third party only' when he tried to claim as he only had a voluntario certificate.

With the Gaurdia Civil stops increasing on vehicles not displaying Spanish plates (not just GB) it is important that you have all the documents to hand, of note, if your car MOT runs out, you cannot 'pop over' to Gibraltar and get a UK MOT, Spain does not recognise 'Gib' as UK territory so this will not work either.

Most if not all police 'Traffico' cars have computers that will know how long your vehicle has been in Spain, the data being collated as you cross borders and go through certain areas that have the number plate recognition software, they can either fine you (they also have credit card readers), give you a warning to get the vehicle 'matriculated' in one month or leave Spain, in a worse case scenario your vehicle can be impounded there and then. And the days of police ignoring you as they do not speak English are well and truly over, I did mention some of this way back but the stop checks are more prevalent lately. I recently got 'rinsed' properly, the complete ins and outs of a cats arse. Fortunately I had all the vehicles paperwork along with the business/VAT/and social security papers, incidentally the manners displayed by most police are impeccable and you would do well to return the courtesy.

There is no 'reasonable cause' to stop you needed here, they stop and check.

Safe travels.

regards

Dave

 

[clivehorridge]

So, your truck is a UK import, now matriculated, right Dave?

 

[Crispin]

Thanks Dave - made it a sticky. Useful information.

 

[Dave2000]

So, your truck is a UK import, now matriculated, right Dave?

Yes Clive, I completed the process a few years back but not much has changed about the actual process except the six month limit brought down from 12 months.

Just to give you an idea of the confusion that reigns here, I tried to matriculate the 80 in Murcia the province I live in, I was told it would be around 1,200.00 euros for the conformity inspection and around a similar price for import duty, so around 2,500.0 including fuel and would have to drive two hours to Alicante for the inspection.

Instead I drove around 26 miles into another province and paid a total IIRC 1,250 euros for the ENTIRE process!

My trials and tribulations are listed on my long running MUD thread.

regards

Dave

 

[Dave2000]

Thanks Dave - made it a sticky. Useful information.

Thanks Crispin, being 'sticky' does it prevent any updates being added if and when I find out about them?

regards

Dave

OK Blonde moment it can be modded, cheers.

 

[wobbly]

There's no doubt that foreign cars are seen as a way of paying off national debt

Travelling from Spain into Portugal we passed Police checks, then on return we passed Spanish checks (same Policeman 2 years running!)

I think in Spain the amount of Brits living there without registering is causing problems.

 

[Dave2000]

I think in Spain the amount of Brits living there without registering is causing problems.

Absolutely!!

The amount of people I know who have cars here illegally is quite high, given that the area I live in does not actually have a high density of immigration. The 'residence lottery' is being played every day, plenty of stories of people who have friends sending over illegal MOT documents is amazing. Here they recently introduced a photograph of the vehicle being tested, and now it seems that UK number plates are available for 'a drink' it is not surprising.

Re foreign cars paying off the ND, I think the 'racialist' element is probably the same throughout the world, and immigrants may have a higher chance of a more expensive fine than a local, conversations show that nowadays if you get pulled for actually committing an offence whether Spanish or otherwise you are unlikely to get off with a warning, the Gaurdia Civil want money and they don't really care who gives it to them. I think the ex pats from many years ago brought on the 'British are all rich' mentality. Stories of brits leaving a four euro tip for a couple of coffee's costing one euro does not help, of course when the two euros for one GB pound exchange fell through the purse strings got tightened the penny(euro) dropped, I am sure if you do not leave a tip your classed as tight.

regards

Dave

 

[froggy Steve]

Good info - We have a similar problem in France - rusty knackered old builders vans with no mOT, tax or insurance trundling about, cars with French insurance (invalid in a prang) on Brit plates, no CT (MOT). Been here for years, nothing happened yet mentality.

makes me cross as I do it by the book.

 

[clivehorridge]

I try to be as close to book as I can. It's a Bucharest registered vehicle, and I pay my tax on it, which is steep because it's engine capacity and euro-code related, about €1,400 pa, insurance is only third party (or RCA) because fully comp or (CASCO) here is limited to vehicles under 10 years old, and that sets me back about €220 pa. That's it really, I pay a drink for the blind eye approach to tyre sizes and the ARB winch bar on the front on test day, every 2 years, the test costing about €30, which equates to €15 pa. All in, €1,635 pa. I recon this is quite a lot by UK standards, what are the taxes/charges like in the UK, France and Spain on an annual basis?

 

[froggy Steve]

Insurance 800€ a year , CT (MOT) every 2 Years (cant remember but arout 50€)

Sent from my GT-I9060I using Tapatalk

 

[froggy Steve]

No annual tax, but pay when register - cost around 300 (10 years old) thats it.

Sent from my GT-I9060I using Tapatalk

 

[Dave2000]

Inspection every year for Land Cruiser 53.69 euros
Inspection every SIX MONTHS Opel Van the same

Insurance TPFTH on both no full comp available, 300 euros for LC, 280 euros for van registered for 'autonomo multiservicio' (self employed any trade use).

Road tax 230 for LC, 150 IIRC for van.

I too do it by the book and get p*ssed off watching the shit heaps rolling around with no brief!

regards

Dave

 

[SteveS]

it is becoming a problem here in the UK too - there is a french plated 110 up the road from me that has been here solidly for the past two years - no MOT, road tax etc.....lord knows what insurance he has. 'Cos we're in the middle of nowhere there is no chance of being caught by VOSA or the rozzers. BTW most countries honour the spirit of the '56 convention and allow 12 months for private touring vehicles (sadly it says "up to 1 year") with the proviso that they remain registered/roadworthy to home country standard. Plenty of countries link the vehicle duration of stay to the individual's length of stay and this is often limited to 3 or 6 months.

 

[Rodger]

It took us two years to get our 40 matriculated but then she is extensively modified and it required translated letters stating that the modifications were road legal in the Uk from the MOT station that we used when living in England. Total cost around 1200 euros. Our road tax is 37 euros and our insurance is 438 euros but has 'agreed value' and that does cover travel in any and every EU country and roadside recovery in all of them.
Recently the Spanish have added that every vehicle needs to carry hi-vis vests for all occupants. If they are in to boot and you get out to get it - then the chances are you will be contributing to the Guardia's funds. Keep them in the cab. Also you also need two warning triangles - one behind the vehicle and one about 35-50 meters back.

We were stopped in a roadside check recently: the Guardia guys were in a 120 LC and after a brief check of our papers, one of the Guardia officers has an 80 series so they decided that the 120 was the grandson, his 80 the father and our 40 the grand father! Much pleasant conversation about LCs and we were on our way.

Regards,

 

[clivehorridge]

I think the carry-on kit in Spain sounds much the same as here, which would figure to some extent, both being in the EU.

It's been law for sometime and drivers are used to it and most abide by it. This pees off the Police, too much loss of revenue.

So the latest is they check the expiry dates. All very well you say, due diligence. And it is to an extent, but the only legally certified compliant first aid kit has a paper 'use by' date sticker. The kit comes in a plastic hermetically sealed wrap, and the five year hence date fades off the label in about 6 weeks.

The fire extinguisher I've had for ten years got used last week, and worked perfectly. That had a 12 months use by date on it .

So the long and the short is you can't win, she'll out for the kit, and pay the police, it's the only way to get by. BTW, my 2 vests are in the glove box and the two triangles are under the third row back seats. I carry 3 fire extinguishers, the current one and the last two expired ones.

Ever used one? They last about 15 seconds if you're lucky!

 

[ratrace]

borrow from work when i need it

just return if i don't use them

 

[clivehorridge]

borrow from work when i need it just return if i don't use them

Fair enough Mike, trouble is, the ones where I work are big 30 lt jobbies, you'd have trouble stowing them in the truck

 

[ratrace]

The ones i borrow are vehicle one's so are nice and small

i have seen those 30 one in the building and they are big

 

[Shayne]

I bought an AA Euro travel kit for the Romania trip and i don't remember seeing a fire extinguisher in it ?

 

[ratrace]

borrow one off the boat/vessel you must keep spare ones Shayne