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
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