More on renewing my NIE

I am in the process of importing my UK car into Spain.
 I have been told by the folk handling the transfer that Alicante Traffico need to see an NIE that is less than 1 year old.
 I have approached the office where I got my original NIE some years ago (Elda) and they have said that your NIE is for life, it is not dated and there is NO NEED or even a facility to renew it.
It is on A4 and is not dated.

 Who is right?

 If it is possible to renew it, what do I do?

They are probably talking about a 'Padron' which is obtained from your nearest town hall, i.e. Torre Pacheco. It states that you live in the area and is normally necessary for things like car papers and normally it must be up to 3 months old.Easy to obtain, you don't need to be a resident, just take a couple of bills with your name and address on them.

HI,

You are absolutely right about the Padron, it does need to be renewed periodically. I have just done mine at the local town hall as part of the replating of my car. You just walk in with the old one and ask for a new one. It took 10 minutes and was free.

However the problem still exists with the NIE. As part of the replating you need to go Trafico in Alicante and there is no way will they accept a NIE older than 1 year. This is a new rule thought up by someone in Alicante short of something to do.

To get a new one you need to make a booking with the police in your area and that can take up to two months.  It's totally crazy but you have NO choice. I have got an appointment in Elche at the end of next month!!!!!!

I recently bought a new car and needed to provide my NIE. That's when the fun started as there was a line in the page footer of the NIE saying valid for 3 monthsin Spanish (I got it late 2012).

The certificate had expired but the NIE number stays the same.

I went with my Solicitor to the immigration office in Murcia to obtain one (solicitor made an appointment to avoid the large queues).

It then turns out that the new NIE certificates no longer have your address on them so I then had to go to the town hall in Torre Pacheco to get a Padron (solicitor gave me required forms/document).

Finally able to buy my new car with the new NIE certificate and the Padron.

I'm afraid it is a total nightmare and you have to have the patience of Job.

I have finally just completed the saga and put my new plates on last week. IT TOOK NINE MONTHS and as far as I can see there is no way to short circuit the process. Even from getting the ITV, sending the stuff to Trafico in Alicante and getting the plates took six weeks.

I did have an additional problem because there was a mistake on the UK log book (V5) where the VIN number did not match the one on the car. One digit was missing. The ITV would not accept it or an Export certificate. The only thing they understood was a letter from Swansea acknowledging the error. All this time I was running on green temporary plates.

I had to remove the front chrome bar, the LPG conversion, tow bar and window film simply because they did not have a Spanish Declaration of Conformity (aka homologation) and there was silly me thinking we were all in Europe and what is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander. No UK certification seems to be acceptable in Spain.

To anybody else reading this before you start anything ensure your NIE is under 3 months old and renew your Padron. Ensure all your paperwork matches. It would also help if your UK car has current MoT and tax.