english reg car

Thanks Joolsveer and Greatestape!

Being a mere woman, I could not explain myself properly about my FIB plate to Roberto.

You have both done it excellently, thank you!

My Brother in Spain is driving on an OIL plate, his name is not Popeye and his wife is not Olive!

I've finally got it now, Fibby! Bit slow, but I get there in the end, with a little help from our friends!

So, the fact that your brother Popeye has a (Northern) Irish plate on his car is irrelvant and a red herring. The point all along was, that he is driving a FOREIGN registered vehicle whilst RESIDENT in Spain? I doubt very much the Spanish cops differentiate between one foreign plate and another. I think we all forgot what we were originally talking about - my fault perhaps for being pedantic (or just curious). Apologies

Don't apologise Roberto!

We all know you monkeys have lesser brains than us Humaniods!

I only wish iIwas intelligent enough to have answered your query in the first place!

is there a link between monkeys and cats?

LOL!

I converted my car to Spanish plates in September last year, I paid a gestor to sort it for me. I had to arrange to get the lights changed, ITV, and visit the TECHNICO, in total I paid 1300€ (including lights and ITV!). My car is a 3 year old peugeot 206cc.

If this is of any help to anyone. Everyone said its not worth the hassle, but I would have lost a lot more than 1300€ if I had tried to sell it and buy another. The only real hassle was when the ITV company didnt recognise the paperwork  I had as I had already changed my log book to the Export document from DVLA, but eventually they realised it was ok. The Gestor sorted all the paperwork and payments etc.

Does anybody know what the rules are for vans?

I have a Left Hand Drive Transit that originated in Belgium, but is now on English plates pending our move to Sabinillas, C.D.S. this summer.  I would like to register it as soon as possible and fit in with the locals.

Next time you are in England, take a closer look at most of the coaches and long haul buses... the great majority of them are on N.I. Plates. I believe there are certain tax advantages initially, but also and perhaps more importantly, as a passenger you cannot tell how old the bus/coach actually is from its number plate...Many of them are well passed their sell by date being 20 years old or more.

I believe that in Spain, once a coach/bus reaches 15 years of age, it can no longer be used for SP or PSV service and has to be removed from service irrespective of its condition. If you want to see evidence of this see www.somauto.com. Typically you could if you so desired buy a good looking long haul coach for much less than you would pay for a car!

I looked into this briefly when I was looking around for a vehicle to form the basis of a D-I-Y motorhome for use in Spain. Eventually though we decided on a huge LHD Winnebago type Motorhome, which we bought in England and drove over here in, using it as a removals van and then a family home for six months whilst our house was being renovated. One day I will get around to posting that story in this forum!

Foxbat, great post! I always thought the geezers who run coach companies were just flash Harrys who liked thier personalised plates! And I LOVE that website! Really tempting to buy an old bus and go on a big trip, just like Priscilla! It would also p*ss the neighbours off big time!

There are some very strange anomolies in English Law regarding buying an old bus. As I said I was looking to buy a coach, preferably one of the highline variety, because of all the extra space under the floors, to do a motorhome conversion on but a few things put me off.

Firstly the price... in the UK they are very very expensive. Typically ten to twenty times as much as here in Spain. Also despite its being a bus or a coach, once you take the seats out, it is no longer considered to be a bus or coach but an HGV. Which effectively means that I could drive the same bus for years and years carrying passengers using my PSV  (now Group D PCV) licence. If my employers decided to sell the vehicle however and I bought it and took the seats out and used it for instance as a means of taking my worldy goods from point A to point B or converting it to a motorhome I can no longer drive it on my PSV licence but must go through the rigmarole and expense of taking an HGV (Group C) test.

I think most people would agree that a 12 or 14 metre coach is a coach whether it has five seats or fifty five. There is a world of a difference between a 14 metre long fixed wheelbase coach and a ten ton truck used for carting aggregate or livestock around. For a start the front wheels of the coach are generally 10 to 12 feet behind the driver; the engine is either underfloor or at the back, the handling characteristics are totally different from a truck. So I got in touch with DVLA, the same people who told me I couldnt drive a converted coach on my PSV and asked them the question Can I take my HGV test in my converted coach.....You can guess their response... err no... its not an HGV  its a coach... so you cant take your test in it. 'Hang on' I said, you just told me its not a coach anymore cos it has no seats, therefore its an HGV....

Complete silence from DVLA on that score. And unfortunately its all true.

Legally, to drive that vehicle if I am alone I need an HGV; if I take my wife on board she is considered to be a fare paying passenger, irrespective of the fact that no money changes hands, fare paying in this context could mean sexual favours, the fact that she cooks a meal for me....and therefore need a PSV.

There would appear however to be a loophole, isnt there always In the UK and I think Europe a minibus is escribed as being a vehicle with between 9 and 17 seats; nowhere in the definition is there a reference to size or weight.....

Equally stupid is the fact that sinceI passed my test before 1997 I can legally drive any vehicle up to 7.5 tons. If I had passed my test after that date I would be  limited to 3.5 tons. Which means If I am off somewhere in my big Yank Tank Motorhome and I fall ill, it can only be driven by someone who passed their test before 1997. Since my wife doesnt drive anyway, this would mean abandoning the vehicle wherever it happened to be.... This is a point worth noting by some of the motorcaravanning fraternity.  Many of todays European motorhomes weigh more than 3.5 tons and can therefore only be driven legally by pre 1997 licence holders.

Just harping back to the note about \minibuses therefore it may be that with my D1 licence I could drive a 14 metre supercoach, provided it only had between 9 and seventeen seats....

Ask DVLA and they will give you their interpretation of the law. It has no legal standing whatsoever. In fact at the moment there is no law as such describing the extent to which a coach can be modified. One guy in England was pulled by the police for driving a converted ex-45 seater coach on a pre 1997 car licence. The case was thrown out of court because the prosecution could not decide what law if any had been broken...

Who was it said "The Law is an Ass?" How right they were....

Whilst I have had no answer to my question about registering a van, I find Foxbats posts fascinating and he should be encouraged to tell his story on EOS.

jmtwsm;

regarding your English plated, Belgian originating van, so far as I am aware all that is necessary for transfer to Spanish plates are the headlights have to be changed to dip right instead of left, and possibly the speedo replaced with a km/h scale as the primary information source rather than mph. I was told some time ago that dual speedos may not be acceptable if the primary indication is mph on the scale and miles on the odometer.

If only a single rear fog light is fitted, it must be on the left hand side of the vehicle as well ie Spanish offside. 

Far be it for me to plug someones book but this publication seems to be something of a bible for Brits in Spain when it commes to driving and its updated monthly on the web. The updates alone seem to worth the purchase price of the book!

http://www.spainvia.com/motoringinspain.htm