Driving in Spain in a Motorhome

Hi all

Soon I intend to move to Spain (UK citizen) but need to know a couple of things please?:

1. I move to Spain, buy a van there & do it all there but If I live in a van, I will not have an address (for ins & tax etc)

2. Buy a van in UK do it all in UK & have to return annually for MOT every year at a cost of £600 per year just for return trip

So what are my options here please? What are the requirement of a Spanish licence & Spanish ins too please?

Many thanks

You will need an address in either country. In Spain the rules vary from region to region. However mostly to obtain a driving licence, buy or register a vehicle etc you will need an address and be registered on something called Padron which involves going to the local town hall near your address and producing identity, proof of residence etc. You will also need an NIE number which is similar to the national insurance in the UK.

Spain is more bureaucratic then the UK. If I were you I would remain a UK resident and pay the trip back every year. It may cost you less than the alternative. 

Just to complicate matters a little more, I understand that you can not re-register a right hand drive van in Spain because of the restricted view of the left side of the vehicle. If I am wrong please let me know folks.

Cool folks am now thinking UK all the way & steath in Viva Espania Yeehaa

Plenty of people will explain that you cannot legally keep your UK registered van in Spain year on year. 6 months is the limit. Also, it will cost more than £600 to do a round trip to UK in a car. I do six trips a year in a small vehicle and never get change out of £1 000. Not having an address for insurance & tax will be the least of your problems.

Six months in any twelve is the limit legally for a UK registered vehicle in Spain. However Europe is a big place and in a motorhome you have the freedom to roam. I know many people who live three months in one calander year and three months in the next covering winter quite legally, then six months in France, Italy or where ever you choose.

The main difficulty is insurance in Europe for the full year but it is possible if you search specialist insurance companies. Still need a UK address though and a quick hop across the channel to Folkstone to get the MOT/tax done.

While I am all in favour of keeping below the radar and sometimes decide to break the law, the vehicle issue has problems of its own. I have owned UK vehicles, and kept them in Spain for longer than I should have, but inevitably there was the annual pilgrimage to keep the MOT/tax/insurance current, and this becomes an expensive pain in the neck which starts to dominate your plans: "don't forget we have to take the car back to UK next March to get the MOT done". The question is why would one do it? Especially since alby is free to buy a van in either country and has said that he wants to move to Spain, not to swan around Europe for six months a year. (I wouldn't call a flog from the Costas to Dover and back a quick hop & btw, Folkestone closed to ferry traffic in 2000) Surely albi, you can organise some postal address in Spain once you get here, even if it's just someone you make buddies with in bar? It's also cheaper to both tax and insure vehicles in Spain - both are easy to do if the vehicle has Spanish plates. You don't need to worry about a Spanish licence - your UK one will do you fine.

You need to have a Spanish address and register on the padron before you can by a Spanish registered vehicle simple as that.

If you decide to buy a vehicle in the UK you will need a perminant UK address and if you take it to Spain for more than 6 months  you will need to replate with Spanish plates.

If you intend to move to Spain more than 183 day in any year you will have to register the vertical mmediately as you would be classed as as a Spanish resiedent .

Well I agree if the OP intends to live in Spain he is better off buying a motorhome there. I understood from his post he was a visitor living the motorhome 'life'.

Sounds like he /she want's to live like a pikie.

Wow cheers guys keep em coming

I would love to buy in Espania but I know my UK licence would expire after 2years. So then have to jump thru hoops to get a Spanish one with Utility Bills reqd no doubt? Which I wont have or NIE etc?

How difficult is it to get all this ie process please guys? There must be Van owners who do this out there ie live in one all the time?

Yes am good at making buddies so that appealed to me in a bar etc for address but utility bills wont have my name on?

Yep Pikie sounds cool to me No council tax no Utility bills - Who is the mug? Yep am a He

@windtalker. You need to have a Spanish address and register on the padron before you can by a Spanish registered vehicle simple as that.

You are wrong. I have never registered on any padron and have had no problem buying or registering a vehicle in Spain.

btw: when we first came to Spain we put a lawyer on  retainer and she advised us easiest way to get NIE and open a bank account. For the NIE we used her address. Since then all correspondence relating to anything government seems to be directed to that original NIE address, despite efforts to update it. So that's also a possibility, use a lawyer's address for everything - no-one would know or care.

@albi. why would your UK licence expire after two years? (unless you're 68)

Living in a motorhome or caravan is a long establish way of life in the south of Europe. Many retired people enjoy freedoms and a cheap way to live in a better climate.

Just travel through Spain and Portugal during the winter. You will see hundreds doing 'the life' or 'full timing' as it's know. It does get snide comments from some people, who not being able to afford it themselves prefer to knock it.

There are some minor problems to overcome such as address and insurance but they can be dealt with successfully. You can read some blogs on the web written by people who have lived that way for years. They offer some solutions to problems you are likely to encounter.

Wow Mickey nice one cheers

My mate here says why get involved in another matrix system to maybe get done by both sides ie Espania or UK cos I wud be registered in both countries & well be on the radar

By the way a UK licence in Espania will only last legally for 2 years & on or b4 that date, you must apply for a Spanish one unless you keep moving around which is my intention but mainly be based in Sud Espania

I love the post from GuyT too - use a lawyer for address cooleo but anyone out there tell me the process to get a licence in Spain if need arises that is? Cheers all out there I really appreciate all your comments & advice 

Guy T you are misleading the original poster if you intend living in Spain you are obligated by law to register on the padron ,Your address on the driving licence must be where you live that meens if you are living in Spain using a UK driving licence with a UK address that you do not live you are braking the law you need to apply for a Spanish licence with your Spanish traceable address The UK will not issue a driving licence with a Spanish address there's no excuse for ignorance in a court of law.

Windtalker, Guy T was pointing out that you do not need to be on the padron to buy a car. Hence why there are many cars sitting on the drives of non residents who just holiday a few times a year, including my own. If you live permanently in Spain, then yes, of course you should be on the padron.

Citizensadvice.org.es disagree with the DGT and the 2 year change. It only affects 'undefined' licences and where various categories are valid for longer than certain periods. Also, again, if you move from the UK, to live in Spain, your UK licence with your old uk address is perfectly acceptable until it comes up for expiry or it falls foul of the above mentioned rules.

OK guys 

If I intend to mainly drive around Spain but not all year with return trips to UK now and then plus and also vist other European countries too & can get a UK address for my licence but lawyers address for NIE & tax

So that being the case, i think I am not breaking any laws?

Blueeys you are talking rubbish if you know longer live at the address on your license you will need to change the address on it to your current address ask the police or the DVLA.,the original poster said he wanted to live in a motorhome permanent in Spain so their for he would have to register on the pardon you also need a NIE to open a bank account I don't think any bank would let you open an account with the address not known.

Windtalker is not correct except in the case that renewal is needed. In that case if there is  a legal address which can be used , this can proceed. If not, then the change to Spanish License must be made. DVLC has, certainly in the past, accepted that on a move abroad the last UK address can remain on the license. All this providing that the UK license is within recent changes to EU law.