How long can you drive your uk car in spain

I have asked this question , and receive different answers. Can anyone clarify.
We drive down from the UK and stop for around 6 months at a time. We use our car all the time, and our British car insurance gives us a maximum cover of 180 days out of the UK. We have been told that the Spanish law does not allow this, so are we, like many others, breaking the Spanish laws, and what can we do about it?

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Hi
The law in Spain is quite simple, well maybe. So long as your car is fully legal in the country of plating, i.e. U.K., it is legal over here. This means M.O.T. if applicable, road fund licence and insurance. However there are a few other things that you have raised. 1) If you are in a country for more than 6 months and 1 day then you are a tax resident in that country. You will have to take out residencia and pay your taxes to Spain. But there is a dual taxation  exemption which means you can offset any tax paid in UK. As a resident in Spain you are not allowed to own a foreign plated car.
Another thing worth thinking about is, I assume, that your car is right hand drive. If so do you really want to have the problem of getting the passenger to pay at tolls, car park etc. Also overtaking is much harder if the wheel is on the wrong side.
Regarding your insurance the Sun newspaper runs a very good insurance policy for Brits in Spain. The policy is in English and allows unlimited use anywhwere in Europe, including the U.K. Also I found it cheaper than the equliviant U.K. policy. Another idea would be to register the car in Spain. This will cost from €500 plus tax. This depends on the emmissions, value of car etc. etc. Depending on the car the equilivant of road fund tax is a lot less here.

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You are allowed to drive a UK plated vehicle on Spanish roads for up to 6 months in 1 years, then the vehicle must be out of Spain for the other 6 months. The vehicle must be fully legal for it's country of registration.

In practice though, there are lots of UK plated cars driven around the Costa Blanca and I suppose all the other expat area's, some taxed, insured and tested and some clearly not.

Recently in La Marina just south of Alicante, the Police local and Guardia carried out a lot of road blocks to check foreign plated vehicles, residents were asked to prove the vehicles had not exceeded the 6 months, non insured vehicles were confiscated.

Best to get a legal Spanish plated vehicle if at all possible.

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Jencoo said "We drive down from the UK and stop for around 6 months at a time", so why the suggestions to register it in Spain, or to exchange it for a Spanish vehicle?
So long as you do not exceed 183 days, you will not be deemed resident here. So long as you have VALID UK MoT, tax and insurance (you say this limits you to 180 days) your car is perfectly legal in Spain.
Don't worry, be happy, and remember to bring along an obliging passenger to pay all your tolls for you! 

On the other hand, if you are one of the scum who live here for years, driving around in a battered UK reg vehicle with no tax, no MoT and no insurance, I hope the Guardia get you and lock you up for a long long time.

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Thank you for your comments and input. I try to stay legal and really dont mind the right hand drive - including its problems. What is being said is what I believed in the first place, until a Spanish insurance company told me it was only three months, that is what started the doubts.

 

Thanks again

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Can I ask about breakdown cover?  Are you still covered and if so are any of the companies better / more obliging than others? 

I know that AA 5 star Europe cover is not valid and futhermore invalidated if you leave mainland Europe. We used go to Morocco until we discovered this little gem but haven't risked it since.

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I thought you might have got a clue from the name that it did not cover you in Africa. Isn't  the name EUROPEAN breakdown cover. In Spain it is compulsory to have breakdown insurance. It is also illegal to tow a car anywhere in Spain.  You have not said how long you will be here. If you have tried the AA and RAC why not try Boncaster. They are a breakdown insurer in UK and they might give you continental cover. Just google them. Good luck

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I would say the clue is in the name of the policy. AA 5* EUROPE, at a guess, would only be valid for, mmm, let me think, driving in , errr, EUROPE?????
Last time I checked, Morocco was still pretty much in Africa.  

I would recommend checking individual policies, as they no doubt all vary. It's quite possible that many breakdown services only cover limited periods abroad, which may be less than your insurance allows.

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Have you tried eurorescue? their telephone number is 08459991199.

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Roberto:  I would say the clue is in the name of the policy. AA 5* EUROPE, at a guess, would only be valid for, mmm, let me think, driving in , errr, EUROPE?????

steone:  I thought you might have got a clue from the name that it did not cover you in Africa. Isn't  the name EUROPEAN breakdown cover. 

Come on, guys, give the girl a break.  She was only pointing out something.  I have an American Express card but I haven't got to go to America to use it.
I bank with the Hong Kong and Shangai Banking Corporation but I haven't got to go to China to cash a cheque.
My European annual travel insurance covers me for Turkey, even the bits that are in Asia.
Even more ludicrously, I haven't got to go to Halifax to pay my mortgage, either.

Maybe, politely, pointing out you should read the small print on policies would have been a bit of a better way to draw attention to this.

Edited to say:
Did you know that, if you laid all the cars in Spain end to end along the N332, you'd still get some prat in a BMW trying to overtake you?





This message was last edited by bobaol on 11/4/2008.

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Regarding the breakdown insurance, we have added ours on to our motor policy and also covers the 180 days, along with the insurance.  It is specific and is for European use only. Most insurance companies only issue cover for European use for a period of 90 days maximum, and we shopped around to find one to suit our requirements and it turned out to be Liverpool Victoria.

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My apologies to Sonia if I offended, and thank you Bob for putting me in my place. 
Fair enough, if your European travel insurance covers you for Turkey, it's just possible (by some stretch of the imagination) that Morocco could also be covered - although even Eurovision haven't invited Morocco to join yet! 

Now, I don't know about my breakdown cover, but I just checked my car insurance, and found that I'm covered for the basic obligatory cover in Morocco and Turkey. Also Tunisia and Israel, Ukraine and Belarus, and even Iran - but specifically NOT Iraq. Damn. And also for some country whose code is SCG. Anyone?

(Just found out the answer is Serbia & Montenegro, but this is now redundant)


This message was last edited by Roberto on 11/4/2008.

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SCG = Serbia and Montenegro.  Good luck on getting the AA out there!  Lord knows what the local delicacy is but bring me back a bit of pickled goats something or other.....

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Not been on line to keep up the debate.  Having re-read my post it does sound like a typically blond statement! (Guilty)

I should clarify that I know breakdown cover doesn't cover countries outside of Europe but my main point was that taking the vehicle into Morocco invalidated the European cover when brought back. We've always bought insurance at the port and - if we wanted it - breakdown cover (not  that it's much good there).

We only discovered this when we had a break down in France and had to be given a hire car.  We were told that we couldn't take it out of Europe (fair enough) but that we should also be aware that taking any car (ie your own) out of Europe invalidated the cover.  AA claimed that it was because people have serious breakdowns / problems in eg Morocco and push the car onto a ferry just to get the European cover.  Don't know if Spanish companies operate the same policy but I should imagine they do. 

Sticking up for Morocco - they might improve Eurovision!!

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I apologise again, Sonia, because now that you have clarified your earlier comment, it's actually very interesting! So, just having been to Morrocco means on your return you are not covered. Wow. How does the insurance company know, though? Is it the illegal immigrants in the boot that give it away when the breakdown truck turns up?

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Sorry Sonia that I misunderstood your original post thereby making the fecious comment. It is interesting the point you make about if you leave the designated area then the policy is voided, if the insurer knows....  I can, just, understand where the insurer is coming from. Just keep the illegals out of the vehicle when you break down and they should not know you left the area. Good luck in finding an appropriate cover.

an interesting point about car insurance in Spain is that they give you "free green card". If you believe that you will believe anything. Yes most polices include out of Spain cover but it certainly isnt free. If you are not going to take your car out of Spain ask to have the foreign cover removed. I saved about 10% doing this.

Good luck

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Another interesting point. I saved a packet this year just by telling my insurer that I had a cheaper quote (I genuinely did). Next year I'll tell them that I most certainly will NOT be taking my car to Iran, Ukraine or Belarus, or Morrocco or Tunisia etc etc., and see if I can get 10% off too. Thanks for the suggestion!

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