Hi Maria, there are 2 specific points here. One is a question of how the Spanish police interpret the situation, the other is a problem that may have consequences for many innocent people, but could not happen in the UK.
Firstly, my car insurance became invalid as of the end of November 2008. I went to the UK for 2 months and left my car at home. When I returned I decided to sell or part exchange it and so did not renew the insurance. I effectively sold the car last Friday morning, and put in on the street outside my house as I had to clean the driveway where it had been parked. The Policia Local then suddenly arrived. They claimed my vehicle was uninsured and despite showing them the sales contract, and insisting that the car would now be covered by the insurers of the garage concerned, they removed the vehicle to the "deposito municipal" and issued a fine of 800€.
Ok, on this point, we will see, as the garage are trying to resolve the matter in Trafico.
However, far more concerning is what I discovered only yesterday. My friend who works in the Policia Local told me that the car had been uninsured since 2006! I told him that was ridiculous and sent him a copy of the policy. I was then horrified to discover on reading, that although it correctly showed the Make, Model, version etc. the matriculation was of my previous car that was involved in a "siniestro total" in 2006. It would appear the "insurance agent" had incorrectly entered the wrong registration number for 2 complete years. Now, in the UK, this could not happen, as when you enter the web of an insurance company, you simply insert the registration number of the vehicle and the make and model automatically appears.
The legal question here is this: Having paid nearly 1000€ for 2 years cover, was I actually uninsured all that time? The insurance company say they insure the "matricula solo". if this is the case, I could ask for a quotation for a Fiat 500 and obtain cover for half price as long as the "Numero de Matricula" is correct? Of course, I intend to confront the broker/agent that arranged the policy, but would like to know who is responsible before I confront them? They happily took my money, but they, not me, got the details wrong.
Many thanks
Phil H