Driving to our new home

A bit of help and advice please. We know some of you have driven over and we would be grateful for the benefit of your experience. We complete on our house in the uk on Thursday 5th April and after a few family visits and a few days spent seeing places we haven't seen we will be driving down at the end of April or beginning of May. We hope to rent until the house is ready. It is our intention to drive because we have a dog and we are not prepared to give him the stress of being stuck in the hold on a plane and rather than go by ferry we can take our time driving. We can also stop to pee and poo the dog when necessary.

We intend to reregister our car in Spain when our current tax expires next year ( I know a lot of you will say it is better to sell our car in the UK and buy another in Spain) but we need it to get there and it is fairly new with a low mileage and we would probably lose too much money for a cash sale in the UK.

The question is do we have to permanently export our car with the DVLA here to be able to reregister it in Spain or is this unnecessary. Can we just go to wherever it is to register with Spanish plates and then get Spanish insurance. Sorry it is long winded but wanted to cover the points.

Thanks Pete & Mave (No 32

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Hi Rustym,
We drove down too. Much the same reason as you. I keep African Clawed Frogs and Easyjet won't carry them!

As to the car.
We have a rather old Land Rover Disco.
It's been hell trying to get it registared. (long story) Still not fully there jet, but hay this is Spain!

We did send off the bit at the bottom of the log book for permanent export. Never got any thing back from DVLA (or whatever they call them selves)
The tax ran out abut 3 months ago, (the MOT about 2 weeks ago) Because we  hadn't been able to get it registared here, and Chris had to do a bound trip it back to
UK with a trailer, (take a breath!)and we wanted to keep it legal. We applyed for a new tax disc on-line. They can tell now if a car has an MOT. The fact we'd told them of the permanent
export didn't come up. Tax disc arrived anyway. sent to our Uk address, then forwarded out to us. I don't know if they will send out of the country.
If you've got a new tax disc on it (and it sounds like you have) get it MOT'ed just before you leave, wether it needs it now or not. That way you have lots of time to get it sorted here.

Getting a car registered here is long winded and costs a far bit. Not nearly as much as a second hand car cost though!

We are in Catalunya. You can get an English plated car MOT'ed (they call it ITV) And there are quite a few insurance firms that will insure a English plated car.

Not sure if this helps much, good luck with the move.

Regards, Febe

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Many thanks Febe. It looks like I must go for permanent export but if you don't get any paperwork back from DVLA how do the Spanish authorities know that you try to do things legally!!!

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Just a point of interest and not really much help to anyone:

I "imported" a LHD but UK registered Landcruiser to Mallorca about 10 years ago. I don't recall any problem getting the necessary paperwork from DVLA, but to get it re-registered in Spain was certainly long winded and troublesome. The vehicle had to pass a "homologation" test to ensure that it had not been altered in any way from the manufacturer's specification. My car had a towbar, which was not orginal factory spec, and since I could not produce paperwork from the "approved" outlet that fitted it, I was told it would have to be removed. I had to get a welder to get it off, since several years of grime and rust had made it pretty much a permanent fixture. I wonder if Febe came across anything similar with hers?

Another problem was that the model I had was never sold new in Spain (it originated in Germany) and therefore was not listed in the little black book giving the official value for tax purposes (at that time 12% import tax - think this has changed now). As a result, despite having a 2.3 litre petrol engine, on it's new Spanish documents it was a 2.5 diesel! Bizarre indeed.

Further problems arose because where we were living at the time there was a residents parking scheme. When I applied for a permit, I was told I could not have one because my car was foreign registered, and therefore by definition I could not possibly be a resident. After much arguing, and presenting paperwork to prove that I was in fact in the process of re-registering the car, I was awarded a temporary permit with the UK reg number on it. Soon afterwards my temporary green plates arrived, which I had to display while driving around. When I got home I put the UK plates on top of the green ones, so that they corresponded to the permit in the windscreen. All was well until the car got broken into at night, and the police came knocking at my door, holding the UK plates, wanting to know what my game was. After explaining at great length the situation, the copper scratched his head and said "that's a new one on me, gov" or words to that effect, and then suggested that I carry on doing exactly as I had been, until the new permanent plates arrive, then apply for a new permit! Incidentally, this was the second time the car had been broken in to, and the police reckoned it was because it was on foreign plates. Sure enough, once I got my Spanish plates, I never had any more trouble.

Rustym, it's just my opinion, but I would not bother just yet re-registering, because it's such a hassle. Why not wait a little while and see how you enjoy sitting on the wrong side! It's challenging enough on these roads. My guess is you'll drive Old Faithful back to Blighty to sell, and get yourself a LHD car in Spain, on Spanish reg.

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Oh Reberto, Reberto, Reberto,

You just had to mention the TB word, didn't you?

Yes it's the tow bar thats causing the problem.
Ours is a original Land Rover fitted one.
We managed to find the only ITV station within 100 miles, that's never dealt with a British car!
The car has a shiny new yellow ITV sticker in the window, it's just that some fool didn't add the tow bar to the (whats it called?) 'fitcha tectica'
We'll get there in the end.

We know a person here that got so fed up with it, he took a hacksaw to it, and cut it off by hand!

The local police tried to fine Chris 30 euros because the car had been in Spain over 1 month, and was still on British plates! We have a Spanish friend call Albert. He was with Chris when the police stopped him. (thank God) He told them it wasn't posable to get a car registared in just 1 month, so don't be such silly nit-whits. Or words to that effect! The police didn't even think England was in the EU!. I shant tell you what Albert replyed to this, it's just as well the police didn't speak a word of English, or Chris and Albert would have been locked up!

We have a little Spanish regd Seat Ibiza too. LHD. When we changed the ownersip of it ,it took over 2 months to get the paper work back!

All good things come to thoes who wait..........and wait.........and wait!

I agree that driving a LHD car is better when it comes to which side of the road you should be on. I've not had a problem with it my self (touch wood) regadless of which car I'm driving. I do however somtimes have a problem, when in the Ibiza, with distance on the right hand side! It's a girl thig I think!

Take care,
Febe

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I've been thinking about this problem myself. When we come to live and work in Spain I will need to drive a car down with our dog.

My idea is that we will fly out to Spain for the last time in preperation for the move (find job first) and buy a Spainish Car, then pay someone to drive it back to the UK whilst I fly back. That way when we move to Spain, we sell our UK cars and we have a Spanish Car with which to drive to Spain in with our woofy in the back and a roof box on the top.

I haven't costed this yet and it may prove to cost more this way, however it will save all the agro of getting one of our UK cars re-registered in Spain!

 

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TechNoApe - When we moved to Spain I considered bringing my UK car, loaded with 2 dogs and 2 cats. 

In the end I found an easier way,  I sold my car in the UK and hired one for the last week.  I used royal mail parcel force to send 12 boxes of personal items, PC, paperwork etc. Very much cheaper than a removal firm and fully insured.

Then rang GB airlines and told them I need to get my pets to Spain on a Sunday lunchtime arrival (I was working on the logic that there would be very little aggro from officials at that time of the day)

GB rang back with everything as I wanted it.  I hired a car when I got to Spain for 4 days until I found my own Spanish registered one.

I hate the drive to and from the UK, so my move was all done in a 2.5 hour flight.   Also think the animals arel ess stressed on the plane as it is a short time only.  Mind you when I took the Border Collies out of their cages at Alicante airport they both did a huge dump in the foyer  There must have been a Spanish highways official watching at the time cos loads of new traffic roundabouts have appeared here since

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Gillespie,

I agree it is a short flight, but I don't really want to put my dog throught the stress of being in a cage for the time we wait for the flight and the time during the flight and the fact that during the flight we'll just be thinking about him al the time.

Plus the fact he's a six year old rottie, soft as soap with family but he might just make the Spanish very nervous as I walk through arrivals. And I'd probaly be even more nervous about him takling a dumpin the foyer, because when a rottie has a nervous, upset tum and takes a dump, you run for an NBC suit.

But what I was really trying to point out is that surely my previous post is an easier method if you wanted to drive to Spain with your pets.

This message was last edited by TechNoApe on 3/9/2007.

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So Techno (like the new avvie by the way very King of the Jungle) you dont think the ferry crossing trhough Biscay is going to be stressful or any less dump filled for either dog or fellow passengers then? The Spanish are quite used to Rotties here - shedloads of them - you know they have to be muzzled when out? Hope you havent had him docked either - all sorts of problems if you bump into old Bill when walking him -

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Smiley,

Na! The new 'ava' ain't king of the jungle, he's just an ape that loves to dance to techno muisc (eh! eh!).

Tyler was docked as a puppie by the breeder and have this stated on his papers, which also show his pedigree. Since these new bloody EU laws have come into force about it now being illegal docking tails, can you imagine a rottie with a tail! Imagine the destruction cuased by a dog that is 9½ stone of solid muscle wagging it's 18" tail - talk about bull in a china shop!!

At least there was the idea of being able to walk him on deck with a bucket and spade in hand (not for building sandcastles - nuff said)

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The reason I said King of the Jungle - meant to say King of the Swingers - reminds me of Louie out of the Disney Jungle Book - dancing with Baloo in the scene where the old ruined palace becomes even more ruined - first line of the song was "Now I'm the King of the Swingers, the jungle VIP" - God how sad am I? That of course was in the days when swingers had a totally different meaning

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Smiley,

I think you were right though about my own preconceptions of my position in my life

I should be so lucky.

I don't remember the swinging sixties, wasn't out of me nappies but seem to think the term 'swinging' had the same meaning then however was misconstrued into a conceptionual attitude towrds dancing. 

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Watching Crufts last night, I undestand the new docking laws only apply to "new" dogs so there should be no problems for your Rottie, but having said that, the story about police not even knowing UK was in the EU is just a little worrying! As for the Bay of Biscay question, I rather thought you would be driving down through France. FYI, there are Etap & Formula 1 hotels all the way, which accept pets; you can find details at http://www.accorhotels.com/accorhotels/index.html (Personally I'd take the tunnel, probably less stressfull for poochie, 'cos he can stay in the car with you).

This message was last edited by Roberto on 3/9/2007.

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Cheers Roberto,

That is what I had more in mind.

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