12 Jun 2016 10:31 AM:

Thanks for your comments.  I think you are right.  By bringing our Motability van with us to Spain we get a short amount of time to start sorting things out,  One of the dificulties with these type of vehicles is that most insurance companies in the UK will not cover them because the vehicle has been altered.  There is a broker called Fish Insurance who specialise in privately owned wheelchair vans in the UK. They say that if I buy a van in the UK and insure it through them they would only cover it for up to 180 days outside the UK, and I would have to have a UK address.   Effectively what they are offering is cover whilst on holiday.

I have found a website for a company in Molina De Segura, Murcia, called Adapta Movil S.L.  This company seem to supply second hand wheelchair accessible vehicles in Spain so I am pinning my hopes on them at the moment, but I cannot find an email address for them.  

I have tried to contact them through a link on their webside but it will not allow me to send my message.

Does anyone on this forum know anything about this company or had any experience of them?

In particular, does anyone know their email address?

At present my plan is to come to Spain in the Motability leased vehicle and more or less as soon as we get there I intend to go and visit this firm and see if they can help me buy a suitable van.  I am hoping they may also be able to help with insurance and other legalities to get me on the road.

As soon as I am road legal in a Spanish registerd van I will have to drive the Motability van back to the UK, hand it back to the leasing company and then fly back to Spain.  

Any help or advice from anyone on this forum would be greatly appreciated.

Thread: Wheelchair accessible vehicles in Spain

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11 Jun 2016 4:21 PM:

Hello everybody'

This is my first visit to the Eye on Spain forum.

My wife and I and my wheelchair-bound disabled son are intending to move to the Costa Blanca to live for the foreseeable future.

The problem I seem unable to resolve is to do with vehicles.

My son's disabilities mean that we have to use a vehicle with a ramp or lift to get the wheelchair in.  Our current vehicle is a Peugeot Expert van with windows.  It can accommodate the driver and two passengers in addition to the wheelchair user who enters via a ramp at the rear.  The vehicle is adapted with a lowered floor.  It is right-hand drive. The vehicle is leased from the charity called Motability, who are the owners of it.

We will be driving down to Spain, via France in this vehicle and Motability will supply us with written proof that we have permission to be using the vehicle abroad.  We will also have valid insurance and a green card as well as breakdown cover.  The vehicle does not need an MOT because it is too new.    

At the end of our first six months in Spain, Motability will require that their vehicle is returned to them in the UK, so one of our first tasks when we arrive will be to try and source a replacemant vehicle which will siut our needs.

Financial constraints mean that we will be looking for a second-hand vehicle.  

The questions I have are as follows:-

1. Would it be possible for us to buy a wheelchair accessible vehicle in Spain and register it in my name?

2. Would it be better to hand the Motability vehicle back before we leave the UK, buy a vehicle here in the UK and drive to Spain in that vehicle hoping to re-register it in Spain after we arrive?   (This would be easier for us but would we be able to register an adapted right-hand drive vehicle in Spain at all?)

3. Can anyone suggest how and where we would obtain valid insurance for this type of vehicle in Spain?    

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thread: Wheelchair accessible vehicles in Spain

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