# Receiving post when you have no post box and dont live here...



## Spangles 72 (Oct 30, 2013)

Hi all,

We have had a little place in the campo in Almogia for a couple of years now, and as we have no postal service out here we pay for a P.O box in a nearby town. Thats fine for utility bills etc, but when we bought a car recently they would not accept that address, they insisted on using the property address (this has happened twice now), they say they need to use that to get notice of fines etc to us, but of course in using that address they will never get here!! They end up in the village post office, and if not collected in 14 days its returned to the originator. As we live in England for chunks of the year, we end up not getting any official communications, never got our council tax bill, car tax bill, nothing at all. Do you know if the ayuntamiento and traffico will change our address to the PO box? I would hate to miss any fines or official notices, but I probably have!! My spanish is limited so not sure how to go about this. Thanks for any help.


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## country boy (Mar 10, 2010)

Simple answer....no they won't. 
We've been here for 16 years living with a PO Box only address because we live in the campo and there appears to be no way round it. I would be interested if anyone knows a way.


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## Spangles 72 (Oct 30, 2013)

country boy said:


> Simple answer....no they won't.
> We've been here for 16 years living with a PO Box only address because we live in the campo and there appears to be no way round it. I would be interested if anyone knows a way.



Oh dear!!! How do you get around it? How do you receive communications from the council etc??


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

You can rent a private box at the Correos and pick up your mail whenever you like, no time limit, for a small fee payable monthly, quarterly or annually. Ask for "apartado postal".

Apartado Postal


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## Spangles 72 (Oct 30, 2013)

Alcalaina said:


> You can rent a private box at the Correos and pick up your mail whenever you like, no time limit, for a small fee payable monthly, quarterly or annually. Ask for "apartado postal".
> 
> Apartado Postal



This could be the answer..... i guess I would have to do it at my local village post office where all the mail goes, that makes sense! Thanks very much, I shall pop in there tomorrow and enquire.


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## Campesina (Dec 17, 2011)

The way around this is to give the address where you live including the town where your post office box is but when you give the address to DGT put as the second line down 'Aptdo 999' or whatever your number is.

The post office should accept the 'Aptdo' part of the address and put any communication in your box but DGT will have your residential address and will assume that 'Aptdo' is part of it and will accept it as a residential address.

A far more secure method of receiving notifications of traffic fines etc is to obtain a digital signature from CERES/FNMT. You can then register with DGT to receive notifications by email and/or SMS and you can access this from anywhere there is an internet connection so you will receive the notification even if you are not here to collect your mail. 

This would save a considerable amount of money if you should receive a fine because the next step is to send you a request for the identity of the drive which incurs another fine for failing to respond. If the matter goes on for some time you will incur further fines and surcharges for late payment and a speeding fine of, for example, €300 for which you get a 50% discount if you pay within 20 days could end up as over a thousand euros.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Of course they want to know where you live since it is the Ayuntamiento for that location that bills you for your annual car tax. All your regular bills such as car tax, council tax, etc can be paid by direct debit through your bank in Spain.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

We have a similar problem made worse by the fact that our Correos post box is in our nearest town (where we do all of our grocery shopping) and our postal address is in a different, very rural municipality. Letters addressed to our actual address get left in a little room at our local Town Hall but it is a bit of a nuisance having to do a 20-minute round trip just to see if we have any mail, especially as the only full-time employee locks-up and disappears to the local bar at regular intervals! On the whole though most official bodies send mail to our Correos address. Trafico, however, said they wouldn't send our new driving licences to the Correos address even though we explained to them that this was far more secure (ie, mail isn't left out on a table in a room open to the public!). As it happens, though, my licence was sent to the actual address (picked up at the Town Hall) and they sent my wife's to the Correos address! It could only happen in Spain! By the way, you can check free online for fines and other notifications at buscamultas.com, Buscador de multas independiente


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## Campesina (Dec 17, 2011)

Yes, you can check on the Buscador de Multas site but this is compiled from information published in the BOP of the province and can take several months to appear by which time the period for paying with a discount will have long gone and further fines may already have been imposed.

As I said, the most secure method of receiving notifications is to register with DGT by means of a digital signature. You do not necessarily have to be a resident, you just need a NIE number and your passport.

You can also check here without a digital signature:

https://sede.dgt.gob.es/es/aplicaciones/testra-sin-certificado.shtml

but it is not foolproof and you do not receive notifications


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## Spangles 72 (Oct 30, 2013)

Alcalaina said:


> You can rent a private box at the Correos and pick up your mail whenever you like, no time limit, for a small fee payable monthly, quarterly or annually. Ask for "apartado postal".
> 
> Apartado Postal


I went to my village post office today to ask about an apartado postal and they are not available there, so sadly that option is out


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## Spangles 72 (Oct 30, 2013)

Posted in error


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## Spangles 72 (Oct 30, 2013)

Campesina said:


> The way around this is to give the address where you live including the town where your post office box is but when you give the address to DGT put as the second line down 'Aptdo 999' or whatever your number is.
> 
> The post office should accept the 'Aptdo' part of the address and put any communication in your box but DGT will have your residential address and will assume that 'Aptdo' is part of it and will accept it as a residential address.
> 
> ...


Hi Campesina

I have tried to get a post box at my local village P.O but they dont do them there, so that is out, as where I live and the town of my post box are 2 different towns! Sounds like the digital signature thingy is the way to go, no idea what that is or how to go about it or what CERES/FMNT is? Can you fill me in on how to go about doing that? its all new to me!! Thank you so much for your help.


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## stevesainty (Jan 7, 2011)

Spangles 72 said:


> Campesina said:
> 
> 
> > register with DGT by means of a digital signature.
> ...


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## Spangles 72 (Oct 30, 2013)

stevesainty said:


> Spangles 72 said:
> 
> 
> > Digital signatures are really easy and simple to obtain. It is a two stage thing.
> ...


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## Relyat (Sep 29, 2013)

Have a look here:-
Obtaining a Digital Signature (Electronic Certificate) - Andalucia.com

Explains the process a bit more


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