# Taking uk car to marbella



## Claire11 (Oct 17, 2011)

Hi,

Does anyone know information about taking a UK car to Spain? I believe their is no such thing as MOT's over there or Road Tax. What happens with insurance and car parts if something happens and how long you can drive in UK license before getting a Spanish license plate and Spanish license plates on the car.

Also, has anyone driven from Scotland to there? We are thinking of shipping the car over if it works out cheaper as less hassle has anyone shipped a car from the UK?

Would appreciate any help.

Thank you,
Claire
x


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Claire11 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Does anyone know information about taking a UK car to Spain? I believe their is no such thing as MOT's over there or Road Tax. What happens with insurance and car parts if something happens and how long you can drive in UK license before getting a Spanish license plate and Spanish license plates on the car.
> 
> ...



Sell it and buy one when you get to Spain!!! Have a look at a few previous threads on the subject

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...-driving-spain-info.html?highlight=cars+spain

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...9-do-i-bring-my-car.html?highlight=cars+spain

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...bringing-cars-spain.html?highlight=cars+spain

Jo xxx


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## Claire11 (Oct 17, 2011)

jojo said:


> Sell it and buy one when you get to Spain!!! Have a look at a few previous threads on the subject
> 
> http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...-driving-spain-info.html?highlight=cars+spain
> 
> ...


Hi Jo,

Thanks if only it was that easy but we have the car on finance so we can't sell it  Got to keep it for 2 more years.

Claire
x


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## Seb* (Mar 22, 2009)

Claire11 said:


> Hi Jo,
> 
> Thanks if only it was that easy but we have the car on finance so we can't sell it  Got to keep it for 2 more years.
> 
> ...


The question is, are you allowed to take it permanently out of the country? When you become resident in Spain you have to transfer the car within weeks to spanish number plates, insure it and pay road tax (and yes Spain has MOT, called ITV and road tax). UK plated cars from non-residents can stay on UK plates up to 180 days. At this time it will be taken off the DVLA register. Does your finance company mind? The transfer will cost, depending on value of the car and needed alterations/certificates, anything between 500 and several thousand euros.


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## Claire11 (Oct 17, 2011)

Seb* said:


> The question is, are you allowed to take it permanently out of the country? When you become resident in Spain you have to transfer the car within weeks to spanish number plates, insure it and pay road tax (and yes Spain has MOT, called ITV and road tax). UK plated cars from non-residents can stay on UK plates up to 180 days. At this time it will be taken off the DVLA register. Does your finance company mind? The transfer will cost, depending on value of the car and needed alterations/certificates, anything between 500 and several thousand euros.


Hi,

Well I went into the Audi Garage today and spoke to someone and they didn't see a problem at all with it. They said it's our car and as long as the payments are being met then we are fine. If we took it outside EU then it's a problem but we aren't so should be okay. I might call the finance company anyway to double check but Audi don't have a problem with it themselves. 

Thanks,
Claire


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Claire11 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Well I went into the Audi Garage today and spoke to someone and they didn't see a problem at all with it. They said it's our car and as long as the payments are being met then we are fine. If we took it outside EU then it's a problem but we aren't so should be okay. I might call the finance company anyway to double check but Audi don't have a problem with it themselves.
> 
> ...


You must call the finance company, cos you'll be having to change a lot of the details on the car (registration, MoT, tax etc), which may cause a problem. It really isnt easy or cheap to get cars matriculated tho, but people do - and indeed must to keep it legal!

Jo xxxx


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## Claire11 (Oct 17, 2011)

jojo said:


> You must call the finance company, cos you'll be having to change a lot of the details on the car (registration, MoT, tax etc), which may cause a problem. It really isnt easy or cheap to get cars matriculated tho, but people do - and indeed must to keep it legal!
> 
> Jo xxxx


Jo,

Thanks, obviously we were going to call them, we like to do things by the book.

I will get my partner to do all the calling though haha.... 

Do you know anything about shipping a car to Spain?

Thanks 
Claire
xxx


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Claire11 said:


> Jo,
> 
> Thanks, obviously we were going to call them, we like to do things by the book.
> 
> ...


Not really. My husband looked at shipping our citroen picasso back from Spain to Southern England a while ago and I think the cheapest he found was £800, but I dont know anymore than that - or even what that figure included. Have a google??!

jo xxx


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## Claire11 (Oct 17, 2011)

jojo said:


> Not really. My husband looked at shipping our citroen picasso back from Spain to Southern England a while ago and I think the cheapest he found was £800, but I dont know anymore than that - or even what that figure included. Have a google??!
> 
> jo xxx


Hi yes my partner has filled in some forms online so waiting for the quotes to come back.

If only we could click our fingers and everything magically happened for us haha.

Thanks for your help,
Claire
x


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Claire11 said:


> Hi yes my partner has filled in some forms online so waiting for the quotes to come back.
> 
> If only we could click our fingers and everything magically happened for us haha.
> 
> ...


I can sense your impatience LOL!!!! Just make sure that you plan it all properly and be prepared for the unexpected. I was like you and couldnt wait, fortunately my OH is a cautious soul and without his caution and checking everything (which drove me mad), we'd probably have been in a mess LOL

Jo xxxx


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## Claire11 (Oct 17, 2011)

jojo said:


> I can sense your impatience LOL!!!! Just make sure that you plan it all properly and be prepared for the unexpected. I was like you and couldnt wait, fortunately my OH is a cautious soul and without his caution and checking everything (which drove me mad), we'd probably have been in a mess LOL
> 
> Jo xxxx


I know we are going through everything but becasue I work from home i can research things more and sort things out during the day etc..makes it a bit easier. Hopefully coming out in January to view properties and to find out more. I've just had a tough year here in Aberdeen and want to meet new people and start a new life if you get me. Lots of backstabbing with so called 'friends' here and just can't be done with it so moving on, always wanted to move abroad but that has given me the push if you like to do it 

x


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Claire11 said:


> I know we are going through everything but becasue I work from home i can research things more and sort things out during the day etc..makes it a bit easier. Hopefully coming out in January to view properties and to find out more. I've just had a tough year here in Aberdeen and want to meet new people and start a new life if you get me. Lots of backstabbing with so called 'friends' here and just can't be done with it so moving on, always wanted to move abroad but that has given me the push if you like to do it
> 
> x



Go for it!!! Coming out in January is a good time, cos you'll see Spain at its worst, not much sunshine or tourists. So you'll know how it can be and then theres the summer to look foreward to........:clap2::clap2:

Jo xxxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

We drove in a mini-convoy from Prague to Spain, no problems. The journey took three days as we didn't rush it and we spent two nights on the way in good hotels with highly-recommended restaurants so it was like a holiday.
My son drove from Surrey to where we live (about twenty minutes from Puerto Banus) last year. I think he spent one night in a hotel somewhere in France.
The important thing is to take it easy and plan coffee, lunch and tea stops then to stop driving at around 6pm so you can enjoy a relaxing evening with a good dinner..


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## Claire11 (Oct 17, 2011)

Hi thank you!

We were wondering if we could ship the car but driving might be okay just money for hotels etc... 

Was it easy to take the car like into the country and have you changed to Spanish plates etc..? 

X


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## MacRov (Oct 26, 2010)

I drove my car from Aberdeen to San Javier (around 1900 miles). I done it over 3 days and just slept in the car, wife n kids flew down.
As for taking a car on finance I would definitely check with the finance company because we've had to leave our other car in the uk as reading the finance agreement they only allowed the car to be out of the UK for up to 30 days ie holidays etc. So basically it's sitting in the uk doing nothing until we can get the settlement figure down a bit more.
As for getting your uk car on spanish plates, it's just cost me around 800 euros and that's for an old car so paid less tax on it, so prepare for a large bill and you have to do it quickly once you've signed onto the padron.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Claire11 said:


> Hi thank you!
> 
> We were wondering if we could ship the car but driving might be okay just money for hotels etc...
> 
> ...


We drove in a Spanish plated LandRover which which we bought on the internet from a UK LHD specialist. All we had to do was transfer ownership which was simple and painless as the UK company supplied all the relevant documentation.
The other vehicle was a Mercedes CLK cabriolet which we bought from Mercedes Nuremberg via another UK company also while living in Prague. We transferred it from German to UK plates whilst in Prague and kept it here for a year until it needed tax and became eligible for MOT and as we couldn't be a***d to drive it to the UK every year thereafter my son drove it back to the UK and sold it for us.
I miss it still as it was a great - albeit somewhat flash -vehicle but apart from the hassle as described above it was an impractical vehicle for our lifestyle in Spain.
Plus the fact that I looked like a bordello madame driving it around PB in shades....
Had we changed it to Spanish plates we would apparently have had to have paid a hefty import tax as it was a fairly newish car and tax is based on a % of the vehicle's value.
Tbh, it's so much easier to buy a LHD car in the UK, especially if already Spanish plated as was our LR Disco.
Our journey involved the crossing of three borders, the German, French and Spanish. We had our extremely large Rhodesian Ridgeback dog, Our Little Azor, prominent in the back of the LR. He had his passport and all necessary vetinary preparations for the journey but to our amazement we were not stopped at any of the borders. With all the precautions about rabies you would have thought the officials would have inspected OLA's docs. if not ours...
The Czech - German border post was deserted...
When people think the EU is ineffectual they should consider that the crossing of that particular border in 1938 eventually provoked a war which killed millions of European citizens.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Should have added that had we changed it from UK to Spanish plateswe were told we would have been hit with a hefty tax bill as tax is based on a % of the vehicle's value and it was a rather expensive vehicle.


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## brocher (Mar 21, 2011)

MacRov said:


> I drove my car from Aberdeen to San Javier (around 1900 miles). I done it over 3 days and just slept in the car, wife n kids flew down.
> As for taking a car on finance I would definitely check with the finance company because we've had to leave our other car in the uk as reading the finance agreement they only allowed the car to be out of the UK for up to 30 days ie holidays etc. So basically it's sitting in the uk doing nothing until we can get the settlement figure down a bit more.
> As for getting your uk car on spanish plates, it's just cost me around 800 euros and that's for an old car so paid less tax on it, so prepare for a large bill and you have to do it quickly once you've signed onto the padron.


MacRov

Please post the photo of your car packed and ready to go, again for Claire. I loved it!

Hope all going well for you since the move.


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## MacRov (Oct 26, 2010)

brocher said:


> MacRov
> 
> Please post the photo of your car packed and ready to go, again for Claire. I loved it!
> 
> Hope all going well for you since the move.


Haha, no problem brocher. 
Yeah everything's going good, a bit of a faff getting the NIE etc but no big worries, kids are settling in well at school and eldest is at a spanish tutor every day. So yeah, all going pretty damn well 



















and a bonus 1 of the 2 travelling companions


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I havent looked at this, but saw it and thought of you 

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...importing-car.html?highlight=registering+bike

Jo xxx


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## jonmlb748 (Oct 30, 2011)

drive it down ,enjoy a day or two in France. it will cost you to import it but it's your car and you know is history.I have driven right hand cars here for years and never had any dramas.in fact they're easier to park!


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