# Driving a UK-registered car in Spain - How many times?



## Wibs (Apr 1, 2015)

I have read in several threads that you can drive a UK-registered card in Spain for up to six months, and if any longer then you must have it registered in Spain. But if I drive in Spain for 4 months, then go back to the UK for 2 months, then repeat, can that go on forever? 

What about crossing the border into Portugal, or Gibraltar, for a day or two, will that reset the 6-months clock? If not, how many days WILL reset the clock?

Wibs


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Wibs said:


> I have read in several threads that you can drive a UK-registered card in Spain for up to six months, and if any longer then you must have it registered in Spain. But if I drive in Spain for 4 months, then go back to the UK for 2 months, then repeat, can that go on forever?
> 
> What about crossing the border into Portugal, or Gibraltar, for a day or two, will that reset the 6-months clock? If not, how many days WILL reset the clock?
> 
> Wibs


You need to be resident in the same country as the car is registered. Its not about the car as such, in anycase, its much cheaper and easier to get it matriculated than to keep driving it to all of these places lol.

But no, that doesnt work. It has to be matriculated within three months of arriving in Spain, if you're going to be living there - its not difficult

Jo xxx


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## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

Hola

The rules say that you can only be out of your country of origin for six months in any twelve month period. 

So by all means come to Spain for six months and return within 183 days to keep your car legal (but don´t return for six months) 

Or come out in February, April, June, August, October & December - that is also legal 

Davexf


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

Also check your insurance. Even though you may be theoretically allowed to be in Spain for 6 months, it's unlikely that your UK policy covers you for more than 90 days outsie the UK.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

davexf said:


> Hola
> 
> The rules say that you can only be out of your country of origin for six months in any twelve month period.
> 
> ...


*WRONG*

It is illegal for a resident of one country to own and drive a vehicle registered in another country.

If you are going to be in Spain for more than 90 days continuously then you are considered a resident and are required register as such and, at the moment, you may have up to a further three months (following registration as a resident) to rematriculate the car, however, some areas give you only one month from the date of your registration and other areas only give you three months from your date of arrival. 183 days is a red-herring and has nothing to do with this, that is the period after which you automatically become *tax*- resident.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

.....And some friendly neighbour may report you. Ha ha.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Isobella said:


> .....And some friendly neighbour may report you. Ha ha.


You know what....I often feel like I should.
After all, I pay ITV, my road tax to the local town hall and my vehicles are fully insured. I don't expect to be given a medal for that, it was what I did in the UK.

I don't see so many of them around here now but occasionally I'll come across a beat-up old UK plated LHD vehicle that is frequently driven around here, no tax or MOT. I have no idea whether this or similar cars is insured but it's likely that there could be problems if I were involved in an accident with one of these possibly poorly maintained cars.

If the owner of this vehicle has such a cavalier attitude to laws relating to vehicles, would it not be fair to assume that s/he might have a similar attitude to taxation in general? Or might be working on the black? That might not automatically be the case, of course.

I won't report these people, just as I don't contact the DWP about the British immigrant who regularly returns to the UK to sign on for benefits and who does regular taxi runs to the airport.

But I have my opinions of them. I don't perform a kind of triage on laws in Spain or the UK whereby I flout those that don't suit me or stop me doing what I want.

Just off to polish the halo


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

I agree about the UK reg. cars driven by people living there year round. some looked clapped out. but in Wibs case, the thread starter, his car will be legal and I presume taxed and tested. 

There are a lot of german cars too around marbella and Calahonda.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Isobella said:


> I agree about the UK reg. cars driven by people living there year round. some looked clapped out. but in Wibs case, the thread starter, his car will be legal and I presume taxed and tested.
> 
> There are a lot of german cars too around marbella and Calahonda.


When we first came here seven years ago there were a lot more 'permanent' UK plated cars, now not so many. Don't know why....Not many German cars seen here.
There are a few posh Russian plated cars passing by on their way to or from Marbella/Sotogrande, mainly Bentley Continentals which I guess must be the ultimate status symbol in Omsk or whereever. I don't suppose the owners give a toss about Spanish laws.


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## Wibs (Apr 1, 2015)

The reason for posting my original question was due to my experience with bringing my car back from Germany into England, when I retired.

The first thing I had to do when I arrived in the UK with my German car (a Citroen C4 Picasso) was to inform HM Revenue and Customs, which you do with a NOVA form.

It was a nightmare, as they asked for all kinds of info that I didn't have, such as:

Q. Do you have the invoice/receipt when you bought the car?
Yes
Q. What is the Invoice Number?
Errr, there isn't one on the invoice!

Q. Did you pay VAT?
Yes
Q. What is the EU VAT Registration Number of the supplier?
Errr, there is VAT on the invoice, but not their VAT registration number.

However, I managed to get through it all, and finally I got a declaration sheet at the end that stated that I did not have to pay any VAT on my vehicle, and that I should take/send the declaration to DVLA in order to register the car.

I then had to take the car to a garage to get the car UK Road Legal. The three things for my make of car was:

1. Headlights changed
2. Speedo from Km/hr into MPH
3. Fog light moving to other side

Fortunately, 2 was easy, as you can do this in the dashboard computer settings, and 3 was no-need as my model had dual foglights, so just the headlights to change. So, off to the Citroen dealer (expensive) got my headlights replaced, and the suitably worded invoice, and an MOT. Also applied for and got my new UK Driving License with my new UK address on it.

Next was to apply to the Vehicle Certification Agency for the 'Mutual Recognition Certificate' and the Import Pack, which arrived after just over 3 weeks wait! In the same post was an Individual Approval Certificate, IVA, from the VCA (I thought I was getting a Mutual Recognition Certificate), which I applied for.

In the Import Pack is the required form, the registration application form, the V55/5. This was not as straightforward as I imagined. I had to get help from forums on the following V55/5 questions:

16. HC g/km or g/kWh
The box for this on the Certificate of Conformity (COC) is blank, as is the corresponding box on the IVA. I am worried that if I leave this box blank then DVLA will reject the form

17. Unladen Weight
There is no explicit 'Unladen Weight' on the COC or IVA. They do have the following: "Mass of the vehicle with bodywork in running order (in service mass) (kg): 1656kg" Is this the same as 'Unladen Weight'?

32. Engine Number
The notes says to get this from the vehicle, but from where??

36. Mass in Service (kg)
Is this the same as Unladen Weight in 17 above?

37 Particulates (pm) g/km or g/kWh
The nearest I can find to this is "Partikel: 0.001 g/km" in the section that has CO, HC, NOx, etc. Is this what they are after?

I had to upload a scan of the Cerificate of Conformity (COC) to Dropbox so various forum gurus could advise. One problem was getting the Engine Number. Unfortunately the Registration Documents, the Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil 1 and Teil 2, did not show either the HC or the Engine Number. Various forum gurus suggested certain ID points to get the engine number, but the ID plates did not show it. One guy said he had to dismantle the entire front of the car, removed the radiator, in order to read it directly off the engine!

As the only two boxes I had not filled in were the HC and the Engine Number, I decided to submit the form and see what happened.

So I got my V55/5 off to DVLA, accompanied by:

01. HMC&E Nova notification
02. Certificate of Conformity
03. IVA
04. MOT
05. German Certificate of Ownership (Teil 1)
06. German Vehicle Certificate (logbook, Teil 2)
07. Proof of identity (passport and driving license photocopies)
08. Proof of address (driving license and bank statement)
09. Cheque for first registration
10. Cheque for 12 months car tax

It all went through OK. I got my logbook (V5C), updated MOT and a tax disc, after about 10 days. They sent all my supporting documents back separately, and they arived a couple of days later.

I then got my insurance sorted. The next question was should I place my car tax disk on the kerbside of the windscreen, so it can be inspected safely, although the disc partially obscures the driver's view, being LHD? This led to all kinds of conflicting evidence from the forum gurus, but fortunately, in the UK at least, tax discs have now been abolished.


So, in conclusion, when someone tells me after 3 months I should start the process of getting my car registered in Spain, forgive me for my heart skipping several beats, especially if a few months down the line I want to return to the UK with my car, and go through all this again 

Wibs


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

We don't know anything about a lot of people though. Has that nice Guy with the new Merc living round the corner insured his car even if it's Spanish reg. what about all the immigrants selling at Brit car boot sales, do they pay their taxes.even your best mate could be a tax dodger, most people don't talk about their financial affairs do they. 

I remember one man setting up a limousine hire service in Puerto Banus. All looked very professional, uniformed drivers etc. but the cars were all UK plated, don't know how he got around that


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Isobella said:


> We don't know anything about a lot of people though. Has that nice Guy with the new Merc living round the corner insured his car even if it's Spanish reg. what about all the immigrants selling at Brit car boot sales, do they pay their taxes.even your best mate could be a tax dodger, most people don't talk about their financial affairs do they.
> 
> I remember one man setting up a limousine hire service in Puerto Banus. All looked very professional, uniformed drivers etc. but the cars were all UK plated, don't know how he got around that


Well, what about it....

I don't follow other people, I set my own standards. If the German/Spanish/British person next door beats his/her partner, kicks the cat, swears at the goldfish, fiddles the taxes, drives an uninsured untaxed car....so does that mean we should all do it

I don't care how people 'get round things'. I do care about the poor image of Spain that is created by far too many British and other immigrants because **** sticks...


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> I don't care how people 'get round things'. I do care about the poor image of Spain that is created by far too many British and other immigrants because **** sticks...


and the poor image Spaniards get of British and other immigrants caused by a few selfish and ignorant ones who, regrettably, stand out and give the rest of us law-abiding immigrants a bad name.


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

mrypg9 said:


> Well, what about it....
> 
> I don't follow other people, I set my own standards. If the German/Spanish/British person next door beats his/her partner, kicks the cat, swears at the goldfish, fiddles the taxes, drives an uninsured untaxed car....so does that mean we should all do it
> 
> I don't care how people 'get round things'. I do care about the poor image of Spain that is created by far too many British and other immigrants because **** sticks...


The point I was making is that I don't spend my time wondering what everyone else is doing. If they want to take the risk then so be it. I don't get outraged. We conduct ourself properly whilst there and I can't feel responsible for other Brits. But you are right about the DM image, seems every week there is a story about a criminal, usually in Marbella so readers in the UK thinks everyone is the same.


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## garryg163 (Jun 10, 2015)

*Cars*



jojo said:


> You need to be resident in the same country as the car is registered. Its not about the car as such, in anycase, its much cheaper and easier to get it matriculated than to keep driving it to all of these places lol.
> 
> But no, that doesnt work. It has to be matriculated within three months of arriving in Spain, if you're going to be living there - its not difficult
> 
> Jo xxx


Matriculation sounds painfull!

What is it please?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

garryg163 said:


> Matriculation sounds painfull!
> 
> What is it please?


Changing your UK plates and registration to Spanish plates and registration. Something legally, you need to do if you live in Spain and have brought your UK car with you

Jo xxx


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

garryg163 said:


> Matriculation sounds painfull!
> 
> What is it please?


It's not as simple as Jo says. Your vehicle has to be inspected to make sure it complies with Spanish Regulations (lights, etc. Type, modifications, etc,) any variation from the manufacturer's spec. will be checked, etc. then it will be subjected to the ITV (Spanish MoT) which is quite rigorous and, depending on the age of the vehicle will have to be done regularly.


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## garryg163 (Jun 10, 2015)

Thanks for that guys.


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## Kezar001 (Mar 29, 2014)

I thought the itv was after 4 years and then every 2 years compared to UK of 3 years and 1 year respectively?


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Kezar001 said:


> I thought the itv was after 4 years and then every 2 years compared to UK of 3 years and 1 year respectively?


Much depends on which class the vehicle is registered in - "Turismo" or "Mixta". Many MPVs are registered as "Mixta" and the the ITV comes around more frequently (I believe the thinking is that if the vehicle is used for carrying goods then it undergoes a more rapid ageing, hence more frequent testing.) Vehicles such as the Berlingo, the Partner, Kangoo et al are quite often "Mixta" although they have only ever been used as privately owned passenger vehicles and I understand that once the vehicle has been registered in one class it is difficult and costly to get it changed.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

.... also 'normal' cars have to have an ITV every year once they get to their 10th birthday.


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