# renting a UK plated vehicle in Spain



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

a friend wants to know if it's legal to hire a UK plated vehicle while on holiday here in Spain, assuming it's got MOT, tax & ins. 

I suspect not, but said I'd ask..............

they're obviously not resident (just coming for hols), but if they were it _definitely_ wouldn't be, right?


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

xabiachica said:


> a friend wants to know if it's legal to hire a UK plated vehicle while on holiday here in Spain, assuming it's got MOT, tax & ins.
> 
> I suspect not, but said I'd ask..............
> 
> they're obviously not resident (just coming for hols), but if they were it _definitely_ wouldn't be, right?


I'm wondering why anyone coming to Spain would prefer a UK-plated presumably RHD vehicle...but sobre los gustos, as thec saying goes.

Is it legal to offer one for rent, I wonder??


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> I'm wondering why anyone coming to Spain would prefer a UK-plated presumably RHD vehicle...but sobre los gustos, as thec saying goes.
> 
> Is it legal to offer one for rent, I wonder??


they don't exactly WANT a RHD UK plated vehicle - but it's being offered really cheap 

I'm not entirely sure it's legal to offer one for rent either though, which was partly why I asked


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

Just how would they insure it ?

Of course they cannot & should the worse comt to the worse it will not be a cheap deal (far from it)


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## Seb* (Mar 22, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> they don't exactly WANT a RHD UK plated vehicle - but it's being offered really cheap
> 
> I'm not entirely sure it's legal to offer one for rent either though, which was partly why I asked


I am sure you will need a special insurance and a license for a start (which then probably will not allow foreign registrations). I saw the offer on Facebook and nearly commented on it. It is clearly a private arrangement and I am pretty sure it is done on the black.

If the car is legal on the road and the people renting it can prove it's not in the country for more than 6 months the police will probably not do anything. The biggest issue I see is the insurance, they can not drive an uninsured car and they have to check the supplied insurance will cover THEM (and not just the owner). You get what you pay for and if you want to be sure and 100% legal you have to use a professional company. Personallly I would not do it.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

playamonte said:


> Just how would they insure it ?
> 
> Of course they cannot & should the worse comt to the worse it will not be a cheap deal (far from it)


my friends have def decided NOT to rent it now


I can't see how it can be legal or legally insured either - it's being openly advertised on a couple of FB groups though - and has been rented out apparently for most of the summer

she tells anyone who asks that it's 'legal, MOT, tax & insured' & of course they just believe her 

if the owners are residents themselves, which they are, having been here more than a year afaik, even THEY shouldn't be driving it


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> my friends have def decided NOT to rent it now
> 
> 
> I can't see how it can be legal or legally insured either - it's being openly advertised on a couple of FB groups though - and has been rented out apparently for most of the summer
> ...


Then I would be inclined to let Crapbook users know just what they could be letting themselves in for.


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## fergie (Oct 4, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> my friends have def decided NOT to rent it now
> 
> 
> I can't see how it can be legal or legally insured either - it's being openly advertised on a couple of FB groups though - and has been rented out apparently for most of the summer
> ...


If it is legally taxed, MOT'd and insured, it is still registered in the UK to a particular person on the logbook, and I don't think it would be legal for it to be driven by anybody else in Spain, because it is not registered here, it could have been brought over by fair or foul means by the people advertising it. Plus any other person driving under UK insurance would have to be added onto the certificate as a legal driver. Too dodgy! I wouldn't like to be the one driving that if I was pulled up by the Guardia Civil. They are much safer hiring a car from a cheap Spanish company like Solmar LHD.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

fergie said:


> If it is legally taxed, MOT'd and insured, it is still registered in the UK to a particular person on the logbook, and I don't think it would be legal for it to be driven by anybody else in Spain, because it is not registered here, it could have been brought over by fair or foul means by the people advertising it. Plus any other person driving under UK insurance would have to be added onto the certificate as a legal driver. Too dodgy! I wouldn't like to be the one driving that if I was pulled up by the Guardia Civil. They are much safer hiring a car from a cheap Spanish company like Solmar LHD.


I didn't think it sounded right..........

glad to say my friends have seen sense, too


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

There is a huge difference in vehicle insurance between Spain and the UK, namely that in the UK the DRIVER is insured, in Spain it's the VEHICLE.

It is possible to obtain insurance for such a vehicle but it is horrendously expensive. I'm not sure -I preferred to forget - but I think I paid in the region of £800 to have a new Merc CLK on UK plates with tax, no MOT needed,insured for use here.

These people must be desperate to indulge in such petty practices to earn a few euros.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> There is a huge difference in vehicle insurance between Spain and the UK, namely that in the UK the DRIVER is insured, in Spain it's the VEHICLE.
> 
> It is possible to obtain insurance for such a vehicle but it is horrendously expensive. I'm not sure -I preferred to forget - but I think I paid in the region of £800 to have a new Merc CLK on UK plates with tax, no MOT needed,insured for use here.
> 
> These people must be desperate to indulge in such petty practices to earn a few euros.


so if it's insured in SPAIN......it might be OK??

it's still doubtful though if it's licenced for renting out though I guess?

I assume it would need to be & they'd need to be running a legal company....... rambling here - that only just occurred to me 

well, anyway, as I say, my friends have seen the light so I'm not worried about them now - worried about anyone who HAS rented it though


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

xabiachica said:


> so if it's insured in SPAIN......it might be OK??
> 
> it's still doubtful though if it's licenced for renting out though I guess?
> 
> ...


Yes, you can register a UK-plated vehicle when you live out of the UK. I did it when I drove my Merc in Prague. But... as in the UK, for NAMED drivers only.
I investigated using the same company when I got my Spanish-plated vehicle but 
actually advised me not to!! They were right, I paid 50% less with Linea Directa...

So this 'hire car' wouldn't be legal...which could be very bad news for the innocent people renting it if they had an accident.

I think these people are disgusting and should be brought to the attention of the authorities. It's these kinds of low-life that give us a bad name.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Seb* said:


> I am sure you will need a special insurance and a license for a start (which then probably will not allow foreign registrations). I saw the offer on Facebook and nearly commented on it. It is clearly a private arrangement and I am pretty sure it is done on the black.
> 
> If the car is legal on the road and the people renting it can prove it's not in the country for more than 6 months the police will probably not do anything. The biggest issue I see is the insurance, they can not drive an uninsured car and they have to check the supplied insurance will cover THEM (and not just the owner). You get what you pay for and if you want to be sure and 100% legal you have to use a professional company. Personallly I would not do it.


how did I miss this last night!! I forgot you were on one of the groups where it was posted !!!

I almost wish you _had_ commented - I doubt the people hiring it have a clue it could be dodgy (and maybe dangerous) - & perhaps the people putting it out for rent don't either

it would be awful all round if something went wrong - the caca could really hit the ventilador


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## Seb* (Mar 22, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> how did I miss this last night!! I forgot you were on one of the groups where it was posted !!!
> 
> I almost wish you _had_ commented - I doubt the people hiring it have a clue it could be dodgy (and maybe dangerous) - & perhaps the people putting it out for rent don't either
> 
> it would be awful all round if something went wrong - the caca could really hit the ventilador


To be honest I stopped posting on those groups, after any kind of critical comments is often met with hostility. There is a lot of gray stuff going on, for example the older guy who constantly sells clearly pirated videos, music and software on there (aka 50,000 songs on an external hdd for 199 EUR or 24 different language software packages including Rosetta Stone on one DVD lol). People have to realise by themselves that Spain is not the sunny paradise where you can do whatever you like, things they would have never even thought about doing in the UK  If it is not right or legal in the UK there is damn good chance that it isn't in Spain either.


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