# UK car 'on holiday!



## dmret (Mar 12, 2013)

Good morning all,
I had thought that I was up to speed on this.The intention is to drive down to Coast and to remain, on holiday, for the winter months.Then to return within the six month period. My understanding is that I am ok for three months, and then I have three months before I need to register with the spanish equivalent DVLA. Every where I've looked supports this. Yet it seems that the spanish Police take a haphazard approach to this and from what I can make out, view UK plated cars as fair game for their pension 'top ups'. As the loss of my car would be a major problem, I would be grateful if someone could give me a precise answer. I've spoken to the RAC and they quote the six month period. Re the spanish police, am I being naive?
Thanks for any advise.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

There is no clear answer to this and you will get many different viewpoints. In theory, you are supposed to apply for residency after you've been here for 90 days, and register your car with Spanish plates within three months after that (the period is supposedly changing from 6 months to 3 months). 

However, in practice, many people come on extended holidays over the winter and don't do this, because it is clear that their main residence is in the UK and they don't intend to remain in Spain permanently. 

I've never heard of anyone being prosecuted or losing their car due to overstaying, but no doubt somebody here will have.


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## dmret (Mar 12, 2013)

Many thanks for your swift response. It will be interesting to read any further replies. It just might be prudent to buy a spanish car and reverse the process. Again, thank you.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

I do know of people who have lost their cars - but to be fair they had been here & using them for years!!

I believe that you can still get a special 'permit' at customs when you enter Spain if you're staying less than 6 months


there's something in driving section of our http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...-living-spain/2725-faqs-lots-useful-info.html


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## dmret (Mar 12, 2013)

Thanks,I didn't know about this permit .I'll look it up.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Make as certain as you can that the Spanish authorities understand you are not here permanently. Your maximum time limit is officially 6 months but in some areas in excess of 3 months may be considered enough to confiscate your vehicle.


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

thrax said:


> Make as certain as you can that the Spanish authorities understand you are not here permanently. Your maximum time limit is officially 6 months but in some areas in excess of 3 months may be considered enough to confiscate your vehicle.


I find the big headache of driving your British Car in Spain is not the Spanish 
authorities but British Motor Insurance companies.
Let's ( for arguments sake ) say your driving a fairly expensive car
in Spain and you brought it across on an extended holiday to Spain
on fully comprehensive insurance.
Most UK Motor insurers say - they will only cover your car in Spain ( fully
Comp ) for a calendar month. After that you default to 3rd Party Fire and
Theft, to keep it street legal in Spain upto the 6 month cut off point.

Some are prepared to extend your UK Fully Comp cover in Spain with varying
hefty monthly extensions charges averaging £75 per month.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Williams2 said:


> I find the big headache of driving your British Car in Spain is not the Spanish
> authorities but British Motor Insurance companies.
> Let's ( for arguments sake ) say your driving a fairly expensive car
> in Spain and you brought it across on an extended holiday to Spain
> ...


There are brokers in the UK who will arrange fully comprehensive insurance for cars with UK plates for people with no UK residence.
I bought a Merc from Mercedes Nuremberg via a British company when I lived in Prague. For some daft reason I arranged for it to be put on British plates before being delivered to me.
The insurance was extremely expensive but it covered me for the whole of Europe for the whole of the year.
As soon as the Road Tax was about to run out I got my son to drive it back to the UK to sell it. It was just too expensive to keep here as well as the Road Tax issue.
I didn't think it through before moving to Spain and lost a lot of money on the sale.


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## dmret (Mar 12, 2013)

Thanks,I will.


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

I matriculated my car fairly quickly but it hacks me off when I see the same British cars on the roads clearly having been here for much longer than I have.

Then again, they're probably paying an arm and a leg to keep it taxed as, to be fair, most are. I'm saving over £200 a year in tax and insurance having matriculated it so I suppose I have the last laugh.


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## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

Hola

A good tip is to keep the ferry documentation with you especially if you have booked the return ferry 

Davexf


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## dmret (Mar 12, 2013)

Thank you. I think it likely that it will be easier to buy a spanish car, based on what I've read,I have more faith with UK police playing by the rules.


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

dmret said:


> Thank you. I think it likely that it will be easier to buy a spanish car, based on what I've read,I have more faith with UK police playing by the rules.


Of course if you buy a Spanish car and then drive it back to the UK, you will have exactly the same problem, but in reverse of course.

Just lately the Police here in Northamptonshire have been targeting non UK plated cars. 
The rules here are seize the car, crush the car, fine the owner/driver unless you can prove when it arrived.


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## dmret (Mar 12, 2013)

Thanks, I'm with you on that one. The difference is , one is a force you can reason with.


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

Barriej said:


> Of course if you buy a Spanish car and then drive it back to the UK, you will have exactly the same problem, but in reverse of course.
> 
> Just lately the Police here in Northamptonshire have been targeting non UK plated cars.
> The rules here are seize the car, crush the car, fine the owner/driver unless you can prove when it arrived.


Which only goes to emphasis the fact that it's always best to keep your ferry
documentation on you.


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## ccm47 (Oct 15, 2013)

You may find that there is a major problem with buying a car in Spain and then taking it back to the UK, in that those driving in the UK with UK driving licences are not allowed to drive their own foreign registered vehicles there!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

ccm47 said:


> You may find that there is a major problem with buying a car in Spain and then taking it back to the UK, in that those driving in the UK with UK driving licences are not allowed to drive their own foreign registered vehicles there!


My son used to keep a French registered LHD LandRover he used for family skiing trips to France.
It was fully insured and tested and road legal in France.
He experienced no problems on the few occasions he used it locally when other his other vehicles were not available.
He kept it for two years, if I remember correctly.


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## ccm47 (Oct 15, 2013)

Maybe your son was just plain lucky!
The DVLA site is quite clear : https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/temporary-imports 
PARA 7 applies.
I decided not to take the risk and am simply warning others who may act in ignorance.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

ccm47 said:


> Maybe your son was just plain lucky!
> The DVLA site is quite clear : https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/temporary-imports
> PARA 7 applies.
> I decided not to take the risk and am simply warning others who may act in ignorance.


Presumably the very many Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian cars I see on the UK roads when I visit belong to people who claim to be non- resident....


The Latvian who knocked my friend's brand new BMW off the road and caused major damage when he hit her with his ancient Latvian registered rust bucket wasn't insured either. He threatened her when she called the police and drove off. Later that evening a strange Latvian turned up at her house - she had given the driver insurance details - and offered her a large sum of money if she told the police ' it was all a mistake'.


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> Presumably the very many Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian cars I see on the UK roads when I visit belong to people who claim to be non- resident....
> 
> 
> The Latvian who knocked my friend's brand new BMW off the road and caused major damage when he hit her with his ancient Latvian registered rust bucket wasn't insured either. He threatened her when she called the police and drove off. Later that evening a strange Latvian turned up at her house - she had given the driver insurance details - and offered her a large sum of money if she told the police ' it was all a mistake'.


Same thing happened to a neighbour of ours. Although when she described the car and the driver it turned out I worked with his brother.  got it sorted rather quickly.

I've just renewed my car tax and been told on the website. No tax disc will be sent, as the renewal date for the 1st October means it now complies with the new regulations.
Don't need one for the 68 Cortina but I've got a replica march 69 one waiting to go in the holder 

But there has been lots of press lately stating that all of the motorway monitoring cameras (the ones places in all those nice new information signs on the M1 M6 and M25) will be watching every car and checking for your details.

A friend who works on these things has also said that the cameras at the ferry and chunnel ports are now linked into the system as well, so they will now know exactly how long you have been in the UK (and for those who travel around Europe, the same cameras are at all the old border crossings as well) The police forces of Europe all have access to the databases. So hopefully those UK reg cars in Spain for the 'permanent holidaymakers' will at some point be seized. The Uk police are slowly becoming less tolerant of non Uk plated cars. As has been said before, the onus is on the car driver/owner to prove they have been in the country for less than 3 months (or whatever the length of time is). So I would hope that the police in mainland Europe do the same.


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## dmret (Mar 12, 2013)

Thanks for that.


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## jonmlb748 (Oct 30, 2011)

police very hot on this in southwest Mallorca .i would say they've pretty much cleaned up all foreign plated vehicles,that where regularly knocking about.polce controls are a daily sight here, more so after summer.


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## dmret (Mar 12, 2013)

Much appreciated


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