# UK registered vehicle in Spain



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

As a NON-RESIDENT, how long can one keep a UK plated vehicle in Spain?

For example, Mr A visits Spain for a week every 2 months but doesn't want to pay for a hire car. He has a spare car in UK - can he keep this in Spain without having to matriculate it?



ISTR that it's all about the owner and how long they are in Spain rather than the vehicle.


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Hi,
I understand it is 6 months in any calendar year to remain on UK plates.
So in your example - if car was brought across from UK every visit an total stay in Spain was less than 6 months per year - no problem.
If car stays in Spain - then after 6 months it would need to be Spanish registered.
It's the car - not the owner - otherwise people would keep "selling" car to their relatives every 6 months - husband, wife, husband, wife ets.

Cheers
Steve


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Stevesolar said:


> Hi,
> I understand it is 6 months in any calendar year to remain on UK plates.
> So in your example - if car was brought across from UK every visit an total stay in Spain was less than 6 months per year - no problem.
> If car stays in Spain - then after 6 months it would need to be Spanish registered.
> ...


It certainly used to be that way. and at one time you could keep it here on foreign as long as you liked, provided it was only on the road for 6 months a year or less.

According to this ¿Puedo registrar un vehículo en España si no resido en el país?. Blogs de Consultorio sobre Ruedas, if you aren't resident in Spain you can't matriculate a vehicle here. I found several sources which all said the same

They say that you need to be a registered resident to be able to do so.

The DGT website doesn't seem to say anything about any requirement for non-residents matriculating a vehicle here. Everything there 'assumes' that the vehicle owner is resident.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

When I looked into this previously I think I found it was a situ where you were better off being non res


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

xabiachica said:


> It certainly used to be that way. and at one time you could keep it here on foreign as long as you liked, provided it was only on the road for 6 months a year or less.
> 
> According to this ¿Puedo registrar un vehículo en España si no resido en el país?. Blogs de Consultorio sobre Ruedas, if you aren't resident in Spain you can't matriculate a vehicle here. I found several sources which all said the same
> 
> ...


... and that's the problem with that sort of BLOG, it says you can't but I know of someone who, as a non-resident, has just matriculated a UK vehicle. So you clearly can!

From elsewhere;


> Basically, so long as you do not meet the fiscal residency rules (183 days etc) you can drive it as much as you like, consistent with tax and MOT rules.
> 
> Of course, convincing the little men in green of that can be a challenge!


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## peedee (Aug 30, 2015)

And of course it will have to go back to the UK every 12 months for it's MOT or the insurance won't be valid


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

peedee said:


> And of course it will have to go back to the UK every 12 months for it's MOT or the insurance won't be valid


Depends on vehicle age......


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

snikpoh said:


> ... and that's the problem with that sort of BLOG, it says you can't but I know of someone who, as a non-resident, has just matriculated a UK vehicle. So you clearly can!
> 
> From elsewhere;


the blog & various other sources I looked at said that you could try, using padrón & that you might be successful - but of course you shouldn't be on the padrón of you aren't resident

It does seem that as long as you don't live here (as in fiscal resident as you mention) & the car is road legal, that you can drive it here as much as you like

This could be a good case for acquiring a certificate of non-residency......

Though managing to rematriculate a vehicle would save having to keep taking it back to the UK for MOT

it seems that the answer to your original question is that you don't have to matriculate the car onto Spanish plates if you aren't resident


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Ah, the advantages of non residents!!!!!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Rabbitcat said:


> Ah, the advantages of non residents!!!!!


yeah... such an advantage to have to keep going back & forth all the time.....


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Back and forth for what?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Rabbitcat said:


> Back and forth for what?


So that you aren't resident............


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Oh I see, well I am thinking more of long stayers than actual residents but it's all part of the excitement of living on the edge!!!


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## Helenameva (Aug 15, 2014)

I don't know if it's typical everywhere, but around here at least I have to drive through a police road block about once a week. I'd hate to have to go through one if my car wasn't legal or if my residency wasn't sorted or whatever necessary to be totally legit. Sometimes the police wear masks and carry guns ffs. There's no way my poker face is good enough!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Helenameva said:


> I don't know if it's typical everywhere, but around here at least I have to drive through a police road block about once a week. I'd hate to have to go through one if my car wasn't legal or if my residency wasn't sorted or whatever necessary to be totally legit. Sometimes the police wear masks and carry guns ffs. There's no way my poker face is good enough!


I think road blocks are becoming more common

For sure it would have to better to have the car matriculated if you're living here - or to be able to prove very clearly that you don't live here, if you don't


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

Rabbitcat said:


> Back and forth for what?


To visit friends and family of course. You might be spending more time in Spain but the odds are against friends and family - particularly
mom and dad moving to Spain, or even close by.
I suppose in such circumstances - fitting in the MOT while in the UK would make sense - besides you've got a non resident
status to uphold in Spain !!! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## chrisnation (Mar 2, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> So that you aren't resident............


This is getting interesting. I have a camper van - well, it will be again when I put the camper bits back, after stripping it out to do my removals to Valencia next week and again later ...

My info is that irrespective of all other considerations, a RHD _commercial_ vehicle cannot be registered to Sp plates. And my van counts as a commercial vehicle.

But as a camper, meandering back to Blighty and staying there a while, having trundled round northern France and Belgium wearing my battlefield guide hat, getting the MoT and such, would be no hardship whatsoever. 

And, as luck would have it, there is a lovely place for it to roost, in deepest Zummerzet, (the land of orange sheep) either in a barn while I stay in the house or in the caravan field, complete with electric hook up, when the house is rented out on Air BnB.

So I am paying strict attention to the rules and regs you folk are coming up with, because there seems to be an answer here which will enable me to keep this van and come and go. 

I have seen it writ on camper van fora that people drift round Europe, months on end in one country or another, inc Spain, with no problems with foreign plates because the vehicle being a camper from foreign parts, it will not be 'resident'. I have spoken to people in campers who have wintered in the car parks down at Malvarosa beach, Valencia, for months.


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## chrisnation (Mar 2, 2009)

*MoT*



peedee said:


> And of course it will have to go back to the UK every 12 months for it's MOT or the insurance won't be valid


If the MoT has expired but you haven`t been collared (yet) on foreign soil, there is a garage in Dover that is very convenient for getting the cert before you've gone more than a mile from the docks. 

A friend had to get his rhd van back to UK to sell as he couldn't keep it in Denmark. It helps if you know it will pass the test but even when my pal's van needed brake parts the garage sourced, fitted and re-tested the van all in one go.


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## Dedaneen (Jul 6, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> yeah... such an advantage to have to keep going back & forth all the time.....


Everyone needs a wee break every now and then


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## Dedaneen (Jul 6, 2013)

Helenameva said:


> I don't know if it's typical everywhere, but around here at least I have to drive through a police road block about once a week. I'd hate to have to go through one if my car wasn't legal or if my residency wasn't sorted or whatever necessary to be totally legit. Sometimes the police wear masks and carry guns ffs. There's no way my poker face is good enough!


Would make rabbitcat feel at home


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

chrisnation said:


> If the MoT has expired but you haven`t been collared (yet) on foreign soil, there is a garage in Dover that is very convenient for getting the cert before you've gone more than a mile from the docks.
> 
> A friend had to get his rhd van back to UK to sell as he couldn't keep it in Denmark. It helps if you know it will pass the test but even when my pal's van needed brake parts the garage sourced, fitted and re-tested the van all in one go.


The problem will be that once resident in Spain, you ONLY have 3 months to register a UK vehicle onto Spanish plates. That's 90 days to register as resident then a further 90 days to matriculate your vehicle. As the camper van cannot be matriculated - you're stuffed!

Please don't 'try and get away without doing it' as the Guardia are hotting up on foreign plated vehicles in Spain. Plus, you may have an issue with insurance!


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## paintersmate (Dec 1, 2015)

Hi Chrisnation, we came over in hubby's Transit van in March. The MOT was up at end of July, it went through ITV and through Gestor was matriculated soon after. It is on temp, green plates for 2 month ( which we believe is normal) Matriculation charge for Gestor 200e plus plates and ITV


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## Simon22 (May 22, 2015)

Dedaneen said:


> Everyone needs a wee break every now and then


Isn't that what adverts are for on TV?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

paintersmate said:


> Hi Chrisnation, we came over in hubby's Transit van in March. The MOT was up at end of July, it went through ITV and through Gestor was matriculated soon after. It is on temp, green plates for 2 month ( which we believe is normal) Matriculation charge for Gestor 200e plus plates and ITV


It shouldn't have had to go onto green ('P') plates, these are for export normally.

We went straight from UK plates to Spanish ones.

When we sold our, now Spanish plated, vehicle to someone returning to UK, it went onto export (green 'P' plates) until they rematriculated it in UK.


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## Dedaneen (Jul 6, 2013)

Simon22 said:


> Isn't that what adverts are for on TV?


Nah thats the queue to go make the coffee


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

I might get hammered for this one but here goes , in the UK there is constant moaning about foreigners not doing what they should , abiding by the rules , learning the language , opening shops to get food that is from their home country and yet on an almost daily basis on various fora and in my locality there are Brits who are blatently not abiding by the rules of their chosen country in our case Spain , I know its sometimes difficult to negotiate the red tape but surely if you have made a choice to live here you should live by the countries rules and regs , just a thought ....... Now I am running for cover !


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## chrisnation (Mar 2, 2009)

paintersmate said:


> Hi Chrisnation, we came over in hubby's Transit van in March. The MOT was up at end of July, it went through ITV and through Gestor was matriculated soon after. It is on temp, green plates for 2 month ( which we believe is normal) Matriculation charge for Gestor 200e plus plates and ITV


Though very encouraging, that flies in the face of everything I have seen about RHD 'commercial' vehicles, including HMG's F.O. advice pages. They do not commit themselves 100% (how could they?) but say "_It is most unlikely_ that a RHD commercial vehicle will qualify or reregistration in Spain.."

Where in Spain are you? I could do with going to the same people. It would be worth the trip, just knowing that it can be done and has been done.


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## chrisnation (Mar 2, 2009)

Maureen47 said:


> I might get hammered for this one but here goes , in the UK there is constant moaning about foreigners not doing what they should , abiding by the rules , learning the language , opening shops to get food that is from their home country and yet on an almost daily basis on various fora and in my locality there are Brits who are blatently not abiding by the rules of their chosen country in our case Spain , I know its sometimes difficult to negotiate the red tape but surely if you have made a choice to live here you should live by the countries rules and regs , just a thought ....... Now I am running for cover !


I agree. 

The problem is that Spain, like many other countries to its south and east, has a system of governance that is A) Significantly different on the same issues, from area to area, often within the same administrative province B) A tendency to make up the rules as they go along or from individual to individual in the same office C) A culture of corruption and evasion that extends the breadth and depth of the entire administration D) A population which has learned to live with all this and work round it as best they can, be that in unauthorised ways.

When I told my Spanish friends about being presented recently with a significantly improper way of proceeding in a transaction, they ALL said, "Es normal". 

From the experience of helping foreigners with the necessary admin rigmaroles in UK I can say that I have never come across any examples of A - C and so have never had to resort to D. 

One of the admirable aspects of administrative life in UK is that is has not grown out of and remains the legacy of 40 years of the bureaucracy of a dictatorship and, on the whole, the British may moan about the rules but do abide by them.

My usual ditty, to sum all this up is that the Spanish are a wonderful, warm friendly people but when any of them ake up a post in any level of administration or politics, they become buffoons or bandits.

Now I'm running for cover!


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## paintersmate (Dec 1, 2015)

Hi Chrisnation, Not that far from you and the Gestor we used, although works from her mums ( a lawyer) office in Simat although she lives in Valencia. She went to ITV van with hubby in Xativa, then organised the plates and they had to be fitted in a small garage in Simat. PM me if you want more details


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## chrisnation (Mar 2, 2009)

snikpoh said:


> It shouldn't have had to go onto green ('P') plates, these are for export normally.
> 
> We went straight from UK plates to Spanish ones.
> 
> When we sold our, now Spanish plated, vehicle to someone returning to UK, it went onto export (green 'P' plates) until they rematriculated it in UK.


The different real-life experiences of Snikpoh and Paintersmate perfectly illustrates the point I made in my rant. Both these people are in Valencia province. They live 45 kms apart and yet have had entirely different procedures and results to the same issue. No doubt another 45kms on, there would be yet another version of this story.

The current thread running about Padron before Res or Res before Padron is exactly the same - people having diametrically opposite experiences. 

I photographed the notice on the padron office street door in central Valencia city, telling applicants what papeles were required to sign up. Residencia was not included but who'se to say that the pen-pusher one arrives at after queueing does not insist that it's mandatory? Even tho' the next foreigner to pitch up, sitting in front of some else or the same person next day, finds that it is not? 

It's this sort of thing that encourages people - and I include the locals - to duck and dive with 'docamenti' - "es normal" - in every aspect of Spanish life. 

For the life of me I cannot put my hands on my van's V5 (reg doc). I have to carry it in the van when I'm in Spain. I phoned Swansea. Someone answered in about 15 secs. In as long as it takes to answer the questions -Address? Veh reg number? Middle name? Card number? Expiry date? It was done. "Three to five working days, sir". Could have done it by email. Brilliant. I love DVLA Swansea.


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