# Is the car you want to matriculate Symnetrical?



## Verinia (Apr 6, 2012)

We are ploughing on trying to matriculate our car ourselves, which has been an adventure with of snakes and ladders! As long as you work through procedures it can happen, but another people have said, it hasn't been a piecee of cake...but actually it is the little things we didn't think about that have tripped us up so far.

The latest is our fog light. We changed the headlights to the left...fine. That is fairly obvious if a little expensive. But having finally got to the nova matricula at the third attempt ( I had failed to get my registration document amended to reflect a fuel conversion and needed to sort it out with the DVLA which took two months) we nervously put our car through the IPO centre test. All fine except...DARN...forgot to get the fog lamp changed over to the other side .... Which means we failed the test and have to pay another 70 euros for a new test after it is done. It seems reasonable to me that we should fail because of that but if we had just known we could have done it at the same time as the headlights.

So folks...if your car is not symmetrical make sure you have things changed to the Portugese side. I have learned a lot from this forum so want to make sure you get the benefit of our mistake!


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## robc (Jul 17, 2008)

Just to add my two pennyworth, we are coming to the end of matriculating our 2 cars and would suggest checking the following.
1. Engine number.............make sure you know where it is or better still get a photograph of it as IMTT may just want it. Ours did and I ended up having to get a declaration from the manufacturer to confirm the engine number. The number is hidden away in the heart of the engine bay and is really inaccessible.
2. Once you get the test for €70 complete and passed, be aware that the test runs annually from month of registration, so do not automatically assume it will run for 12 months, one of ours did not and you cannot believe the hassle in getting another test done once you have passed the first €70 test. In case you wonder why, expired text certificate = €250 fine. Simples.
3. Make sure you detach the V5C section relating to exportation of the vehicle as it is by far the simplest way to finalise the paperwork and getting the papers back out of the "black hole" that is Alfandega may be trickier than you think.

HTH

Rob


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## Verinia (Apr 6, 2012)

This is very good advice from Robc. We took our car to the Renault garage and asked them to get it ready for the test. They changed the headlights, but we forgot the rear lights.....also when it came to the test we have had two problems. The engine number was VERY difficult to read. The guy at the tst centre wanted to send us back to the garage to get it checked and give them a signed certificate to say what the number was to put on the IMTT form. Luckily he was very kind and spent 20 minutes persevering with lubricant to get rid of the rust and a torch and he read it for us. Advise anyone to get that done at the garage at same time as front and back lights to save hassle and make sure you know where it is. 

We have also had problems as car has been converted by an approved installer in UK to AUTOGAS. In Portugal there is a number on this conversion also. But ours is all covered over. We have our approved certificate and are registered on the Uk database and have had the registration changed so we hope this will be sufficient for IMTT.

We are doing all this ourselves and in a perverse sort of way enjoying it as we are learning so much on the way about different offices and how things work. People have been very kind too. But everyone is sure of one thing. You have to do it by the book. No messing or wheedling out of anything. Don't even try. They want every bit of paper and every form or it's no go. So be methodical. Treat it as a challenge! I don't even know if we will get through to the end...but bottom line is we have been using the car for nearly six months. Make sure if you can though that you come with plenty of English MOT left...we are close to the wire on this and don't want to be left uninsured.

But it can't be done in a day. The end bit maybe, but everything leading up to it will take you months so start as soon as you get residency.










robc said:


> Just to add my two pennyworth, we are coming to the end of matriculating our 2 cars and would suggest checking the following.
> 1. Engine number.............make sure you know where it is or better still get a photograph of it as IMTT may just want it. Ours did and I ended up having to get a declaration from the manufacturer to confirm the engine number. The number is hidden away in the heart of the engine bay and is really inaccessible.
> 2. Once you get the test for €70 complete and passed, be aware that the test runs annually from month of registration, so do not automatically assume it will run for 12 months, one of ours did not and you cannot believe the hassle in getting another test done once you have passed the first €70 test. In case you wonder why, expired text certificate = €250 fine. Simples.
> 3. Make sure you detach the V5C section relating to exportation of the vehicle as it is by far the simplest way to finalise the paperwork and getting the papers back out of the "black hole" that is Alfandega may be trickier than you think.
> ...


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Once you start matriculation process insurance is* not *a problem as Portuguese Insurance companies will insure you on production of matriculation papers


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## Verinia (Apr 6, 2012)

canoeman said:


> Once you start matriculation process insurance is* not *a problem as Portuguese Insurance companies will insure you on production of matriculation papers


I am glad this is the case Canoeman as we have just got a month's permit from the Customs to drive our car in Portugal pending our enquiry into matriculation and pur UK MOT runs out in four day's time! A couple of other things to let people know. You have to tick the box for nova matricula on Modelo 9 And the box for numero homologacao and get IMTT to fill in the box for the number of homologacao. Before you get to Customs with all your documents and after you have your IMTT certificate from the IPO test centre for Nova Matricula , go to the IMTT office and they will check your car out on the database and enter a number on the Modelo 9 form and stamp it. Also, make sure if you are thinking of coming to Portugal to live and you want to matriculate your car,you have a utility bill in your name ( council tax will not do Most of ours were in my husband's name which didn't help. Also any attestados from the junta re your name should match the name on your car's V5C. Finally if you are doing this in Faro do not expect anyone to speak English. I think this is fair enough as I am sure that if you went into Customs in England I wouldn't expect them to speak every language. Just make sure you can do your best in Portugese or take someone with you to help. Oh and your passport needs to be copied in its entirety...not just one or two pages...

It's been a long day :0)


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