Hi JB

Welcome to the LSFL forum

EU residents living in Spain, who want to re-register and legally import their cars i.e., get them onto “Spanish plates”. Can now follow this procedure, however please note that at the time I am posting up this information there is a massive crack down and the police are stopping many UK plated cars at the moment, so be warned and driving a British plated car around after a period of 6 months (12 if 6 months from one year and 6 of the next) is illegal anyway as you are only allowed to keep your car here on British plates for 6 months in one year the MOT is only legal if you have insurance and the tax and everything is up to date as if you were in the UK.

It is true that after April you will not be allowed to transfer a British plate car to Spanish plates so if you really want to keep your car here legally you need to do it sooner rather than later.

First of all you have to personally decide whether the car you wish to import is worth transferring or not and if it is a right hand drive car it may not be just the steering wheel being on the wrong side that is the problem. You may also need to fit right hand dipped headlights (depending on the make and model) Also Spanish insurance companies are not normally allowed to insure foreign plated cars in Spain anyway. There are Insurance companies in Spain that will insure you but you need to question how legal your insurance really is, if at all! So you need to know how much it is going to cost you and where you are going to insure your car for starters.

Please be warned though if you want to import the vehicle tax free you
must "legally" do the actual transfer within 30 days after taking out residencia or registering your arrival in Spain and ITVing the vehicle, not one but all of these things must be within the stated 30 days. Otherwise you may get stung for the import tax! Let me tell you that one day makes a difference at the Hacienda and it could be a difference of 1000's of euros!!!

Good luck what ever you decide

Check out this website for up to date driving regs in Spain

[url]www.spainvia.com

Hi The place you get your ITV and, or new car documentation should advise on this if you read here it gives you the current rules and tells you how long you can drive in Spain for on UK plates

You could also try [url]wwwspainvia.com

Fab website all about driing in Spain from Brian Deller Author and writer of Motoring in Spain in The Round Town News