Bringing a UK car to tenerife. what to do:??? :-)

Bringing a UK car to tenerife. what to do:??? :-)

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Discussion

welshsurferdude

Original Poster:

366 posts

212 months

Thursday 15th September 2011
quotequote all
Hi

I have a 1987 land rover 90 3.9 V8 soft top that Id like to drive to tenerife and leave it at my parents villa. I go there 6 weeks of the year and my parents 10 weeks of the year.
They bought the villa a year ago and currently we spend 2000 pounds a year on hire cars so thought we'd drive my landy and keep it there.

What are the costs of keeping the car there and how much would spanish version of tax, mot etc be? Is it best if it was registered onto spanish plates or kept on its UK plates and we bought a similar 90 here to replace it and kept the plates of the old one so we can keep taxing and insuring it so its kept road legal in spain on its UK plates??

I dont know really so any advice would be good!

Regards

Kenny

Chordiant

93 posts

167 months

Saturday 17th September 2011
quotequote all
welshsurferdude said:
Hi

I have a 1987 land rover 90 3.9 V8 soft top that Id like to drive to tenerife and leave it at my parents villa. I go there 6 weeks of the year and my parents 10 weeks of the year.
They bought the villa a year ago and currently we spend 2000 pounds a year on hire cars so thought we'd drive my landy and keep it there.

What are the costs of keeping the car there and how much would spanish version of tax, mot etc be? Is it best if it was registered onto spanish plates or kept on its UK plates and we bought a similar 90 here to replace it and kept the plates of the old one so we can keep taxing and insuring it so its kept road legal in spain on its UK plates??

I dont know really so any advice would be good!

Regards

Kenny
Does Tenerife come under the same laws as the Mainland, or is it Independant - in the same way that the Isle of Man is to the UK.?

welshsurferdude

Original Poster:

366 posts

212 months

Saturday 17th September 2011
quotequote all
Well the island is subject to the same laws and the islands has the same plates as the mainland so I presume the laws are aligned with the mainland but I might be wrong! can anybody shed some light?

10navigator

7 posts

160 months

Saturday 17th September 2011
quotequote all
If Tenerife has the same traffic rules as the mainland (and I think it does), then you need to put the car onto Spanish plates for it to be legal and for your insurance to be valid if you intend keeping it here permanently.
EU law says that once a car has been in a country other than its country of registration (and thus, where road tax is payable), MUST either be taken off the road for a continuous period of 6 months, or returned to its country of origin for a period of at least 6 months. Trafico will do the equivalent of a SORN for you if you wish to adopt the former approach.
Re' MOT, the ITV (Spain's MOT equivalent): The ITV people will look at the car if you request them to do so and can/will issue a piece of paper regarding the vehicle's road-worthiness. (You are paying then for it of course). I have been told by my insurance broker that in the event of a serious claim, such a piece of paper would in all liklihood be worthless if the car hasn't complied with EU law concerning the "6 month rule".
Despite the above, I know that many Brits drive UK registered cars here and ignore the law. I even know of a couple who drive back to the UK annually to get their car MOT'd. In this age of number plate recognition and computerised booking etc, in the event of a claim, a loss adjuster would take a careful look at a UK registered vehicle in Spain.
I have brought a UK reg car here (LHD) and had it re-registered onto Spanish plates. A gestor will do all the tedious stuff for you (for a fee), or you could take your chances and do it yourself if you speak good Spanish. Beware of self-important, official "jobsworths" though.
There are plenty of ex-pat sites that'll guide you through the process.
Good luck.

10navigator

7 posts

160 months

Saturday 17th September 2011
quotequote all
Forgot to mention 'ball-park' costs.
The re-registering costs around 14% of the book value of the car. (book is an official one held by tax people/trafico).
tax around 150e
itv 70e
engineers report 120e
new plates 30e
trafico fees around 90e.

I brought a 96 BMW 328i convertible over 6 years ago and re-registering was 650 euros.

It's a pain when you consider we're supposed to be in a European Union that should obviate all this £rap.

Chordiant

93 posts

167 months

Saturday 17th September 2011
quotequote all
welshsurferdude said:
Well the island is subject to the same laws and the islands has the same plates as the mainland so I presume the laws are aligned with the mainland but I might be wrong! can anybody shed some light?
If that is the case then the following may help:

I have a website and on it, are a number of articles relating to importing a car. The first link is here:

http://www.latorreonline.es/index.php?option=com_c...

From there you can browse other related articles. Don't worry, Registration is free and non-spamming..!!

welshsurferdude

Original Poster:

366 posts

212 months

Saturday 17th September 2011
quotequote all
I am importing the car permanmently so basically I have to find a gestor and give him all the docs and he will re register onto spanish plates?

it is a soft top defender 90 with all the off road gear on it inc winch but ill probably remove most of it as it will just be arunabout there!

mickrick

3,705 posts

180 months

Sunday 18th September 2011
quotequote all
Save yourself the hassle, and buy a LHD runnabout there.