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Foreign cars in Spain
Many foreigners stay for long periods in Spain as non-residents, keeping their foreign-plated cars with them.
Legally, a foreign-registered car can stay on Spanish roads for six months in a calendar year without any formalities at all. In fact, the car itself can remain in Spain permanently, although it can only he operated on the road for six months of that year and must be garaged for the other six months.
The new problem for these cars comes from European Union regulations that now require all cars to be insured in their country of registration. Formerly, the owners of these British or other cars simply insured them with Spanish companies. They can no longer do this. Nor can they obtain insurance from the UK because the car has never been returned for its MOT and it is no longer a UK resident, as it were.
Some insurance companies have come up with a sort of offshore insurance that will cover the car in any country except its original home. If you are in this situation, ask your insurance broker. With the European liberalisation of insurance companies, there are also Spanish branches of UK companies thatwill insure the car on UK plates.
These companies will require your car to pass the Spanish vehicle safety inspection, the ITV~ to make sure it is in sound operating condition. You get your ITV sticker, which satisfies the insurance company but has no other legal force. Your car, if it is British-registered, remains illegal in the UK because it has no British MOT. Technically, the car is not legal in Spain either without its UK MOT, but police seldom ask. If you take it back to the UK, you will have to pass the MOT immediately.
What you really want to know is what happens when you make a claim? Will the Spanish insurance company pay you? The short answer is Spanish insurance companies are just as reluctant to pay out as most other companies, but they are also prepared to live up to their legal obligations.
If you have full coverage and someone dents your new car in the parking lot and departs without leaving his name, you will probably find that your insurance company pays up quickly and without a murmur for the repairs, but you may lose any credit you have been getting as a no-claims bonus. If the claim is not your fault, many companies will continue your credit.
On the other hand, if there is an accident and you feel the other driver is at fault hut he chooses to contest this, you may have to wait as long as three years for a court decision in back logged Spanish courts.
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