Bye bye GB plated vehicles

I witnessed this first hand today on the N332. The Guardia Civil pull over a load of vehicles - including me. No problem for me because I have a Spanish plated car with all documentation in order. The chap in front was in a different situation however. He had a GB plated car.(some wrongly say English plated - no such thing yet until Scotland goes its own way post 2010 independence referendum - oh yes, as I am one of those dreaded Scotsmen I'll leave you guess which way I shall vote)

I stopped to watch what would happen. The Guards conducted a load of checks and eventually verified that the vehicle had been in Spain over six months and should have been re registered with Spanish plates. No matter what any insurance company say, the vehicle should be taxed and without that the insurance he produced was in validated. Guards enter into deep discussion with the man and as I speak quite reasonable Spanish I listen carefully and the driver eventually empties his car. Grau attends and car taken away. The driver tells me he could not afford the fine and so his car is off for crushing.

A warning to all, including white van man, if you are driving a GB plated vehicle in Spain and it has been here for six months it needs to be re registered with Spanish plates. The Guards are checking vehicles now and the onus is on the driver to prove that his car has ben here for less than six months. If so, they will ask for UK vehicle excise licence and so on.

The ITV (Spanish MoT) on any foreign plated car is not worth the paper it is written on.

As a poster says elsewhere, the days of the wild west are approaching their end in Spain and quite rightly so really. A lot have pushed the law here to its limit. I often write for the free press and might do an article on this.

I personally think that as the building boom is now gone, the authorities are having increased time to 'tidy' up a lot of ex pat irregularities and certainly they are going to be more constructive about the way in which taxes are raised.

[JOHN73]

Thank God!

I witnessed this first hand today on the N332. The Guardia Civil pull over a load of vehicles - including me. No problem for me because I have a Spanish plated car with all documentation in order. The chap in front was in a different situation however. He had a GB plated car.(some wrongly say English plated - no such thing yet until Scotland goes its own way post 2010 independence referendum - oh yes, as I am one of those dreaded Scotsmen I'll leave you guess which way I shall vote)

I stopped to watch what would happen. The Guards conducted a load of checks and eventually verified that the vehicle had been in Spain over six months and should have been re registered with Spanish plates. No matter what any insurance company say, the vehicle should be taxed and without that the insurance he produced was in validated. Guards enter into deep discussion with the man and as I speak quite reasonable Spanish I listen carefully and the driver eventually empties his car. Grau attends and car taken away. The driver tells me he could not afford the fine and so his car is off for crushing.

A warning to all, including white van man, if you are driving a GB plated vehicle in Spain and it has been here for six months it needs to be re registered with Spanish plates. The Guards are checking vehicles now and the onus is on the driver to prove that his car has ben here for less than six months. If so, they will ask for UK vehicle excise licence and so on.

The ITV (Spanish MoT) on any foreign plated car is not worth the paper it is written on.

As a poster says elsewhere, the days of the wild west are approaching their end in Spain and quite rightly so really. A lot have pushed the law here to its limit. I often write for the free press and might do an article on this.

I personally think that as the building boom is now gone, the authorities are having increased time to 'tidy' up a lot of ex pat irregularities and certainly they are going to be more constructive about the way in which taxes are raised.

Older people, with bad cars, bad vision and being used to drive on the left hand side, people having had too many drinks in bars doing any and every illegal substance they can get their hands on, driving like mad without insurance. Stolen cars. Cars in bad shape. It is strange that not more people have been killed.

Why they haven't done anything sooner? No idea!

[stevethepainter]

I witnessed this first hand today on the N332. The Guardia Civil pull over a load of vehicles - including me. No problem for me because I have a Spanish plated car with all documentation in order. The chap in front was in a different situation however. He had a GB plated car.(some wrongly say English plated - no such thing yet until Scotland goes its own way post 2010 independence referendum - oh yes, as I am one of those dreaded Scotsmen I'll leave you guess which way I shall vote)

I stopped to watch what would happen. The Guards conducted a load of checks and eventually verified that the vehicle had been in Spain over six months and should have been re registered with Spanish plates. No matter what any insurance company say, the vehicle should be taxed and without that the insurance he produced was in validated. Guards enter into deep discussion with the man and as I speak quite reasonable Spanish I listen carefully and the driver eventually empties his car. Grau attends and car taken away. The driver tells me he could not afford the fine and so his car is off for crushing.

A warning to all, including white van man, if you are driving a GB plated vehicle in Spain and it has been here for six months it needs to be re registered with Spanish plates. The Guards are checking vehicles now and the onus is on the driver to prove that his car has ben here for less than six months. If so, they will ask for UK vehicle excise licence and so on.

The ITV (Spanish MoT) on any foreign plated car is not worth the paper it is written on.

As a poster says elsewhere, the days of the wild west are approaching their end in Spain and quite rightly so really. A lot have pushed the law here to its limit. I often write for the free press and might do an article on this.

I personally think that as the building boom is now gone, the authorities are having increased time to 'tidy' up a lot of ex pat irregularities and certainly they are going to be more constructive about the way in which taxes are raised.

Good Riddance

[Nalle]

how do they know if the car has been here more than 6 months? since noone will give you a stamp on their passport....

[stevethepainter]

Actually its difficult for the Guardia to know how long your vehicle has been in spain, a few exceptions are maybe if your vehicle was involved in some incident in spain maybe then a note could have been made of its presence, by incident i mean perhaps you could have been stopped and warned on a previous occasion.
I have a channel island vehicle here in spain, no mot test and no road tax because we dont have these requirments in the channel islands, i also have a gb plated 4x4 here for 5 years, insured, spanish itv test but no road tax, i have been stopped at least 6 times for various reasons, breath test, stop check, speeding, etc etc, never have i had a problem, just make sure your international green card and that your vehicle is clean and tidy and not some old banger and you wont have a problem.
Dont listen to the old moaners who have little better to do with their time than make up scaremonger stories about how we are all going to be locked up and have our cars crushed, its all a load of old bull.
Oh 1 more thing for those of you who want to prove your vehicle has been in spain for less than 6months, simple go to a particular ferry site and do a booking for you vehicle, ie input dates and vehicle reg etc, then simply print the page without finishing the booking you should then have 2 a4 pages showing any sailing date you wish plus the vehicle details and even the payment method and amount.

[MJC]

With a reply like that, I can see why the Guardia like to pick on GB plated vehicles at the moment. Dodgy or what and all very well until you knock someone over and the insurance ramifications become apparent. The very sort of reply that gives ex pats such a bad name. I shan't be employing you to paint my house that's for sure !

[Nalle]

The reason Im asking is becasue my parents have a Swedish registered car here in Spain. But it has all the tax, mot etc etc in order. (you can get teh tech inspection by the Swedish authorities done here in Spain, like the mobile MOT)
They only use it while they are down here. So its just the same as they would be driving it down. They are non residents, so to anyone it would appear as the car is just here on holiday.

[stevethepainter]

With a reply like that, I can see why the Guardia like to pick on GB plated vehicles at the moment. Dodgy or what and all very well until you knock someone over and the insurance ramifications become apparent. The very sort of reply that gives ex pats such a bad name. I shan't be employing you to paint my house that's for sure !

Number 1, I dont paint houses
Number 2, Just because you paid 15k for a spanish plated heap doesnt mean we all have to do the same thing,
3, In 2006 i ran into the side of a spanish car, the driver had decided he didnt need to give way, of course Guardia called, papers checked etc etc, hmm so wheres the problem, by the way the spanish driver spent a considerable amount of time in hospital, tried to sue me and insurance company but even if i had been at faulT insurance was valid.
5, Proportionally there are 11 times more uninsured spanish drivers than other drivers, whether that be expats driving gb plated vehicles or any other non spanish passport holder, this is absolute fact.
6, Again i dont paint houses
7,You imagaine that expats have a bad name,you like to group people in little boxes, oh he drives a gb 4x4 so hes giving us a bad name or she doesnt pay social security so she gives expats a bad name, doing this makes you feel goOd no doubt.
8, Since when do guardia Civil pick on gb plated vehicles?, again something you made up or heard from an opionated friend,
9, Dodgy, again a little label you people like to give to people who dont comply with your constrained way of thinking, because someone chooses to live outside of the system doesnt mean they are Dodgy or a crook,
10, Again i dont paint houses and if i did you couldnt afford me anyway.

PAWNED............

[JOHN73]

The reason Im asking is becasue my parents have a Swedish registered car here in Spain. But it has all the tax, mot etc etc in order. (you can get teh tech inspection by the Swedish authorities done here in Spain, like the mobile MOT)
They only use it while they are down here. So its just the same as they would be driving it down. They are non residents, so to anyone it would appear as the car is just here on holiday.

It is the uninsured drivers that is the problem killing people. I picture that they will introduce a Europe-wide identification system that easily identifies that your car is insured. The safety aspect (MOT) and road tax is really something that your insurer should be able to check for you.

I don't even want to imagine how much money the EU is going to spend implementing the system, that could easily have been administrated by existing manpower.

[stevethepainter]

The reason Im asking is becasue my parents have a Swedish registered car here in Spain. But it has all the tax, mot etc etc in order. (you can get teh tech inspection by the Swedish authorities done here in Spain, like the mobile MOT)
They only use it while they are down here. So its just the same as they would be driving it down. They are non residents, so to anyone it would appear as the car is just here on holiday.

Exactly that, a holiday vehicle, why would anyone wanna give the spanish government 1500 plus euro to change a plate, just make sure it has a yearly inspection and is insured and i am 100% sure there is no problem

[stevethepainter]

It is the uninsured drivers that is the problem killing people. I picture that they will introduce a Europe-wide identification system that easily identifies that your car is insured. The safety aspect (MOT) and road tax is really something that your insurer should be able to check for you.

I don't even want to imagine how much money the EU is going to spend implementing the system, that could easily have been administrated by existing manpower.

With regard to an annual safety test or mot, really its a load of bull, i can think of a dozen countries where i have lived and worked and none of them have this expensive annual test, so ok check emmisions and corrosion but why bother with anything else, it even sais on a uk mot that the certificate is really only valid on the day of issue, it means on the day of testing the vehicle was ok,the next day if the brakes fail and your kill someone you have no recourse.

[JOHN73]

Corruption

With regard to an annual safety test or mot, really its a load of bull, i can think of a dozen countries where i have lived and worked and none of them have this expensive annual test, so ok check emmisions and corrosion but why bother with anything else, it even sais on a uk mot that the certificate is really only valid on the day of issue, it means on the day of testing the vehicle was ok,the next day if the brakes fail and your kill someone you have no recourse.

Stealth taxing is corruption! But that is a discussion for another tread/forum. The only thing I am concerned about is people having their property damaged, being hurt/killed through no fault of their own.

[stevethepainter]

Stealth taxing is corruption! But that is a discussion for another tread/forum. The only thing I am concerned about is people having their property damaged, being hurt/killed through no fault of their own.

I agree with your statement, so listen just because i drive a non spanish plated vehicle doesnt mean if i run you over your not gonna get paid, its a complete myth that seems to be spread by people who want to target little groups of people that dont seem to conform to some imaginary benchmark, i have seen it all over the world, in Saudi, in Australia in Singapore etc etc, there is allways something that someone wants to pick fault with, so lets have a debate about the expats whom live here in spain but rip off the uk health system or how about the pensioners who claim uk allowances even though they spend most of their time here in spain.
Again its all a load of bull but it gives the waiting for god brigade something to talk about.

[J J]

What makes me think someone is being wound up.

[stevethepainter]

What makes me think someone is being wound up.

No this is serious thread for adults only