Many people who have moved to Spain have taken their UK registered cars with them when they made the move. Naturally the idea of driving down to Spain with a car full of personal possessions was quite an attractive one at the time. However now that you are in Spain, you will no doubt be wondering whether your UK car is legal on Spanish roads.
By the letter of Spanish law once your car has been in Spain for more than 60 days you must reregister it which is also often called importing your car into Spain. Your car is then given Spanish number plates, also known as Spanish license plates.
If you leave it any longer than this then you must pay import duty so the quicker you deal with this and get it done the better off you will be. Of course many British people drive about with a UK registered car in Spain for months if not years.
Most motorists in Spain only consider what they must do when their insurance is due for renewal or their MOT is about to run out.
An MOT is the annual test which certifies that a vehicle is in roadworthy condition. Failure to pass an MOT means you cannot drive on UK roads. In order to get an MOT you must take your vehicle back to the United Kingdom where also technically you should be residing. Driving your car back to the United Kingdom every single year would be very time-consuming taking approximately 4 days round-trip and costing at the very least €500 each time.
There have been a number of scams and frauds in Spain where people have been sold MOT certificates in order to avoid having to take their vehicle back to the UK. In the most high-profile arrest the MOT certificates were found to be from a stolen batch. It meant that any people who’ve purchased the certificates were driving on Spanish roads on a vehicle that was illegal.
Not only that but these car owners were running the risk of having their car insurance invalidated because if they were involved in an accident in Spain it would be very likely that the insurance company would not pay out because they did not have a valid MOT.
Instead of worrying about MOT’s why not simply get your car registered into Spain. Depending on your vehicle this will cost approximately €500 to about €1000. You then simply need to take out car insurance in Spain for your car and pay the applicable Spanish road tax. You will also need to take your car or vehicle for a roadworthy test which is the equivalent to the MOT, which is known as the ITV in Spain.
You don’t need to have an ITV if your car is new or up to three years old. Then typically you will find you only need to go every two years.
We hope this article has helped you understand all about MOT’s for your car in Spain.