If you are a foreigner in Spain for more than six
months (182 days) in one year then legally you must import your
car onto Spanish number plates. The six month requirement is on
the owner and not the car itself. As the movement of EU citizens
is not recorded by passport stamps these days it may be more difficult
to prove your status should the police request it. Keep a plane
ticket should this situation apply to you.
EU legislation requires that a car be insured in
its country of registration. An insurance company will require the
car to be road legal and ask to see a vehicle inspection certificate.
(MOT in the UK, ITV in Spain). You can not obtain a valid test certificate
in the country of registration if the car is in Spain.
In practice it is not difficult to find insurance
agents who will insure your car and who will accept a Spanish ITV
certificate as evidence of road worthy-ness. However by not being
strictly legal you risk an insurance company refusing to meet a
claim.
Spanish Law permits a foreign car to drive on Spanish
roads as long as the car is road legal in its own country. A UK
car for example without a UK MOT can not be legal in Spain.
There are many foreign cars in Spain and the police
do not appear to make it a priority to check their paperwork.
Non EU citizens who are tourists in Spain for less
than six months a year may keep their foreign plated cars in Spain
as long as they have them "sealed" or "precintado"
by customs officials.
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