Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

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country boy
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Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby country boy » Mon Sep 30, 2019 7:27 pm

We are hoping to relocate back to Blighty in the new year after 20 glorious years down here.
As a precursor to actually getting back we plan to do some pretty exhaustive mileage looking for a location to settle in. As my car here is 25 years old I wonder if anyone has knowledge of the UK licencing system. What I would like to do is purchase a second hand car in the UK and use my daughters address as my domicile in the UK until we have purchased a new house over there. I would still only have my spanish documentation until that happens, is that possible and/or legal, anybody know? We will be over in the uk 50% of the time twixt now and then so hiring would be a bit expensive.

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:09 pm

In the UK there is no residential register. So there is no way to prove residency in the UK. So that means you don't actually have to live in the UK to buy a car there. Road tax and insurance only requires an address in the UK you don't actually need to live there., no like Spain where there is an official residency register.

To clarify your question,.,what do you mean when you say 'only have my Spanish documentation'. Do you mean drivers licence?

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby elusive » Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:21 pm

Check re insurance as alot wont insure non residents

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby country boy » Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:24 pm

[quote="Paddy Pumpkin"
To clarify your question,.,what do you mean when you say 'only have my Spanish documentation'. Do you mean drivers licence?[/quote]
Yes I only have a Spanish Licence

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:39 pm

No problem at all to drive, own, tax and insure a car in the UK with a valid licence from another EU country (usual Brexit caveat applies).

Have a play on confused.com and see the questions you are asked. You need to say where the car is kept etc. and there are fields where you say which country your licence is from. It is completely legal to drive a car with an EU licence. The EU licence remains valid until the expiry date on the licence (Brexit caveat again) as long as the expiry date is less than 15 years.

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby costakid » Mon Sep 30, 2019 10:11 pm

I can’t see a problem apart from the licence. Check out international driving permits. That could cover you. The rest will be covered by using your daughters address.

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Mon Sep 30, 2019 10:22 pm

You can live in the UK and you don't need to exchange EU licence until it expires so no problem to keep Spanish licence until it expires
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/v ... dex_en.htm

If OP doesn't live in the UK (vague term in UK as there is no register of residents) then they can drive with any foreign licence.

IDP comes into play only if Brexit is an issue

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby BENIDORM » Tue Oct 01, 2019 8:40 am

You may find it easier if your daughter owns and insures the car, less hassle and probably cheaper.

Good Luck with your quest..

Regards, Gordon

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby country boy » Tue Oct 01, 2019 9:03 am

Thankyou all very much for answering my question: That is one item ticked off our list.
I am thinking of buying a Dacia Duster to replace my old Rangy, you can get a new one for 10k at our local dealer in Coin, then I spoilt it by saying it needed to be RHD! You'd have thought I had asked for 50 kilos of moon rock LOL so will buy in UK as intended.

Hi Gordon, they are coming down next week and I have always intended to broach that as a backstop but thanks for thought.
How are you...you've been quiet of late?

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby peteroldracer » Tue Oct 01, 2019 6:49 pm

BENIDORM wrote:You may find it easier if your daughter owns and insures the car, less hassle and probably cheaper.
The stumbling block for us trying to do this has been insurance - daughter would have to insure it “any driver” as foreign named drivers can only be on the policy for three months in a year......expensive! In our names using a family address our Spanish NCB of 15 years plus counts for nothing....again very expensive!
I will be watching this thread with keen interest! We would like to be able to spend four or five months a year in the UK, and cheapest car hire seems to be €30 a day......quite a bill.
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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby BENIDORM » Tue Oct 01, 2019 7:31 pm

Peter,
The option that I've suggested has worked for several people I know, and could still be the cheapest method.

It's important to really 'shop around', and remember that insurance quotes are based on so many different factors....


Country Boy,
I'm fine, but overworked ....I hope that you find a solution....re. car....
Regards,
Gordon

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby peteroldracer » Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:17 pm

All the insurers I have contacted will not look at anyone not resident in UK......
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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Mon Oct 07, 2019 4:08 pm

How did you define resident?

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby peteroldracer » Mon Oct 07, 2019 5:02 pm

All the forms ask if I have lived in the UK from birth, or for a date from which you have/will move there. There is absolutely no point not being honest with this as the insurance would not be valid. It is self-evident that a Spanish tax-resident with no property in the UK will not be regarded as a resident and any claim is highly likely to be turned down, with subsequent terrible consequences. Just imaging making a human error and being liable for immense damages.....
I have found a company that says they can do as we ask (though with a cutoff at age 75, with a possibility that they will be able to get cover beyond that), estimated premium in range £800-1000 for Full comp on, say, a Corsa. They are called Sterling Insurance, based in Bishops Stortford.
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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:01 pm

I think you are completely missing my point.

For example in Spain people who are not residents and do not own property can buy and insure a car. All they need is an NIE. Sometimes mistakingly they also are requested a padron...but we all know legally it is not needed. The insurer will ask where the car is kept,not where you are resident.

Together with my wife we own properties in 4 different countries and have cars in 2 countries. How would you define where I live (not tax residency)? For example on confused.com the question is asked 'how long have u lived in the UK'. How do you define lived? Is it possible to live in more than one country? What if you ho on holidays...do you live there? If your job send you abroad for 6 mo this does that mean you cannot insure the car you leave in the UK whilst you are away?

The legal definition of all of the above is all about intention. So as long as you can show intention to regard the place as your place to live....then it is where you live. And yes it is legally possible to live in two places as you have the intention to return to them.

So practically that means is you have an address in the UK that you regularly return to...then you live there.

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby peteroldracer » Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:15 pm

Paddy....you can discuss what you take as resident and where until the cows come home, but try answering any online insurance quote engine and there will be a question like “Since when have you lived in the UK?” With an option to give a month and year if not “since birth”.
There is no option to say that you lived there for X years, that you spend X months there and so on. I rang them as their online chat advised and was told quite bluntly that they were unable to offer cover. This applies to Direct Line, LV, Comparethe market and others that I tried.
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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:38 pm

Yes I understand completely...see my comment about confused.com

Do you have an address in the UK? Do you I tend to return there? Then you live there.

Do you really think someone in a call centre knows the law? I have on several occasions had call centre staff try to tell me the law and they are wrong...they just have their training which covers 99.9% of the calls they receive.

So I will ask again....do people who have holiday homes is Spain own cars in Spain? We all know they do. Do people who have homes in the UK have cars there even if they have homes in other countries...yes they do .The Beckham family live in LA...do you think they don't own and insure cars in the UK?

So as long as you have an address in the UK that you return to regularly then you live there.....and you can live in two places. So if you use the drop down box and select the year and month that you bought the house or unpacked a suitcase ..or another measure you took to define living in a place....then you live there.

On a side note I once was involved in a case where the definition of residency was decided upon the fact that my client had a Sunderland season ticket....it was tax residency but shows how the lines are blurred. As I said at the beginning because the UK doesn't have a residency register then it is very blurred...in much the same way tax residency was blurred until HMRC brought in the test which gave a set of yes or no questions.

Spain has residency register so it makes it very simple but you can insure cars here without being resident...just having a link here and an intention to return.

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby peteroldracer » Mon Oct 07, 2019 6:49 pm

“Do you have an address in the UK? Do you I tend to return there? Then you live there.“
The answers are No and probably not permanently, only as a visitor, so your statement is erroneous.
It is not a question of what laws say, merely what the insurer’s rules are.....I will never risk unknowingly being uninsured, and have neither the time, the inclination or the money to take it through the courts!
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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:04 pm

Well why didn't you say that from the beginning. The OP outlined a set of circumstances and you never said that your's were any different. The OP had a home there you never said you didn't which is why I was giving advice based upon having a place to live in the UK.

If you have no place to live and no intention to return to that place then you don't live there. So I am gathering that you want to buy and insure a car in the UK, leave it there whilst having no accommodation readily available for you to use in the UK?

BTW The insurer is not above the law...their rules cannot overrule the law. They can make their own definition of what it means to live in a place, but if they only use the term live and don't define it then they are bound by the legal definition....which in the case of the UK is defined by case law rather than actual statutes.

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Re: Strange request re. Vehicle Reg in the UK

Postby peteroldracer » Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:13 pm

How dangerous it is to assume......we have a static caravan on a leisure park that is non-residential (closed for a month in winter with no one allowed to stay there) and not permitted to be a postal address. A bit like a Brit visiting Spain several times a year and renting different places or hotelling each time?
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