Bringing French car to Spain... can it be registered with Spanish plates if non-resident?

Registering a car absolutely does not make you Spanish resident however to do so requires that you be on your local Padron which legally you cannot be unless you are so maybe that's where the advice from your French/Spanish lawyer is coming from. 

As to insurance; in common with all motor policies written in the EU your French policy covers you through the union for it's duration but only for minimum 3rd party risks so if one of your options is to drive the car down and use it for x months at a time then drive it back then assuming you accept that 3rd party limitation then you can keep it here for up to 6 months in any 12.

Hiya Dubliner, I think the people giving the advice that you would become a fiscal Resident if registering a car in Spain could be confusing the matter of liability to register as fiscal Resident if you were to be buying a new car in Spain. In your case you are not buying new so I would say you don't need to become fiscal resident.

LeckyLes.

Thanks Movington, your explanation explains better what the French (tax) lawyer meant... but he didn't express it quite as well!! I was hoping that there may be some way to get our insurance covered for more than the 3 months .... because of course the contradictory thing in all of this, is that you can be in another country where you are not resident for up to 6 months (or 183 days I think), but you can't get the insurance to cover your 'own' country's car!  thanks for once sounds like the French guy was right.... even though I've met lots of English, Danish people who maintain they've done it... but to be honest I wouldn't want to accidentally become resident!! thanks for your advice !

Thanks Pete,  well what you were talking about is something that we had originally planned: 'exporting' my little old (but perfectly healthy) car to Spain, get it registered/taxed here...and that's when our French lawyer told me we couldn't have a Spanish reg car and NOT be resident... I pushed for the legal clarification and he sent me the bit from the Spanish legal references..

Yes I'll have to try and find out if I can find a French insurance company which can extend the coverage to 6 months...needless to say we wouldn't be using it/staying here more than the 6 months, but would like to have the maximum coverage insurance-wise...as you'd just never know!!

I've looked on French fora, and there seems to be quite a lot of confusion there too: some people also maintain that being on the Padron would mean you are resident, and others the contrary... A lot suggest contacting a 'gestor' to find out what is possible: one French woman (who definitely seemed to be staying more than the 6 months in Spain) kept her French-reg car ...which her 'gestor' said was fine..... but I think she may have been an exception as she had dual-nationality but fiscally resident in France...

It would be nice if for once, there was a standard coherency in Europe, between being allowed to 'stay' up to 6 months in a country where you are not a permanent resident, and having the car insurance to cover it!!

thanks - I think I may try and find out if I can sort out the French car insurance extension.....and then investigate later with the 'gestor' if no news...From one what French person said, once you've paid your IBI you are 'registered' locally and it is possible to get some type of certificate in order to insure a car here....but as we've only bought our place last year (and paid the 50% to the former owners for the 6 months we had the place last year),...I'm guessing that it may be wiser to wait til we've paid the IBI for this year, before going anywhere near anything or anyone official here!! 

thanks for your help!

Hi Pete

I've learned the hard way about the NIE - like buying things on line with it!Thanks about the Spanish insurance companies I'll check them out... already trying to get information from existing French insurance company as seemingly the car can be covered for more than 90 days if you have a holiday insurance policy.. Our current car insurance covers us for 90 days a year... but you can seemingly get extra coverage with that 'holiday insurance' so will need to check that out..

Just very weird that the French/Spanish lawyer maintains that you can't have a Spanish reg car here without being a resident.... he insisted on it:

La Loi 38/1992, du 28 décembre, de “Impuestos Especiales, Disposición adicional Primera” indique que:

“Deberán ser objeto de matriculación definitiva en España los medios de transporte, nuevos o usados, a que se refiere la presente Ley, cuando se destinen a ser utilizados en el territorio español por personas o entidades que sean residentes en España o que sean titulares de establecimientos situados en España.”

No we never paid our property price in instalments... we just had to pay the 50% of the IBI as it was decided that the IBI would be pro-rata for last year....so that's the only thing we paid... definitely not the house!!! That's why we spent so much money on the French lawyer!! We definitely made sure everything was in order before signing and paying everything!

Thanks Pete, well the interpretation that the French lawyer gave me was this:

This means that the registration of means of transport is foreseen when these forms of transport are being used on Spanish territory by physical or 'moral' people resident in Spain. 

He did mention that a lot of people have Spanish-reg cars and have never had any problems but that this law wasn't meant to be applied to non-residents..

Yes I've seen a whole pile of contradictory stories regarding the Padron on French fora... I've only seen one French person say that it is illegal to be on the Padron if you are a non-resident...(I'm also guessing that would open up the gate for being considered fiscally resident...)  Besides the risk of being fined.... I'd also worry about the consequences if central government decided to teach people a lesson.... so I would also tend to be somewhat wary about that option!!

I would assume that if you own property here, and pay the IBI and have your lawyer confirm this, that such document would be enough to ensure proof of a Spanish address... but then again I'm guessing it all depends on whom you're dealing with!! Our lawyer prepared a note for my husband when he drove down from France with some personal effects last year, to the effect that we have a holiday home in Spain...as he warned us that sometimes the Spanish customs guys can be difficult...they had no problems  but it's always best to expect the worse and be pleasantly surprised!!

I'll continue on doing my research and see what I come up with: my 'gut' feeling is that it may be simpler to bring my car on French reg plates...wait til after we pay the IBI and then perhaps discuss this with a 'gestor'...the one we used for getting the 'NIE' (who is also French) seemed to know her way around the system (and the especially grumpy guys doing the NIE!)

thanks for your advice!

Thanks Pete,

Will study Jim's Guide on the Padron.

I'll need to check up on our house insurance policy (which is with our bank..)...'luckily' we had a leak the morning I was meant to be heading back....and thankfully the bank and their insurance company were great.... but regarding the length of absences it might be worth checking that out... it is clearly indicated that the house is our 'holiday home'... and there's no reference to any length of absences etc... but I'll contact them to check that out: they were brilliant with the 2 leaks within 3 days.... luckily multi-lingual staff when you only have very basic Spanish!

Actually the notary insisted on seeing the insurance policy prior to the 'signatura'...which was just as well as the previous owner left the whole house open....(luckily inside the complex...)...but not a 'nice' surprise the day after signing!

Well the big problem in France is that they rarely cover anything outside of France....banks won't give you a mortgage to buy a property abroad...even that big UK bank that's meant to be a 'global' one... technically they will, but their insurers insist that they have the full amount...so it's a bit of a contradiction: we'll give you a mortgage if you already have the money!!!

Likewise I doubt that they'd cover house insurance outside of France for that reason...but it seems that with the car insurance there is that flexibility......so I've already contacted them to get some more information on that...may be the simplest option!!  We are not actually away from our permanent house for long periods as my husband is still working, so I tend to have to come here by myself to trouble-shoot all the surprises you find when buying a Spanish property!! 

Hi we have just registered our Greek car onto Spanish plates with no problem we are non resident. 

We used a brilliant company car registrations Spain. Com .

Roger there is so helpful and sorts everything out for you I would highly recommend them .Good Luck .