Should I drive to Spain from UK?

It took us nine hours with a stop for fuel and food from Santander to La Marina in June, the roads are good but even for me who drives everyday it was boring. I would break the journey next time and do an overnight stop. 

I would consider getting a cheap flight (assuming outside of half term holidays) and rent from the airport as there are lots of good unlimited mileage deals available if you book online in advance. RHD can be a pain, especially if driving alone as tolls and car parks are set for LHD. You also wouldn't need to equip yourself for driving requirements in France and/or Spain such as breathalyzers, spare glasses, hi viz jackets, warning triangles or to adjust the headlights. Main roads are fine but everywhere else there are evil road humps which are killers. Spanish drivers tend to never use the inside lane of roundabouts and therefore do not position themselves correctly entering, on, or leaving roundabouts and indicators are purely for when double parking. Give yourself the best chance by having a LHD car.

I would still drive as you are looking at a minimum of £2200 for three months rental and that's without excess insurance cover

Your def better with a Lhd car...our neighbour regularly hires thru Ryanair his car and he’s just had four weeks here and car hire was 200 euro for the four weeks! We have never had it that low but he assures me it’s correct...might be worth investigating as he always has a brand new car and includes his insurance ....he does have to return it once in that time frame and re hire it which all takes a couple hours he said but none the less it certainly sounds like cheap motoring to me?

Good luck

hi

i'm in a similar situation.

My wife will not fly, and we are going to visit for hopefully the next 4 years or so to Javea area, probably 4-6 months at a time.

i see you can pick up a LHD uk registered car quite cheep in the UK compared to RHD models, presumably because no one wants them.

so i was thinking about buying a cheap and cherfull one specifically to come to spain in, get european breakdown cover, if possible that is at a reasonable price, then use it to drive over to spain and back to UK every year, store it in my garage at home every year until i need it the following year.

thought it may be easier than buying selling cars in Spain and having to use my RHD car to drive over in every year.

anyone ever done this, or can see any major pit falls i've missed ?

many thanks.

john

Hi John,

Can you tell me where these LHD card are in the UK, the ones I've seen aren't any cheaper than in Spain.

RHD in Spain isn't a problem for me, it's actually easier on dual carriageways as you can look over your left shoulder before overtaking, and if you are a couple then there's no problem at tolls or parking barriers. 

hi Andrew,

if you go on autotrader-used cars-then LHD in search comments, it brings loads of cars up, compare them in price , for similar RHD cars in UK , they seem cheaper, then compare them again to prices in Spain, they are cheaper still.

Can't see why i can't buy a cheap and chearful LHD car here and just keep it for Spanish trips of 4 or 5 months every time.

can you ?

john

We came on a motorbike North Wales to Portsmouth the on to Santander and broke the journey up just outside Madrid at Hotel Mavi. Was about 4.5hrs the first day and 5.5hrs the second day. Was absolutely perfect and it means you are not paying for hire car when you get here. The ferry crossing was brill, nice cabins and it gives you that much needed break between driving to Portsmouth and arriving at the other end. Highly recommend. If we can do it on a motobike in 40+ degrees on a motorbike having never done it before then anyone can! :-)

LHD cars on Auto trader seem more expensive than the equivalent RHD to me.