driving a UK car in Tenerife and the Police

[Radio]

Hello,

Is anyone driving a car with UK number plates in tenerife and can you tell me if the police regularly stop and check your papers? I know by law you can drive your car for 6 months a year but I was wondering if that means being stopped by the police all the time.

Many thanks

[cressrt]

Sorry, your info is wrong, the car should have it's plates changed for Spanish once it has been on the island for 6 months. If you are saying you drive here regularly and only stay less than 6months before leaving the island then that is a different situation.
Whether people with UK registration get stopped I'm sure someone will be along to answer.

[Radio]

Yes thats right... i mean i will only be here 6 months a year or less. If anyone has experienced problems with the police please let me know... thanks

[UKj]

If you plan to spend no more than 182 days outside of the UK and are prepared to drive the car back to the UK for its MOT then no problem. It's an expensive way to do it though. Speak to your car insurance company too, to ensure they will cover the vehicle outside of the UK for the duration of your stay. If you want to ITV (Spanish MOT) the car and buy local vehicle tax, you'd have to import the vehicle, which can easily cost 1000€ or more. As for being stopped by the police, there are regular spot checks all over the island and there's a good chance you'll be stopped sooner or later regardless of whether you're driving a UK or Spanish car.

[Newforest]

Back last century (doesn't time fly!), we used our UK rhd car every day in Playa with never a hassle from anybody for over six years!

[Radio]

Vow!! When was that nowforest?

[Newforest]

1990 to 1996, maybe longer as the car was still in use after I left. Must be honest, did have a spot of bovver with the fuzz. Car disappeared one day when slightly illegally parked, reported to the police station by the casino, no trace. Searched the Island for a couple on months, no trace. Then our hire car went missing (illegally parked again!). Located in the police compound on the way to Adeje. Would you believe when we went to collect the rental, it was parked next to our own car!! That's when you learn that police stations don't talk to each other. Hopefully it is different now. At least we didn't have to pay a storage charge as we could prove it had already been reported.

[UKj]

How did you MOT, tax and insure your car Newforest?

[Newforest]

No MOT, no tax, local insurance company and local garage mechanic.

[cressrt]

If it is on UK plates then it has to have a valid UK MOT and be taxed in the UK, without this any insurance would not be valid.

[vugglespeter]

I don't know about getting stoped by the police but can assure you that after 6 months you will now get a notification from the excise people in Tenerife demanding import duty on the car.
The way it works is that the English registration is noted when you land at the port. After 6 months, if you haven't paid the Import Duty the excise people will lookup your details. Presumably this is from the ferry company where you booked with a 50% reduction on your NIE but they might have obtained it by trawling the banks for your name/NIE. Any way if you don't pay they will take the money directly out of your account.

I can assure you that this is the case as it happened to me because of an administration error somewhere along the process. There was a 'Y' on my English plates which was transcribed as a Spanish '7'. Consequently when they looked me up they didn't find that I hade gone through the matriculation process, of which step 1 is pay the import duty. I appealed and was rejected. I was informed that if I didn't pay within a fortnight they would raid my bank account. It took 2 trips to the Import Agency to sort it out and then only because one of the agents kindly took it on to contact them himself.