Impounded UK cars

Email
March 8, 2017

Dear Sir,
I realise that not everyone will read my column nor indeed buy the CBN as this has been covered before, but those readers who are enlightened enough to do both, please spread the word!
In the past 5 days, I have received five calls for help because of cars being impounded by the police. The police hooked up to DVLA on their smart phones and towed away any UK plated car that had no tax, no MOT or had been SORN’d. Most of these were caught at Alicante-Elche airport
If your vehicle has been impounded this is what you need to do to recover it. Firstly, pay the fines, typically €700, reduced to €350 if paid promptly. Pay the Spanish road tax, pay the registration/import tax and apply to Trafico for provisional registration. After this, get the green plates from an official supplier. You now need to insure the car against the provisional number, go to the police compound, pay the daily storage charge of between €5 and €15 per day, pay the cost of the ‘grua’ (breakdown truck), which took your car to the compound, around €80 to €150 and you can drive your car off but only within Spain.
The green plates have a validity of two months which allows enough time for the car to be re-registered normally, so it will need to be inspected by an engineer who will produce a report (ficha reducida) confirming that your vehicle is essentially as built, after which it can be presented for an ITV inspection by which time your UK or Irish lights will probably have been exchanged. Back to Trafico again for the definitive registration, get some black on white number plates, change your insurance documents and crack on.
Much of this is similar to standard registration, but the costs are much higher, meanwhile you are without a vehicle and facing a good deal of stress. Check your non-Spanish car now and ask your friends to do the same so that you are not caught out, then check my advert or contact another service provider

Regards
Graham Shelton
Author of the column “Mediterranean Motoring”