There appears to be some confusion over British cars in Portugal, their legality, length of time you are allowed to have a car here.


A British car that has been S.O.R.N.ed but is driven in Portugal is illegal.

It is illegal for any foreigner who has taken out Portuguese residency, required by many to get their children into school or to register at a health centre, to drive a foreign registered car in Portugal.

It is illegal under EU law for a car to be insured in any other country that the one it is registered in.
This means that British insurance companies can only insure British cars, likewise no British insurance company will insure a Portuguese registered car and no Portuguese insurance company will insure a British car unless the matriculation process has started.
Phone your own UK based insurance and ask if you don’t believe me or ask at a Portuguese insurance company agency.
Just because you have an insurance certificate it does not mean that it is valid there are many get out clauses in the event of a payout.


The maximum time a British car can be legal in Portugal is six months and it must have British insurance, British road tax and British M.O.T for the full six months.

A Portuguese I.P.O. disc on a British car is meaningless. These testing companies are privately owned and will gladly take the fee but it’s a waste of money.

A Portuguese road tax on a British car is also meaningless, however it’s a good way of the authorities to know how long the car has been in Portugal. It is up to the car owner to prove that the car has been in Portugal for less than six month, ferry details have to be supplied to prove your case, and a day trip to Spain is not sufficient.

It is true that many illegal British cars get through spot checks, as the local GNR basically can’t be bothered.

It is also true that if your car is involved in an accident and the authorities decide that it’s illegal your car can be confiscated, your passport confiscated, you are imprisoned and even more of a threat your house may also be confiscated to pay any compensation.
An uninsured driver can also be liable for the costs of the emergency services attending an accident and medical accounts for any injured.

In Portuguese compensation claims there is an fairly quick initial payment then the claimant has a number of years before coming back for extra financial help so a uninsured driver can have legal problems for a long time.

There has been several posts about number plates flaws causing cars to fail the I.P.O. or incurring a fine for the owner and all Micro cars that used to have Portuguese motorbike number plates are now having them replaced with a standard car number plate, this is for the introduction of
Automatic Car Number Plate reading Camera's which are here already but in small numbers.  

Wow that's what I call shooting straight from the hip. Good on you Lorne.  

Hi Lorne and welcome to the forum.

Your first Posting is very informative and as cherrytree says shoots straight from the hip!!

I think I will add this as a sticky post for a while...as this old chestnut re cars keeps popping up.
thanks once again!
Piglet
_________________
Expat Focus Community Manager
Web: www.expatfocus.com
Blog: www.expatfocus.com/blog
Twitter: twitter.com/ExpatFocus
Facebook: www.facebook.com/expatfocus
E-book: www.expatfocus.com/moving-guide 

i drive portuguese car so no problem but can you explain the following???

British driver with british car not registerd as resident but has car british insured ,taxed and mot for a full 12 months.

drive over for 12 months rental of apartment
decide to stay in thier apartment for a longer period of time than the 6 months ,

so then leave portugal have a bed and breakfast in spain just over the border approx 40 mins from faro Airport

so i would argue that the car has then left portugal and is returning to portugal for the next six months period allowed by law ??

interesting thought  

Hi Lorne,

I agree. Good post and very informative. I personally know
of uk expats who are understandably very reluctant to get rid of their
uk cars. These would be in the main good and reliable older ones
because they are worth nothing here and because the cost of
matriculation is more than the vehicle is worth. Many seem to be
convinced that just taking a run into spain and insuring them there
makes them perfectly legal for daily use in portugal and it would seem
that some spanish insurance companies are encouraging them to
believe this.

Even the thought of doing prison time or having ones
pt house confiscated to pay a compensation claim should be a big wake
up call. Unfortunately too many people have the: Rules are made to be
broken mentality. I sold my own car before coming to portugal and
just bought one here, so no worries on that score. I have often thought
that the simple solution is for uk expats to just swop these cars with
returning uk expats who in many cases have portuguese registered cars
that they now need to shift. It is the best way to get a car for a car that
I know, plus everyone surely wins.

"Why risk it !  

Here is a simple illustration of why many people still drive older UK registered cars and are reluctant to buy here:-

UK - Land Rover Discovery TD5 XS 2001 Diesel £5000 sterling (www.autotrader.co.uk) - about €5599 at today's exchange rate

PT - Land Rover Discovery TD5 2001 Diesel €16000 (www.standvirtual.com)

This is a popular car for expats who live up dirt tracks (particularly after winter rains) and is by no means unrepresentative of the price differentials.

Until Portugal addresses this problem who can blaim expats (now with 30% less income in many cases) from exploiting the opportunity.

Just my 10 cents worth.

GRC  

- GRC50

Here is a simple illustration of why many people still drive older UK registered cars and are reluctant to buy here:-

UK - Land Rover Discovery TD5 XS 2001 Diesel £5000 sterling (www.autotrader.co.uk) - about €5599 at today's exchange rate

PT - Land Rover Discovery TD5 2001 Diesel €16000 (www.standvirtual.com)

This is a popular car for expats who live up dirt tracks (particularly after winter rains) and is by no means unrepresentative of the price differentials.

Until Portugal addresses this problem who can blaim expats (now with 30% less income in many cases) from exploiting the opportunity.

Just my 10 cents worth.

GRC

I have to agree there, it really is a nonsense, and I can't understand why Portugal are allowed to get away with flouting EU laws with regard to the ultra high taxes on cars, and also disregarding the fact that we should be able to have free trade between EU states. I drive a PT registered car, and taking into account the exchange rate differences and the taxes imposed out here I am paying almost three times as much for the same vehicle.

When my lease is up next December I will be getting a UK registered car.