Bringing a Spanish car to the UK: ferries, driving routes, and what to do when you arrive

Direct ferries from Spain to the UK

Brittany Ferries operates the only direct car-ferry routes between northern Spain and England. Crossing times and seasons vary with the ship and timetable, so treat these as a guide and check the operator for live schedules:

All three carry cars, vans, motorhomes, caravans and motorcycles. Enter accurate vehicle dimensions when booking — height especially, if you're in a camper — and book early for summer, when vehicle decks sell out. The Bay of Biscay can be rough outside the summer months; an overnight cabin is worth it.

From Portsmouth you're on the M27/A3 within minutes; from Plymouth the A38 takes you east. Keep your ferry booking and boarding confirmation — it's the proof of your arrival date that the police, HMRC and the DVLA may all ask for.

Driving through France

The land route is Spain → France → Calais or Dunkirk → Dover (ferry, around 90 minutes) or Folkestone (Eurotunnel, about 35 minutes), or one of the western Channel crossings — Caen, Cherbourg, St Malo or Roscoff to Portsmouth, Poole or Plymouth — which cut the French driving but lengthen the sea leg. Reckon on:

• Barcelona to Calais: around 850 miles, a long single day or an easy two;
• Madrid to Calais: around 1,100 miles;
• Alicante or Málaga to Calais: 1,250 to 1,400 miles — two days with an overnight stop.

French autoroutes are tolled and the bill for a full north–south run is substantial; Spanish AP motorways add a little more. Several French cities, including Paris, Lyon and Grenoble, require a Crit'Air emissions sticker to enter their low-emission zones — order it from the official French government site before you travel, as it's posted to you. Carry the car's documents, your licence, and a warning triangle and hi-vis vest as French law requires.

Decide before you leave whether the car is being used as a one-way ticket. If so, pricing a one-way transporter from Spain against ferry fares, fuel, tolls, a hotel and two days of your time is worth five minutes — and so is asking us what the car is worth when it gets here.

Before you leave Spain: the checklist

1. ITV in date. If it's due in the next couple of months, do it before you go — it can't be done in the UK, and an expired ITV later blocks the export baja. See why that matters.
2. Insurance covers the UK. Spanish policies generally include the Green Card countries, and the UK is one, so no physical green card is needed — but check the days-abroad limit and whether comprehensive cover applies outside Spain. If the move is permanent, tell the insurer.
3. Documents in the car. Permiso de Circulación, Ficha Técnica, insurance certificate, your passport and NIE, driving licence. If the car isn't in your name, the signed purchase contract too.
4. Headlamp beam deflectors or an adjustment for driving on the left. LHD dipped beams dazzle oncoming UK traffic otherwise.
5. Clear anything recorded against the car. A quick DGT report shows fines, embargoes or finance that will complicate everything later. How to get one.
6. If the move is permanent and you'll register in the UK, apply for transfer-of-residence relief (ToR1) before travelling if you qualify, and consider requesting the DGT's export baja and the manufacturer's Certificate of Conformity while you still have a Spanish address. Full detail in registering a Spanish car in the UK.

The first 14 days in the UK

What you must do depends on whether you're visiting or moving.

Visiting

If you don't live in the UK and the car is registered, taxed and insured in Spain, you can use it here for up to 6 months in any 12-month period without registering it. Keep the ferry confirmation with the car. The rules, the exceptions and the clamping regime are in Spanish-registered car in the UK: the rules.

Moving to the UK

• Within 14 days of arrival, make the NOVA declaration to HMRC — it's free and it starts the VAT/duty assessment (or your relief claim).
• Don't use the car on the road beyond what's needed for a pre-booked MOT or approval test until it's registered, unless you're still within a genuine visit.
• Work through approval (Certificate of Conformity; GB conversion IVA for LHD), MOT and the DVLA's V55/5 — or decide the import isn't worth it and sell.

Both

• Speed limits are in mph; your speedometer's outer ring is in km/h. 70 mph is 113 km/h, 30 mph is 48 km/h.
• Overtaking from the left-hand seat is the main LHD hazard — hang back and use the passenger as a spotter on A-roads.
• If you'll drive into London, register the car with TfL for the ULEZ first; foreign plates are charged and fined like any other, and unregistered vehicles can be penalised. Details in the rules guide.

Shipping it instead of driving

Vehicle transporters run Spain–UK regularly, particularly from the Costas, and a one-way shipment is sometimes cheaper than driving once ferries, fuel, tolls and accommodation are added up — and much cheaper than fixing an engine that gave up at Bordeaux. If the car is shipped rather than driven in, the shipping company or a customs agent normally makes the import declaration at the border and HMRC is told that way; the 14-day NOVA rule still applies to you.

If the car has done its job: selling on arrival

A lot of Spanish cars come to the UK for one reason — to carry the family and the luggage home — and then sit. If that's the plan, the best time to sell is immediately, while the ITV, insurance and IVTM are all in order and the car is at its most valuable. We buy Spanish-registered cars, vans and campers anywhere in the UK: collect from your door (or near enough the port if that's easier), handle the Spanish deregistration through our Gestoría so the car comes off your name, and pay you the same day.