For those of you who have been read my blog on car matriculation (see January) then the sorry story has now come to an end. Not successfully, not legally, but there is nothing more to be done.
After the refusal by the Faro Customs to accept that my husband and I had a marriage of communal assets (ie the normal type of marriage in the UK) , that I purchased the car and my husband did not own it the appeal to Lisbon failed. Why? Because we have the wrong type of marriage in our house deeds, despite the fact that we were married in the UK long before we moved to Portugal.
So, what does this mean? Well, I have been given TWO days to get the car out of the country (well, 36 hours to be exact). I have to go to Faro (an hour away from where I live) to get some paperwork the day before export (no sooner). I have to inform them of the time and border where I am going to take the car (and if you’ve ever crossed between Spain and Portugal in the south, north and east of the country you’ll know there are no border posts any more because in theory (although the way the Portuguese run the Matriculation process totally belies this). I then have to the next day take the car to the appointed post (two hours’ drive) and get all the documentation stamped and then the car cannot return here for five years, at least whilst I own it.
Within this two day notice I have to find somewhere for the car to go. I can’t take the time out to drive it back to the UK and as it is now up for sale, it is likely the buyer will come from Spain or Germany – so what’s the point of taking it all the way to the UK to bring it back to mainland Europe? If I take it to Spain, where do I leave it? Is this a concern for the Customs? Not at all. Although part of the European Union, the car in their view is illegal here and must go. Full stop.
My response. Tomorrow I go and cancel my residency in Portugal. The loss to Portugal of my tax income, which will over the years of work I have left in me (hopefully) far exceed even the extortionate amount of tax (22K euros) they want for my car which is worth around £7k max.
For a debt ridden country (even worse than the UK and second only to Greece) this is economics gone crazy. And, as I say, illegal. The only other option? To take to the European Court of Justice. The problem here is that the last four cases of a similar nature that have been taken to the ECJ have actually succeeded, ie it has been proven that the Portuguese are acting illegally. However, no fines have been imposed as the ECJ’s view is that until every country (from the UK through to Lithuania) applies the same rules, there is no point interfering with the individual decision of one of the EU countries.
So, the end of a year of heartache, stress, time and money has come to an end – and if you see an orange Freelander parked somewhere up in either the UK or Spain, don’t think it’s abandoned. It’s just awaiting a new owner in a country which hopefully will allow a LHD car to be imported in line with legislation in Europe.
So, if you’re thinking of bringing a car in the Portugal for importation, think carefully – and do read my do’s and don’ts on my January blog so you don’t caught out in the bureaucratic nightmare that the Portuguese authorities impose.
