Driving in Spain
Once you are accustomed to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, getting around by car is not difficult. The Spanish have a reputation for driving in the Latin way. They do drive fast on occasions and they can get a bit impatient, but they are better than drivers in some other European countries and they are certainly no more aggressive than drivers in the south-east of England .
Should you take a car from the UK, it is possible to insure it on a permanent 'Green Card'. This will only allow you to take your car back to the UK for a limited number of days per year. Such insurance companies will recognize the Spanish equivalent of an MOT, the ITV, as evidence of the vehicle's roadworthiness in order to validate the insurance. If you intend to keep the vehicle indefinitely in Spain it would be advisable to officially export it and have it re-registered in Spain on Spanish plates. In fact by law you are supposed to register the car in Spain and officially export the car from the UK, but there are many expatriates who have driven UK-registered cars in Spain for years before they switch to a Spanish registration. The advantage of switching is that you would then have to insure it with a Spanish company and this will save you considerable expense.
It would be my recommendation to either export a left-hand-drive car from the UK or buy a car in Spain as soon as possible, since it is much easier and safer to drive a car that has the controls on the correct side.
Car parking is also very well catered for. In most big cities and resort areas there are huge, modern car parks which are very cheap. In smaller towns parking remains free for the moment. There are occasions when cars are double parked or just abandoned, but so long as your attitude to life remains as laid back as the Spanish, this is not really a problem. In some of the smaller towns the parking meters, when they exist, also have a siesta. Between 2 and 4 in the afternoon parking is free.
