fulltimeing france & spain

[bics]

hi is there anyone out there who can help us. my wife and i are in ower mid forty's both work hard. (that's all we do come to think of it) we have a small shop and i work continental shifts in a factory as well. the only time we get to spend time together and not be working is on sundays in the winter if im not on shift. for the last 2 years we have dreamed of liveing an easyer life.the end of the morgege is in sight the loan on the shop has 1 year left we are going to sell house & shop & disapeare.the problem is the MOT.the tax & insurance. my sister will let us use her address and send them on to us.how do we do this without the expense of returning to the uk every year.is there anyone out there who can advise us on this or have any experience on fulltimeing.been reading mmm & motorhome mags for the last 2 years but still no joy.(did get tax & insrance ideal from them).

[raylyn]

Although we are a good bit older than you (58!!!) we did just that last year. We sold up, although we have a rental property now, and have successfully lived in our motorhome since |July of last year. We mostly spend our time in France and are now going over on 4 October to winter in Spain, a first for us, although we have travelled the rest of europe. Our belief is that you will not evade the taxing, mot-ing and insuring of your vehicle in this country. For the insurance to be valid, your vehicle has to be taxed in the country of its origin and I guess this will also apply to the MOT. We use an address in this country for all legal etc matters, and we come back to this country mid February, in order to see to the tax and insurance. You could of course get someone else to get your tax to you but you then have to rely on the post to france to actually get it fixed to your vehicle. The same goes for insurance, we can contact by phone our insurance company just before the expiry of the insurance, they will give us our new quote and we can pay over the phone with a credit card, but again, you will have to rely on the post. You cannot however do this if your vehicle requires an MOT. I hope this has been of help, and the only advice we would give is, if its something you have in your mind to do, then go ahead and do it, or live a life of regret. We have no income other than our savings and our rental income until one of us gets a pension in 18 months time, and we havent regretted a single moment. Enjoy the planning!!!