I don't see why not. UK residents are able to own, drive & insure Spanish registered cars for use in Spain. Obviously she couldn't drive the UK car outside of the UK.

It might be an idea though to gift the car to her parents and insure it for any driver.

 

What happens in Spain it totally irrelevant but it's not a licence issue.

The stumbling block is that very few UK insurers will offer policies to non residents, it's a prime prerequisite.

Running a con by pretending someone else is the owner or principal user of a car is called 'fronting' and will lead to a refuting of claims when found out - as it will be.

 

Hola
I have known a case where someone owned a car but couldn't drive and the insurance company was happy to have a named driver rather than the owner.

Davexf

 

Go to Stuart Collins | European Car Insurance to get insurance as a non-resident in the UK.

She will be able to get a 12 months policy for a UK vehicle with them. I used them for this.

Other option is to get short term cover every time she returns to the UK.

I've been there, done that and have the t-shirt shirt and researched it extensively. The options you have are above.

Do not consider trying to be tricky as if you have the misfortune to have an accident you will find your cover will be void as insurance companies do check out your details if there is a claim. They are a business and looking for a way out of paying for your claim and they are perfectly at liberty to do this!

 

Spanish licence and car at a UK address shouldn't be an issue but it sounds like she wants insurance for only weeks at a time, which is often iffy and expensive. I wonder if it would make things easier, and probably cost the same if not less, if your friend simply said she lived in the UK (at the address cars is stored) and paid for an annual policy as a UK resident with a foreign licence.

If that is an option, I would strongly recommend ignoring price comparison websites and 'specialist' brokers. When we moved back to the UK we didn't want to give up Spanish licences so I did quite a bit of digging and time wasting before stumbling on good old Aviva. We now insure two Spanish licence holders on a 4 year-old UK-plated car for under £300.

The only complication is that Aviva insist on a letter from the Spanish insurer in English (or sworn translation) which notes how many years NCB you have. Spanish insurers don't typically issue documents in English nor quote NCB in years but we're with Linea Directa and they sent what we needed within hours of my request.

See these links:
No Claims Bonus Explained | Car Insurance - Aviva (scroll down to "What if I’ve earned No Claim Discount on motor insurance overseas?") and then Do you accept foreign driving licences? - Aviva

 

Spanish licence and car at a UK address shouldn't be an issue but it sounds like she wants insurance for only weeks at a time, which is often iffy and expensive. I wonder if it would make things easier, and probably cost the same if not less, if your friend simply said she lived in the UK (at the address cars is stored) and paid for an annual policy as a UK resident with a foreign licence.

If that is an option, I would strongly recommend ignoring price comparison websites and 'specialist' brokers. When we moved back to the UK we didn't want to give up Spanish licences so I did quite a bit of digging and time wasting before stumbling on good old Aviva. We now insure two Spanish licence holders on a 4 year-old UK-plated car for under £300.

The only complication is that Aviva insist on a letter from the Spanish insurer in English (or sworn translation) which notes how many years NCB you have. Spanish insurers don't typically issue documents in English nor quote NCB in years but we're with Linea Directa and they sent what we needed within hours of my request.

See these links:
No Claims Bonus Explained | Car Insurance - Aviva (scroll down to "What if I’ve earned No Claim Discount on motor insurance overseas?") and then Do you accept foreign driving licences? - Aviva

Wouldn't lying to get insurance be fraud & therefore invalidate the insurance?

 

If you have moved to the UK why do you want to retain a Spanish licence?

 

Tbh it would probably be much more practical for the owners of the house where the car is parked to insure the car and then add the foreign relative as a named driver - my family have previously done this on their vehicles when I lived abroad (they use Zurich) so I could drive when I visited. I suppose some people might think this is 'fronting', but the OP could just hand theirs over to their parents if they wished to keep it strictly legal.



1) There was no need to change it: unlike Spain, the UK has retained, post-Brexit, the ability for a UK resident to drive on an EU licence long-term.
2) To avoid the hassle (and expense) of changing it: the UK DVLA is an absolute mess with a huge backlog of angry applicants.
3) We have no intention of staying in the UK long-term and didn't fancy trying to swap a UK one for another EU one on our next move post-Brexit.

 

Yes, unquestionably!

An insurance contract is one of 'utmost faith' meaning that an individual soliciting cover has an absolute duty to be completely honest and also disclose any factor or circumstance - however small or seemingly insignificant - which could cause the insure to reassess their risk, obviously being non UK resident falls squarely into that category as would giving a false residential address for the purpose of obtaining cover. If you have any doubt or question then you must disclose and let the insurer decide whether it's pertinent or not.

Lying to an insurer, and that includes lying by omission, is an exceedingly BAD idea.

 

I'd just tick the box for protected NCB and, as is always the case with insurance, hope for the best.

Disorientation could be an issue but it is clearly quite a personal one. I've no idea if your experience is common or not but I haven't had it myself and find it interesting that [decent] insurance companies don't seem to charge any more for EU licences: statistically there mustn't be too many issues with foreigners.