Before going to Spain, I had not searched much. I had read on horizon limited and so on. I found that nobody has full information. So I am writing it here.
1. Do not expect locals to know all about this. In fact if you ask me how a foreigner can purchase a motorcycle in India, I really don’t know, because I have never faced such a situation. So this will be the case for everywhere.
2. Bike dealer may know something about it, but that was not the case in Brazil nor in Spain. They didn’t know.
3. My experience tells me go to the source, i.e. the government department who handle the registration. I asked the hostel guy to give me what this office is called in Spanish and its address.
4. I went there office A. It’s in Calle de Arturo Soria, 125, 28043 Madrid, Spain.
5. They gave me the requirement list. (Image of the paper also posted below)
a. Foreigner registration in Spain. So was the case in Brazil also.
b. Letter from the custom department to allow me to have a touristic plate.
c. Rest was easy to fulfill.
6. I went to this office B for Foreigner registration for above list Point a Requirement fulfillment.
7. They send me to the police station.
8. The police gave me the number (NES Number they called it) in 3 days.
9. I went back to Office B, They did some formalities and its was over.
10. I went Back to Office A.
11. They asked me to get the letter also (Point B requirement in above list).
12. I again went back to Office B.
13. They sent me to the custom office which was 2 building ahead. Lets say, Office C.
14. Office C gave me the long list which was almost impossible to fulfill and the guy also informed me that even if I get the touristic number plate, I won’t be able to take the vehicle out of Spain, so it's of no use for me.
15. I went back to the Office A, requested him the I don’t need the touristic plate but some temporary number plate.
16. He said no (he was always in denial mode) but then he suddenly said “Okay, purchase the bike and I will give you plate valid for 60 Days" (That story is in another post "initial struggle").
17. I went to dealer, purchased the bike ( He was cooperative, my purchase finished in 30 min).
18. With bike papers, I went to OFFICE A again (it was weekend and all offices close by 2:00 pm in Spain).
19. He said "Not like this , take the appointment online" and gave me the website address.
20. I came to hostel and asked the hostel guy to make the appointment as the website was in Spanish and translator in Google chrome looked risky. It was giving an appointment after 45 days (that’s ridiculous).
21. I went to the dealer. He also checked, it was after 15 days according to him. I asked if he knew any agency who can help me to get the registration quickly
22. He talked to his usual agency and I was informed that they can do it in 7 days with a fees of 100 euro extra (Total 120 Euro Charge).
23. I finally got the number plate starting With P (for Spanish people, it starts with E) in 7 days.
Story doesn’t end here, Some good save.
While taking the delivery of my bike (First time I touched my bike. I had made the purchase without knowing about the bike. Ha ha ha).
They said that I will be super-man if I take the bike out of Europe. I didn’t fully understand what they meant but then something lightened my mind: "hey where is the insurance?", I asked them.
The dealer informed me that the fees was for the registration only.
I asked them to get me the insurance too. Now it was again difficult for them to get the insurance for a foreigner but they helped me. They searched the web and got me the insurance for 17 days in 66 Euro.
I was happy and just flew from the shop directly.
Do I need the insurance? Because I drove all South America (19200 km) without Insurance, I was thinking.
My question was answered at Spain border itself. Police stopped me. First my bike number was aired through a walky-talky to police control room (I panicked what if what the custom officer was telling me was true?).
That was cleared.
Second thing they ask me was the insurance.
I was so happy and took out the insurance proudly and I was cleared in 2 minutes. (Insurance companies must be paying very high to the governments or may be the governments' big Polly have major share in insurance companies, I thought. That's why they are concerned with insurance only and that also at the time of leaving the country.
Again, do I need insurance again for going to turkey?
Yes, you need insurance for the country visiting with your bike. (And same goes for the car of course)
This was the case when I first crossed the border from Brazil to Argentina and so on. You may read the details here.
I read that one can buy the insurance at duty free shop on the border (Turkey side). I inquired at the Greece side but I didn’t buy it. I thought let the custom office catch me and ask me to buy one. That will satisfy their ego and they might stop raising further requirements. But I was again cleared (the guy checked the insurance valid up to 17th June and I was entering on 13th June). I said I will buy one before this expires and he cleared me.
They sent back one guy coming from Italy because he didn’t have insurance and also couldn’t buy on the duty free shop. I exactly don’t know why, because I could not meet him. When he didn’t appear on the Turkey side, I came to know it from his friend, who was cleared.
God Helped me.
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