"This is Spain, we do things differently"

[Falcon 269]

... which is a saying used by us expats as a way of coping with the inconsistencies and frustrations of Spanish bureaucracy.  :rolleyes

Take my latest example.  Yesterday I had to take Mighty Thou for its two-yearly MOT-equivalent, the ITV test.  Having experienced some 'issues' due to the bike's mod state (a good deal different to the original spec when first registered here in 2007) I had a Spanish riding mate set up my appointment with a friend in the local test centre.  Let's just say there was a little deal sweetening discussed beforehand ... 

So,  I rock up with a borrowed Akrapovic carbon silencer and baffle fitted in place of my usual titanium Akra (which tellingly has ‘Not for road use’ engraved on it!), newly fitted number plate surround and an OE clear screen.  These are all things that have caused teeth-sucking on previous tests so I figured I'd make things easier for all this way.  Remember the thread title now.  Cue much teeth-sucking because the silencer, while E-marked and clearly road legal, wasn’t presented for test with a copy of the European type approval doc!  FFS!  They change the bloody rules every time I go there.  Same applied for the made-in-Barcelona TCP undertray which has been on the bike for the last two tests.  Why this retrospective application of recent regulation changes is allowed under EU law is beyond me but there you go. 

At this stage I get told to go the office for a refund of my test fee (there was that, I suppose) and to come back with the offending items changed or documented.  Then, while waiting for my money back, friend of friend and his oppo have a conflab and I get told to go round again … result, methinks!  They’ve clearly decided on the common sense reasonable man approach - well, more likely they’ve realised that their Saturday night drinking vouchers are about to disappear down the road!  It’s at this precise moment that the Mighty Thou decides to have a total electrical failure that I posted about yesterday.  I spent the next hour in a quiet corner of the test centre troubleshooting before I jiggled the damaged wires and got the old girl going again.  I’m now set to sprint for home before she conks out again and ready to write the morning off as one of life’s disappointing moments but lo and behold, ITV hombre suddenly says ‘documentos y 20 euros’, vanishes into the office for 2 minutes and comes out with the coveted ITV sticker.  I slip him his ‘gift’ in an old fag packet and head out of Dodge with a smile on my face. 

Now, in case you’ve missed it in all the excitement of my tale, the oddest thing here is that I got the pass certificate in the end without them ever actually testing any part of the bike.  No noise check or emissions test, no lights/indicators run through, no brake test, no chassis parts etc etc.  No mention of the R1 forks, nada.  Me, I’m not going to argue but honestly, why didn’t they just ignore the teeth-sucking preamble about type approval paperwork and save us all 2 hours of phaffing about on a Saturday morning? 

I think that for as long as I live here some aspects of the Spanish mentality will remain forever a mystery to me.  :lol

PS.  Watch out if UK MOT testers ever start taking serious note of EU type approval requirements!

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[Fazerider]

Entertaining read.
As bad as the bureaucracy is in the UK, it's good to know other places are worse. :lol

[vinnychoff]

i hope you get your bike fixed and yes good and bad. Here is good when you get someone to test. Bad if they are over the top. As long as your bike is safe to ride.

[Falcon 269]

Problem found and fixed now, thanks.  

If the test were solely about ensuring roadworthiness, I'd be fine with that.  However, I can also see why the Eurocrats wanted to introduce legislation to prevent poor quality, untested aftermarket components from dodgy suppliers winding up on the road.  Tunisian tyres and brake pads from Pakistan, you get my drift?

I'm not without sympathy for the test centre guys who could get screwed if they try to interpret the laws in a common sense way.  For them, safer to say 'no' and put the responsibility back on the owner.  Still a right PITA, though.

[downey]

glad to hear it "passed" mike and that the electrical fault is fixed some timing huh,things used to be like that in ireland with the n.c.t the equvilant of the mot,you needed to leave a 50 spot in the ashtray or over the visor and 90% of the time it would "pass"  :lol  but there was a big undercover sting done by some bastard tv show so that all ended ,for the most part anyway,,i just thank allah that they havent brought in any m.o.t  bulshit for bikes over here,,,,yet

[jeffco]

At least the Spanish are consistent in one thing.......accepting "deal sweeteners" in fag packets or anything else you want to bung it to them in.....

[lew600fazer]

Were did the test take place? wish I could find a an ITV station as friendly as that. I put my 09 Gen 2 on Spanish plates last year. That cost €920.00 alone . ITV all good apart from the headlight ??? Failed due to headlight. Had to buy a new EU light €420.00. Thank fuck I stole the bike nearly 2 years ago for £4k, just on 10k miles and a minter.
I will say this the test when carried out is reasonably thorough, perhaps as it was for first time ITV in Spain
The rolling road and braking is interesting and if you have limited mobility can be challenging. After nearly getting thrown off the bike twice, I refused to do it again. I had a Spanish speaking agent with me and told her the tester needed to do the test as I viewed their method as dangerous, he declined but ticked the box.
Next time I go 2016 July I will bring the fag packet and sweetener with me. I live near Benissa and my local ITV station is Ondara.

[Falcon 269]

Another Spanish motoring rip-off ... along with insurance costs ... is re-registration.  No taxation on import of personal vehicles from another EU country?  Don't make me laugh!  Using an agent to do the paper chase does account for a fair bit of the cost, though.

You'll appreciate that whatever the mod state of your Gen 2 when first inspected and approved for Spanish plates is now the baseline for every ITV test onwards.  Cut 40mm of your bar ends, for example, and you risk failing because the bike is no longer 'standard'. 

My local test centre (on Costa Blanca: no names - no pack drill) do the brake test themselves and yes, it's a bit difficult if you're not experienced at it.