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Have you been to Malta and seen how bad the roads are?

wpqs wrote:

I'm moving to Malta in September and want to find a good garage for servicing my Caterham sports car - 19 years old and owned by me from new. I also want it prepared for the import inspection. It has a Rover K-Series 1.6 litre engine so a garage that knows old Rover cars would be ideal. However, any garage with experience in servicing sports cars would be good. Any advice about importing would be appreciated

Hope you have adjustable shocks on it for the roads here! There are a few  Caterhams and Westfields on the Islands but they are rarely seen out and about. There is a classic car meet near Mgarr in Malta most Sunday mornings with American muscle cars and a number of British cars. Might be a good place to go and chat with knowledable owners who will no doubt know all the experts on the Islands.
I used to have a Westfield in the UK but would not have brought it here even if I could still get in and out of it!
You can check out all the costs and requirements on Transport Malta website, though procedures may have changed now because of Brexit.
If at all possible I would try and have insurance cover for a while after you arrive here as you may find it difficult to insure until you have your residence/ID card.

Many years ago I worked in Venezuela so I have some experience of driving along roads that lack bridges and sometimes bridges that lacked roads. I'm sure Malta can't be a bad as that. However, I will take your advice about getting uprated shocks.

Many thanks F0xgl0ve for the detailed advice. It's good to know that there are some other Caterhams on the Island and I will certainly attend the classic car meet in Mgarr to meet the owners.

The advice on importing my car was to drive it myself to Malta as a tourist and then arrange for its registration once I had my ID card and insurance.

Again thanks for the advice.

wpqs wrote:

Many thanks F0xgl0ve for the detailed advice. It's good to know that there are some other Caterhams on the Island and I will certainly attend the classic car meet in Mgarr to meet the owners.

The advice on importing my car was to drive it myself to Malta as a tourist and then arrange for its registration once I had my ID card and insurance.

Again thanks for the advice.

Not sure of the regulations as I did not bring a car with me but I believe you are OK as a tourist but as soon as you make your application for residency you are no longer considered a tourist and need to register the car. Fines accumulate if you do not do so!
Not sure but I think Transport Malta allow time for you to organise your residency but not once your application is in.
Some people have said insurance companies will not accept the Residency application receipt even though it has your new ID number on it and also not having a Maltese driving licence may be a problem since Brexit.
Good luck

That's very kind and much appreciated. I will update this post with my experiences to help others.

wpqs wrote:

Many years ago I worked in Venezuela so I have some experience of driving along roads that lack bridges and sometimes bridges that lacked roads. I'm sure Malta can't be a bad as that. However, I will take your advice about getting uprated shocks.

I wouldn't be so sure !!!

There is a Classic Car Club in Malta and I am sure that someone there will be able to help you.  Re driving licence, you have to apply for a Maltese one, then hand in the UK one, my husband applied for his months ago, but has been informed that he will hear in due course when to take his UK licence in for exchange.  Things in Malta do not happen quickly!

CANCERSURVIVOR wrote:

There is a Classic Car Club in Malta and I am sure that someone there will be able to help you.  Re driving licence, you have to apply for a Maltese one, then hand in the UK one, my husband applied for his months ago, but has been informed that he will hear in due course when to take his UK licence in for exchange.  Things in Malta do not happen quickly!

And unless they come to some sort of deal, it will be too late to swap your licence after the end of this month. As things stand, you will have to take a test to get a Maltese licence.

I'm British, but have got a Swiss license so God knows how that's going to work-out. Anyway thanks for the heads-up. Perhaps I need to start learning the highway code again ;-)

Thanks for the info about the Classic Car Club. I found 'Old Motors Club Malta' on the internet so will get in-touch with them.

It's very encouraging to get so much helpful advice from you all. Malta seems like a very friendly place. Many thanks.

Malta Old Motors Club