I have recently decided to become a part-time motor trader, purchasing from auction houses with the intention of selling on for profit. I have have in the last few weeks gone on to purchase a couple of cars from the BCA of which I’m looking to sell on shortly.

Being a complete newbie to this line of business, I have a few queries for which I’d appreciate some feedback please.

1) Do I absolutely require a Motor Trade Insurance as a part-timer and what are the potential issues I could encounter without one?

2) If myself and/or a potential buyer has a personal car insurance policy that covers other vehicles driven by the policy holder (and not just the one named on the policy), will this be enough to cover me in the event of say an accident during a test drive?

3) The vehicles purchased from the BCA all came without the vehicle registration documents. Can I therefore test drive and sell these vehicles without having them registered in my name? If not, should I be demanding the V5C registration certificate from the BCA or should I simply apply to the DVLA for new registration documents?

Obviously, if I can sell the vehicles on without having to go through the hassle
of registering them under my name, that would be my preference as I have all
receipts confirming purchase from the BCA.

4) I also recently purchased a foreign vehicle (still with its EU number plates). The vehicle was sold only with its Spanish registration documents and I now wish to register it with the DVLA. Can this be done and how?

Secondly, with all of the vehicle’s other documents written in Spanish (and I am
no Spanish speaker as you may have guessed), I cannot determine whether it has
a Spanish equivalent of a valid MOT and would like to have one done by my local
garage asap. Can I therefore get an MOT done even with the EU number plates
and are EU registered vehicles logged on the DVLA database?