bernie and jan

Hola all

Want to buy a car to use and leave at the apartment, can anyone help me? with regard to garages in the Ayamonte area, looking for a Second hand Ford Focuc type.

Thanks Jan and Bernie

TheArmChairDetective

RUI Atlantico
That's a chain I like to stay at.
Looking to go out to CE around July.
Wherabouts is RUI Atlantico please and are they all inclusive there?

GEORGE&YVONNE

Hi Jan and Bernie,
Try the Ford dealer in Ayamonte, they are part of a bigger garage group in Huelva and are on the industrial estate about 200yards down the road which starts opposite the "Egg and Nest " furniture shop. If you ask for Meri he speaks very good English and was very helpful when we were out in November.
Regards
George

EsuriJohn

Hi Jan and Bernie,

Been lots of discussion on other threads about buying second hand in Spain and the general advice was that it is very expensive. It seems that the best place in Europe to buy second hand is Belgium and then drive down to Spain. There are lots of tweaks that can be added to that depending on where you want the car to be registered and insured but that's a quick summary of previous advice.

Regards,

John.

Jon-Bxl

Thats interesting - I live in Belgium and didnt know that! I always thought Spain/France was best - but never researched it. I can say that powerful cars are hugely taxed here - and so are both not very popular and also depreciate a lot as the 2nd hand market isnt strong for them. So if you want something with a bit of 'poke' there might be 2 reasons for buying here... and then exporting it.

One small point, in Belgium you need to have an ID card to own a car and insure it. So if I were to have a holiday home here and live in England (for example) - I couldnt leave a car here. Having an ID card means you are resident and so get a tax return to fill out every year... which is a hassle of course.

In Spain is the NIE card all you need to own/insure the car?

Thanks
Jon

EsuriJohn

Hi Jon-Bxl,

Apparently the trick is since you buy the car in Belgium second hand without plates you do not pay taxes there but export it to where you want to own it and pay the taxes there. If you bring it to UK you do not pay tax on second hand cars but you may have to pay vat. you register it in UK and then when you go down to Spain you take it with you and you have a LH car at low cost for use in Spain. There are also Belgium web sites that have a good selection of used cars at good prices.

Regards,

John.

PS You can register a car for export on temporary plates which last a month.
:scared:

Arco-Iris

If you buy a LHD car outside Spain and bring it here to keep permanently, what will you do when the tax and MOT run out? You will be faced with either driving it back to the country of registration, or matriculating it here in Spain.

Have a look at www.andalucia.com, Living in Andalucia, 28 October last by geegee "Spanish plates for a UK LHD vehicle". It's an excellent and witty report of matriculating a foreign car in Spain. OK, he's in Malaga Province and the offices mentioned are not relevant to Huelva, but the procedure is.

Let's face it, whichever option you choose, it means some hassle. Second hand cars here can be a bit more expensive but buying one here could save you all the expense, energy and time taken up with procedures to make a foreign car legal.

PaulandDawnH

We bought in Belgium. A brand new Peugeot 307 Auto LHD with all the trimmings for £9500. Even when the VAT was paid (£1,700) this a good saving on the UK basic price of £15,500. We registered in UK which was probably a mistake. Because we had to change the headlights and one or two ther fittings before DVLA would register. We then had to change them back again to bring down to Portugal (where we now keep it). It was a lesson learned but not too painful. And the drive down allowed us to stop at one or two of our favourite Paradors (e.g. Castilo de Rodrigo). One day we will re-register either in Spain or Portugal.

Paul

EsuriJohn

Hi Arco- Iris,

The plan I have outlined suits my individual circumstances since it is not our intention to be in CE for the whole year. We hope to drive down in late October and drive back in mid May. Any intermediate trips home will be flights from Faro. It will be a 3rd car back in UK but a first car in Spain so LHD is the one to go for taxed, insured and MOT'd in UK. Yes the plan may not suit every circumstance but is fine for us we will have to wait for completion to see if it succeeds.

I will certainly read your link for all the information I can scavenge it is all grist to the mill.

Regards,

John.

MikeCol

Hi Marisol at last some words of wisdom. Maybe we all need to 'chill' a little.
Regards Bryony P.S Although us Brits suffer from impatience we are good at queueing, but once in a queue we like nothing more than a good moan with the person infront or behind.

jdr

All you need is an NIE number, by the way the card is an A4 sheet of paper

billybassett

I agree Bryony, we are all in the process of achieving many peoples dreams of owning a place in the sun. What many people wouldn't give to be in our position??

My brother-in-law is in the process of buying a new house in England, from the biggest builder in the country. He thought all would go to plan. However, having sold his house, he is now having to live out of boxes in tiny rented accommodation whilst a completion date has been put back twice. It may now be the summer before he can move in. So these things happen at home as well, not just in Spain.

Additionally, I feel very lucky to have found my ideal place in the sun in such a wonderful place and being built by such a reputable company. (Admittedly they could work on the communication) Just go to www.devwatch.com to see the plight of brits who have lost fortunes on dodgy developments that they may never be able to live in. I for one, despite the frustrations, still feel privileged.

Karen

jdr

Did you ever think that they thought the same as you ? and paid their money out before they realised the paperwork although told legal was dodgy.
Yesterday I sat watching a digger tear down a block of about 15 apartments built by Arenal 2000 (Huge building company) in Fuengirola. What happened to the money that was paid on the off plan building contracts ?
http://www.surinenglish.com/noticias.php?Noticia=7723

KathandSteve

Hi,

Just throwing another option into the pot.

We came over in september, driving from the North East of England to Ayamonte and explored various ways and means of acquiring a LHD car.

We originally were going to buy in Holland but they would only issue export plates which were valid for 14 days and then had to be registered in another country at which point the question of import tax arose. In the end we bit the bullet and bought in the UK from 'The Left Hand Drive Place' in Basingstoke.
We finally plumped for a new LHD Zafira which worked out slightly cheaper than a new one in Spain. The plus side is that we had it for the long drive south, the minus is that we will still have to eventually register it in Spain.

There are expats here however who have been driving around in their RHD cars for over 3 years and haven't got round to changing the plates.

Steve,

billybassett

It is shocking to learn of any development that goes wrong, and Spain has its fair share. You have to feel for the buyers caught up, but when investing in anything, be that property, shares, businesses, you can only do so much research, and then make adequate provision to protect your investment, in this case by getting bank guarantees, impartial advice and a good solicitor.

There's a risk involved in crossing the road but I do it most days. I do however limit the risk by looking both ways and being aware and cautious. I've taken the same approach when choosing to invest in my home in England and on CE. One of the reasons I chose CE was that it was being developed by Fadesa. I did lots of research on them and other developments of theirs and felt confident that my money was as safe as it could be.

You can do no more other than not take the risk at all, and keep your money under the mattress.

My money being in Ayamonte seems much more attractive.