toonbuck

I am looking at buying a left hand drive car off e bay from the U.K. and bringing it across to Spain. Does anyone have any advice regarding pitfalls to look out for, documentation required and costs involved. More specifically how do I check with the Spanish authorities that the car is not stolen or has outstanding hire purchase/suma etc. Thanks in anticipation.

manamama

We bought a left hand drive car in the Uk and then brought it to Spain.

One tip : Make sure you get the Certificate of Conformity as this helps the re-registering of the vehicle.

johncar61

Why go to all that trouble? If you live here buy here. There can be a lot of hoops to jump through when importing a vehicle.

toonbuck

because the U.K. price is about 3K less than the Spanish price. I will jump through a lot of hoops for that !

manamama

True it is a hassle, but can save you a fair bit of dosh.

johncar61

When I tried to buy a LDH some years ago in UK from a Renault dealer the prices was the same as a RHD. When I asked they said they could have shipped it back to France so no need to offer a lower price.


But horses for courses

painterhombre

Hiya. This may be of use to you

Although you will get teh car cheaper, as we did, in the uk, check this out.......

1. Consider the ferry fare , petrol and tolls down to spain. This can amount to an extra 600 or so quid.

2. If you have not paid VAT when you buy the car in the UK, as soon as you register (matriculate) the car in spain, you have to pay the VAt on it (I think?)

3. Re registering a car, paying the SUMA (road tax) and ITV (mot) including fitting new lLHD headlights, can cost you up to 800 or 900 euros. at least.

4. heres the killer. If you have not owned the car for 6 months prior to it entering spain, you will have to pay import tax on it too.

So a UK car appears cheap, but making into a spanish car can be so expensive its not worth the aggro and hassle.

be wary of american cars imported into the UK from a non European country, (eg USA) as in some cases they will refuse to register it.

If you plan to go back to the UK at some point, you can only legally drive your car here for 6 months at any time, and then you have to take it back to uk and leave it there for 6 months.

Buy a spanish car, honestly. (you must have an NIE number and aspanish address to do so.)

hope that is of some help

johncar61

All good advise.

If you plan to go back to the UK at some point, you can only legally drive your car here for 6 months at any time, and then you have to take it back to uk and leave it there for 6 months.

Buy a spanish car, honestly. (you must have an NIE number and aspanish address to do so.)

If you are resident here ( now 3 months permanently here you must register) then you cannot drive a foreign plated car except in a special circumstances (a mechanic testing it, the owner is sick and unable to get the car home, etc).

I think you may also need certificate of Empadron to buy a Spanish car.

manamama

Our experience :

We reckon we saved about 5000 euros buying our car in the UK instead of buying it in Spain.

We spent approx £400 transporting it down to Spain.

We paid approx 1000 euros for the re-registering including the tax.

We did not pay any import tax.

Hassle wasn't too bad really but we paid a company to do it all for us.

johncar61

What car did you buy and what was the UK price ?

manamama

Grand Renault Espace for 14000 pounds

painterhombre

how did you avoid the import tax?

twistedmelon

Very sorry.....but this sounds very vague.
Firstly ebay??? Is this a dealer or private? Dealer prices in UK are equal to here If private I would leave well alone.
Have you seen the car?,do they have ALL the paperwork?, do you know what paperwork you need?
As has been said, this can be a false economy and moreover a recipe for disaster.

Fred James

There is no such thing as an Import tax on a second hand car - it is the cost of matriculating it which also applies to new cars.

If you want to avoid this tax then, if you bring it into Spain as part of your other possessions when you permanently leave the UK, it is free of this tax. If you have owned it for less than 6 months then it is not considered part of your possessions so you pay the tax.

To do this you need a special certificate from the UK Embassy to show that you have really left the UK.

Fred James

That is clearly not true - there are thousands of foreign visitors who spend more than 3 months every year in Spain with their foreign plated cars.

Yes, legally they are obliged to register on the list of foreigners but that, in no way, makes them resident for tax purposes and that includes matriculation tax.

Even if you do become fiscally resident then, under EU law, you have up to 6 months to reregister your car.