Car Purchase in Spain
 

Can anyone clarify a point for me. Can a non resident, with an NIE, purchase a car in Spain ? New or secondhand. Some sources seem to indicate a NIA is required - which I assume is full residencia. My old UK car may not last much longer so any advise would be welcome.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Well one question - how long have you been in Spain if your old UK car won't last much longer. If its more than 6 months then you ARE a Spanish resident, and if it is more than 6 months then your british car is illegal if its still on UK plates.

And yes you can purchase a car as a non resident if you have an NIE.

With NIA (I've never heard of it) if you are talking about citizenship, then you will probably never get that as its a long and convoluted procedure.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

A
Mitzy
Como Estas

I assume being they said non resident they don't live in Spain or have not been there 6 months or over permanently. subject to playing by the rules the car can remain on GB plates for ever without leaving Spain irrespective of time, ITV Insurance etc. but yes with NIE and proof of property you can buy a car. All this will change quickly though with forth coming laws from Brussels and all will be a much easier process.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

What are the forth coming laws coming in from Brussels?

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Hola
bien gracias, y usted?

Oh ... wow ... thats different to what I understood. Because unless you take the car back to the UK for MOT it is no longer legal in its country of registration and I understand therefore becomes illegal in Spain. Also I thought you only have 6 months to register the car, and after that it should be changed to Spanish plates or taken off the road for 6 months. I didn't realise it made a difference if you didn't live there

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

I've had UK plated cars in Spain for the last 5 years. My one car I had the local garage take it for Spanish MOT and then I drove it around on that and was told it was legal. Now I just drive the car back to the UK for its MOT and back again. I haven't had any problems to date and I have the police living next door.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Hi,

If it helps, I am (currently) a non resident, as I only moved here two months ago and I bought a new car. I needed my NIE number and I did show my Padron details, though not sure whether that was necessary. I basically talked to the garage and asked them what I needed.
Cheers

Gaget

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Yes if you get it MOTd then its legal in the country of registration. But theres been enough discussion on the forums about the actual legality of this in Spain and as far as I could tell from the conclusions, the situation is not legal because you can't keep a UK car on UK plates for more than 6 months in Spain (and then you can keep it off road for 6 months) ... but as I say, maybe the rules are different if you don't live there in spain full time. From what I've read then, irrespective of whether you live next to a police man :) , its contrary to all the research and reading I have done over the last 12 months or so.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

I agree. This is the current situation as I understand it. If you can find a UK insurance company to cover your car for a year abroad and you've just taxed it and MOT'ed it then you could run it for the full year here, but most UK insurers will only insure for 6 months abroad maximum and you would probably need to avoid becoming a resident in this case (i.e. not be here for more than 183 days in the year, or not be here from day one with the intention of being here permanently).

If you can find a Spanish insurance company that will insure it thereafter, with an ITV (Spanish MOT) and Spanish road tax paid, but still on UK plates, then it should also be legal as far as being insured, taxed and "MOT'ed", but will not be legal if the police apply the rules to the full. I know my brother managed this many years ago, for several years, but then the rules were not enforced as much as today.

Then again, if you are in this latter situation, you're not far off being able to get spanish plates for it (trip to hacienda and trafico and some dosh).

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

I saw a comment the other day that down past alicante they were stopping and impounding UK plated cars which were "illegal" and not releasing them until they were registered on UK plates

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

how the hell does that work mercades ? you say that you had it mot´d every year... does that include tax and insuring it in the uk ? which uk insurer did you use ?

did having an ITV and not an mot invalidate your uk insurance??? (it should, according to the uk laws)

did you ever get stopped by the guardia civil and explain that situation?

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Doesn't matter though does it? Even if he was spanish insured and UK mot'd, you still can't keep it on UK plates for that amount of time. You can' ITV a british plated car can you?

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

indeed - you can itv an english car but it has no meaning to the uk insurers - it has to be uk mot´d. a uk plated car can not legally be kept in spain for more than 6 months, it is illegal for a spanish resident to drive any foreign plated vehicle.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Why have you got a Padron and NIE if you dont live here ??

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

you have to have a padron and NIE to buy a car jdr. you CAN have these and still be non-resident - i have them - i believe by "non-resident" they do live here but do not hold a spanish residency card?

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Disagree, kind of. You can have a NIE and be non-resident, but if you have applied for empadronamiento then you have declared your intention to be resident and you will be treated as such, even though you may "flit about" in and out of the country to the extent that you spend very little time here. It's a fine line, the way I see it.

For buying a car, I'm pretty sure that you only need a NIE and a Spanish address (and the money obviously), not empadronamiento. Utility bills will suffice to prove that you "live" at the aforementioned address. At least that is all I was asked for at a main dealer - although I have not yet bought the car and I am already empadronado.

The dealer needs to register the car purchaser with the hacienda and you need to pay the appropriate purchase taxes (for a dealer sourced/new car) and the ownership of that vehicle will be of interest to the hacienda for wealth tax purposes, if you are resident.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

A friend of mine rents his apartment and bought a car as a run around when he is in Spain. He just used his address and his NIE to purchase.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

*nod*

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

I have a UK plated car but it is a left hooker bought from Germany, This car will comply to spanish registration rules such as lights speedo reading etc. one of the things I have to do before I can register it on Spanish plates is get an ITV so yes you can ITV a British plated car. the only draw back with this as i understand it is it can't be driven back to the UK. but is valid across the rest of Europe. But once plated on Spanish plate you can take it back to the UK.

As regards our dear Brussels I have been told that the registration transfer tax, that the Spanish charge for re registration, replaced import duty and as such is forbidden under free trade in Europe, I believe someone is challenging it through the European courts

From a time point of view if stopped as indeed I have been a few times by the local and guardia police, I can't see that any of my documentation gives a date to when the car was bought into the country. the only thing that can point to this is resdencia.

Saludos

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

You only need an NIE and proof of address to buy a car, but if you take out a padron you are saying that you live here permanently.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Not so. You can register on the padrón as a non-resident property owner and, certainly in my experience, you need a current padrón certificate to buy a car.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

I got 2 cars with just an NIE and an elec bill, also I cant find anything about being a non resident on the padron ?
quote :
"The "padrón" or "certificado de empadronamiento" refers to the process of registering with the town hall as a resident of your municipality"

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

I know it varies from place to place but a friend came to me recently and said that the garage where he was buying his car had told him he needed a certificado de empadronamiento.

I went with him to his local Town Hall taking his NIE, passport and escritura and despite making it quite clear that he was a non-resident they registered him and gave him the certificate there and then! http://img10.picsplace.to/5/I_Dunno.gif

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Typical Spain, they change the rules to suit themselves.
Perhaps this is a way to make more people get the certificado de empadronamiento so that the municipality gets the appropriate funding for the services. ;)

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Probably so.

The funding they get from central government is based on the number of people registered in the municipality.

You can see their point, though, and what bugs me is that the foreigners who complain about lack of services or having to wait in a queue at the medical centre etc are usually the very ones who are living and even working here illegally who contribute nothing and are not even registered on the padrón. :mad:

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Hi,

it is exactly that! Where I live, Gran Alacant near Alicante, everyone is encouraged to enrol on the padron, as this gives more services for the area, police etc. I registered a year or so ago and made it clear that I was a non-resident at the time. Rightly or wrongly, I believe that the more people are registered - the more services there will be for the area.

Cheers

Gadget

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

I applied for building permission at the local town hall, they said I needed a postal address so I went to get a po box at the Correo.....couldn't have one without a padron......back to the town hall, where a lovely helpful lady did it there and then for me, I told her I was not resident yet. Unfortunately she hadn't got time to do my husbands so he'll have to get his next time over. I think it's important even if you're not resident to register for the padron.......that way you're not draining the local funds. Theres enough parasites in uk.......and look how thats going.......:beer:
Mary

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Well I didn't realise that you could do that ... I will make sure its one of the things I do when next there.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: why does nobody actually read what i write...

to transfer your plates you first have to have a technical inspection of conformity to spanish standards, and then an itv, so yes, (for the hundredth time) you CAN itv an english plated car.

i never said you couldn´t. you can itv anything, the question is that it has no meaning to a foreign plated vehicle, it doesn´t make the car legal in the country of manufacture. ie u cant itv an english car and have english insurance.


yep...i thought i was right but i thought one of ya´ll would know better so i didn´t reply yet ;) its not so much that a padron makes u a resident...more that it ...lets the government see how many people are in the town so the town is allowed to grow with more doctors and chemists and police etc :)

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

I still cant see how you can legally claim to be a resident and not live here ?
"The "padrón" or "certificado de empadronamiento" refers to the process of registering with the town hall as a resident of your municipality"

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Hi jdr,

Perhaps the term to be a "resident of your municipality" merely means to own or rent long term a property within the municipality.

Certainly with the advent of the EU regulations on voting many thousands of EU citizens who have come to the UK to work are able to register at the Town Hall to vote by being included on the Electoral Register which seems to me to be similar to the "Padron". And in a similar fashion the ER is one of the many measures used by the Government to distribute monies to the Local Authorities.

The systems in UK and Spain do not seem to be greatly different in that respect.

In Spain there are several terms that sound the same but perhaps have different requirements. Resident in your municipality (registered property owner), tax resident (NIE plus 183 days) and Residencia (citezenship)?

Regards,:confused: :confused:

John.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Yeah I know what you mean but like you say they are resident in the UK, not just bought a house, registered and gone back to where they come from ;) ;)

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

What did I do wrong??????????????????????

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

nothing ?? why ? did i type that with attitude ? :confused: :confused: :confused:

sorry ? :( :( :(

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

We are encouraged to enrol, as we own a house here and therefore need the services that are provided. Otherwise there would not be the services needed. I do not know whether it is legal or not, however the local Ayuntamiento do register people whether they are resident or not.

cheers

Gadget

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

They said they are 'currently' not a resident as they have only been here for two months, they are probably in the same situation as I am, waiting for residencia. I have been here 7 months now, and am, to all intents and purposes a Spanish resident, with NIE, registered on the Padron, SIP, and have bought a car here. I have no UK home.

Cars from the UK MUST be registered with Spanish plates if they are kept here for more than 6 months in the year, you are classed as a Spnish resident if you are here more than in the UK. There are a huge number of cars being driven round here with UK tax discs out of date by several years, or no UK tax disc but still on UK plates. These are all, AFAIK, illegal and I would be well annoyed if involved in any accident with these cars. Cost of registering is around 1000 euros and there are plenty of firms that will do it for you.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Hi Everyone,
Need help on this one,Just bought a Spanish plated car of ebay,Its got its itv & road tax plus another piece paper,Think its a licence of some sort,To allow you to drive in Spain.I got it of a very helpfull Spanish gent,Who his living & working in the uk,He said to me that he can transfer the ownership to me before his insurance runs out at the end of july,For 44 euros & after that it will be approx a 100 euros.
The problem I have is, I dont want to register it in the uk, but in Spain,As will not be moving there for some time(2yrs Plus?)
So the Question is, How can I register it in Spain without living there & having no fixed Address,Nothing at all.Any ideas anyone.The car is in need of some repair First.
Cheers Dave.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Why register it at all, why not just drive it around, I doubt you will be bothered and at least you can avoid speeding tickets etc etc......:beer::D

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

Given you are not going to be in Spain for a couple of years or more, why buy a spanish plated car? are you going to drive it in the UK? if so you will almost certianly need an MOT, insurance etc. what happens if you are stopped driving it without correct documentation? you really do need to register it in the UK if you are using it there full time and you will be driving at a disadvantage there with a LHD car and the potential problems overtaking. I would love to see a clamp down in ALL countries on unlicensed, untaxed and uninsured cars as they are a liability on the roads and certainly would not take the risks as advocated by the other reply to your post, I value my license to much.

Re: Car Purchase in Spain
 

I was half kidding with my post. :p I know so many people get away with speeding fines, and often thought of having a foreign plated car to avoid them.....but I agree having insurance etc is a good idea especially if you are in an accident....