cuiky

I am buying a house in Catral near Alicante. I won't have a car and am finding it difficult to find out about buses and taxis in the area. From what I have found out so far there are only a couple of buses a day to a limited number of other towns and the taxis are run by non-English speakers. If anyone can give me more information about these two issues I would be grateful. I do know that there is quite a good train service nearby but the station is two or three miles away.

5358tracey

I don't know anything about local transport but this is the web address for buses. Is Catral in the Alicante region because this website gives info for local Murcia, National and International buses. Hope it is useful. Tracey
http://www.estaciondeautobusesdemurcia.com/

5358tracey

PS. I know you don't have a car but if you decide to buy one a good place is Global Car Sales, they are really good (based in Torrivieja). They do have a website but I don't have it at the mo, you can do a search to find it. The good thing about buying a car from them is they do everything for you and the bonus is that if you go back to the Uk, you can have free airport parking for life - or as long as you have one of their cars anyway.

cuiky

ThanksTracey. Catral is in Alicante so the link wasn't much use. However, the information about car sales was very useful. Looks like second hand cars are quite expensive in Spain!

5358tracey

Looks like second hand cars are quite expensive in Spain![/QUOTE]

Hi, yes unfortunately they are, we haven't found a way around this, except that if you take a car from uk you can re-register it for about 500euros onto spanish plates. Sometimes this may work out cheaper than the price of a spanish car. Taking a car from Plymouth to Santander next week is about £165 + two fill ups on petrol + re-register - you have to work out which is the best option for you. Hope this helps.

jdr

plus headlight change, all fitted extras IE towbars etc removed for ITV, disadvantage of RHD etc.

5358tracey

plus headlight change, all fitted extras IE towbars etc removed for ITV, disadvantage of RHD etc.[/QUOTE]

Oh yeah, forgot about that also! Really have no idea why spanish second hand cars are so expensive though. But did think that overall Global did seem quite reasonable in the scheme of things especially because they sort everything out - what price can you put on the hassle factor?

jdr

Oh yeah, forgot about that also! Really have no idea why spanish second hand cars are so expensive though. But did think that overall Global did seem quite reasonable in the scheme of things especially because they sort everything out - what price can you put on the hassle factor?[/QUOTE]


I dont think cars deteriorate (apart from the dents) as much as they do in the UK, so hold a higher price.

jdr

I dont think cars deteriorate (apart from the dents) as much as they do in the UK, so hold a higher price.

5358tracey

I dont think cars deteriorate (apart from the dents) as much as they do in the UK, so hold a higher price.[/QUOTE]

Yes, that would make sense, not so much rain and rust I suppose. Have noticed that an awful lot of spanish cars have dents and scrapes though.

mikelincs

Watch out for Global, they are a very big rental group, so any second hand one is likely to be ex rental, and, their managing director is only 14 years old, seems a bit odd until you realise that if you want to sue a firm for any problems you have to sue the managing director, and you cant sue anyone under the age of 18 (this is the info I was given by an ex police friend when I was looking for a car). He advised me against using them for those reasons.

Lis48

I also don´t think there´s as much snob value to having a brand new car here, which means there are fewer available for sale. It´s only the recent car number plates that reveal how old your car is, unlike UK where the letters have always screamed out that you can´t afford a new car. In UK, many people automatically change their car every two or three years; here that´s very unusual. You don´t see new cars advertised as much as enticements either.

jdr

After driving in Spain for a while everyone will be glad not to have a new car

5358tracey

Wow, didn't know any of this. Am only going by friend that has successfully bought a car with them and is very happy with everything. Only other thought is that the 14year old MD won't be 14 forever?

5358tracey

Yep, I know where you are coming from on this one - can only agree!!!!!