Some of the dealers over here do seem to be prepared to do a deal for LH drive VAT deferred etc. I am happy to help if anyone needs it

I have been looking for a BMW 1 Series, in and around Salamanca where we live for the past month, and I have to agree the dealers are a nightmare. They wont give prices over the phone, and once you do get the price at the dealership they are not looking to do any deals at all! I have also found the Spanish pricing far more expensive than UK list prices, without any sort of discounts added.

I am planning to buy tax free in the UK or perhaps Germany, and then drive it over, pay Spanish VAT, Import Tax, and Matriculation.

My wife is Spanish and I am English so does this sound like the best thing to do?? Should I register it as hers? Does anyone know any places in Germany that would be worth a try?

A little lost so any advice would be great.

Chase,
That is what we decided to do, but we are in the UK and moving over in June. Germany, we discovered, there could be a problem for us as we would have to bring the car into the UK first and then across to Spain. If we found a difficult Customs officer (and are there any others?) we could have got caught paying VAT twice, or even three times.
If you are not worried about that, as you are already in Spain, I understand what the Germans are doing is buying in Poland, where the price is lower and the scrappage still applies.
Not all the dealers or manufacturers in The UK would play ball on a left hand drive, as they have been left holding a few unsaleable cars in the past.

as they have been left holding a few unsaleable cars in the past.

It is these cars that you can get a good deal on, as long as it's the one you want.

Thats how we got our LHD. (have since sold it)

The dealers don't like admitting they are stuck with them though.

two of my neighbours have bought in germany and driven straight back to spain and rematriculated here. total cost between 1500 and 2000 on top of the buying price.ive been in one of the mercs all day and have to say its like new.these were bought guaranteed from official mercedes dealers in germany. they all have someone who talks english if you need it.i believe mercedes uk will check the serial no for you to verify all the information
am i allowed to post a link?

Thanks guys!

by the way what is scrappage?

and does anyone know any good dealers for BMW??

Think I will pick up the phone to BMW Export Sales in the UK again tomorrow and then maybe call a few dealers in Germany to see if they have any deals around, or are interested in sourcing one for me....

thanks again

Scrappage is what I have heard they call this voucher they can give you for turning an old car in for scrap

got to speak with BMW in london today and they are happy to supply a left hand drive vehicle at a great price, the only problem being it wont be ready until August.....

will try Polish dealers tomorrow, though the websites are not easy to understand at all.....

probably gonna bite the bullet and buy in UK...

thanks for all the advice....

would you mind sending me details please ? i could wait a bit longer.



cheers

If it helps, there are many LHD cars on ebay, I bought mine a year ago from there (to have 6 months ownership before we go over) been driving it here in UK all that time - great car - just had it all serviced for our drive over this weekend

Well, having read the posts, I begin to wonder if it's all worth the hassle to import a new/nearly new car into Spain.
"They" seem to make it as difficult as they can for us to import a car.
I am going to go round the BMW dealerships and try my luck at doing some sort of a deal, despite the fact that, as far as I can make out, they are not in the slightest bit interested in any downward shift in the price. Even for cash.
I can't understand their business logic, when surely they must be embarrassed by such little movement on the forecourt and subsequent low sales figures.
Is it me ??

Just saved about 2400 euros by ordering a left-hand drive Fiat 500 in the UK. £9500 instead of 12,940€. Only downside is the wait of a few weeks for delivery. Get 3 years warranty instead of 2 in Spain.

We will keep it on UK plates until we become full time residents of Spain when we will matriculate it here. In the meantime will drive it to Spain around the end of March each year and return to the UK with it just before 6 months have elapsed. Thanks to Saga insurance we will remain legal at all times.

Had we done this the other way round we may have fallen foul of the UK Government's stupid new ANPR cameras at UK ports. The dorks are recording the registration marks of all foreign cars arriving in the UK but (typically) not their departure. Apparently the system software has no means of recording a further entry date on subsequent UK arrival of the foreign registered car. Consequently the datebase only holds the original UK arrival date, so that any vehicle arriving in the UK again, at any future date, is liable to be impounded because Plod/DVLA only have the original ANPR-recorded entry date to go on! Daft buggers.

The DVLA Executive Director in charge of this particular DVLA cock-up is named David Hancock. Anybody tripped up by this, and there have been quite a few so far, should make contact with him. I have his direct number but won't give it here for obvious reasons. PM me if you need it, but only if you've been wrongly accused of your vehicle overstaying in the UK.

So if you bring your foreign reg car to the UK for a holiday, more than once, your car WILL be impounded????????

See:

http://www.eyeonspain.com/spain-maga...car-in-uk.aspx

You are not legal in Spain after 3 months unless you have registered at the local police station, they will give you a residency certificate, you will then need to start changing your car to Spanish plates.
You could have your car impounded if not, the guardia now have the cameras in their cars.