Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

Everyone tells me that IKEA in Spain is cheaper, but looking at the website I notice that a Poang chair is £110 in England, but 199 EU in Spain which makes it around £137 !! Just wondering about prices for say cars etc, has anyone compared the prices of the super minis, say for eg a Citroen C3 in Spain, Britain and France ??

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

I haven't been in the car sales business for a few years now, but, when I was the differential was made up of the different taxes in each country. As I remember it at that time the tax in one of the Scandinavian countries was something like 40% so the manufacturers used to keep the base price of the vehicles in those countries lower and in the countries where the tax was less then the base price would be higher.

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

We went round everywhere pricing stuff up last September. We went into most of the car dealers and were surprised that all the brands were more than the UK.

A Citreon C3 there was around £8250 for a petrol version (5 door) and £9050 for a diesel version (5 door). I believe the petrol version here was on special offer around last August for £6595 but that was probably a petrol version 3 door. Their own car the Seat was totally out of our price range at around £11,000 for the cheapest model. We also priced up Ford, Vauxhall, Hyundai, Renault, Fiat, Kia and Toyota. The Toyota Yaris which was on special offer here for around £6995 was £8000 +

I am thinking that the dealers in Spain don't give the special offers like they do here with Citreon.

We only have a budget of £8,000 so will be stuck to maybe 1 or 2 manufacturers when we go over there.

Not sure how the spanish afford them as their average wage is less than ours I believe.

This was using an exchange rate of 1.43.

We also went round at least 10 different supermarkets on the coast and inland and were surprised at how expensive a lot of items were, coleslaw, cheese, butter, fresh orange juice, bread (sliced), cooked meats, vegetables, fruit, tinned fish, etc. and these were not british brands.

A lot of people disagree with us and tell us to use markets but you can only really get a few things from markets. The majority of food will have to come from a normal shop.

We also checked in the non-touristy areas in Mar Menor where there were hardly any other nationalities around and the prices were no cheaper there.

We also priced up white goods. Washing machines (decent spin speeds) were more expensive than here as were dishwashers for a decent make. We have ordered ceramic hob and oven and fridge freezer in Spain but think they were probably around the same price as here.

We went to a lot of places again on the coast and inland.

Electricity seems to be on a par or slightly more expensive than what we pay here. I have been quoted 450 euros for my car insurance. I only pay £200 here. House insurance 214 euros quoted there - I pay £220 here. Gas bottles are cheaper. Council Tax is much cheaper. Less car tax. No t.v. licence. Booze and fags cheaper.

We found that we couldn't buy ready made curtains very easily and have had ours made. Quite expensive. We also couldn't find nice quilt covers very easily so have had them made. Again expensive. The quilts were also dearer than here.

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

Curtains are a very British thing ;) All they really do is gather dust as far as I concerned. They are also a breeding ground for certain insects when you are away for long periods. Much better to have well sealed windows and then use blinds in my opinion, although I suppose it does depend on the type of house you have, how close your neighbours and/or the street is etc.

Spanish windows in general are either shut, or open to view. I always remember the time when I was about 10, walking past this house in a small village, and looking in through the front windows to see a dead guy lying on a bed, dressed in his Sunday best dark suit, with many people dressed in black, paying their respects, around him. I think that's when it hit me how open Spanish houses were.

Regarding car prices, I have found pretty much the same, particularly as you go up the price range. Vehicle insurance seems to be definitely much higher, although offset by much cheaper building/contents insurance (at least in my area).

Currently I'm looking at whether it's cheaper to buy a new LH drive vehicle for export in the UK and re-register in Spain, or just buy there and be done with it. A "for export" vehicle comes without the 17.5% VAT and can be driven around for up to 2 months in the UK. Once in Spain it has to be re-registered to Spanish plates, but I'm not sure if that then incurs a 12% or 16% surcharge and if so, on what value (given that the car would then be a couple of months old and no longer new ;) ). Still looking into it, trying to decipher the whole thing. If anyone has any input ...

Overall, it should be pointed out that cost of living in Spain should be up to 20% cheaper than the UK, but this varies with region. For example, in the Basque country it's much more on parity although offset by the higher GDP/income per capita than further South.

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

We thought about buying a LHD in the UK but every dealer we asked at we were met with blank looks.

Is there somewhere in particular you had in mind to buy a LHD as we would then arrange delivery of the car a month before we leave for Spain. There have been a few posts about registering a UK car which I will now read.

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

Not sure. I'm looking at Mitsubishi and they list UK export tax-free prices. I believe they source them into the UK from their European dealer network. Still trying to get all the details.

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

Gill & Unexpat..

I read your posts and thought I may be of help on this one.
I purchased a left hand drive Peugeot 406 in the UK last October and took it to Spain. If I register it after I have owned it for 6 months and 1 day I will not pay any duty in Spain. I am going to use a company to do plate transfer and ITV etc for me because I do not have time and do not know system well enough to do myself. They have given me this information so I have arranged with them to do transfer when I am there at Easter..

With reference to buying LHD vehicles in the UK the place I bought mine was in the south of England not sure if I can say who but if you email me on [email protected] I will send you information.

My car was origionally registered in Germany so it is "continent ready" ie the headlights are the right way (they have to be changed to come to UK) and the reversing light is on the right side (it has to be rewired for a UK MOT). So I bought it with a 1 year MOT knowing I was going to move to Spain at some point and got it straight out there. I must say that I paid £4000 for my car and its a 406, X Reg, so 2000 registered, 2L with all extras etc in great condition with full service history. (although the mileage was higher than I would normally like).

The insurance in Spain is probably not as cheap as I thought it would be so depending on what you want to buy get a couple of insurance quotes first.

I hope that helps a little bit.

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

I think you might find insurance is almost on par with the UK, But the bonus here (or not) is that you are not allowed to tow or be towed so thrown into the insurance is recovery, and that includes running out of fuel, take in the cost of being picked up at the roadside in the UK and then look again at insurance sodt here. We have found Linea Direct very good and you can ask for an English speaker who will go through loads of different options for you.
I have seen post on other web sites that have also sung their praises.

We bought our LHD from London do a search on LHD dealers and quite a few pop up, another in Basingstoke.

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

I phoned Linea Direct and they said I could not get insurance if the car was on a UK plates so until a transfer is done that could be a problem!

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

Hi Costa-covert

We have just changed two cars over, but have owned them both well over 6 months and a day and we paid import tax as has everybody else here. If you change the cars over within 3 months of arriving here then no, you do not pay import duty, BUT, you do have to have a letter from the Consulate in Malaga or wherever to say you were previously in UK. They do know all about this.
Re having a car imported from Germany, just a tip, both ours were imports one from Germany and the Disco from Saudi, On your V5 it will have date of first registration, this is when it was put onto british plates, make sure you have documented proof of date of manufacture. As I say we have residencia and cars must be started at least if you do have residence with the first month of arrival. (You may have read 6 months. That is now out of date)

pwwm

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

Ok

You will not pay import tax provided you have applied for residencia and start the change within the first three months of applying for the residencia. (just been and checked with the guru)
This is what it appears costa-convert's people are going to do. Costa make sure they give you a breakdown of charges. ITV should be around 110 euro for diesel and 104 for petrol.

All the best
pwwm

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

Hi pwwm

I have the original registration document for Germany (it only had one owner and he was a british soldier) so I do have the original date of registration. I will double check information that has been given to me don't worry I do not part with my money "easily" but just didn't want the hassle of doing it myself, my Spanish is limited at the moment and I don't know all the rules so best left to people who do!

I will be applying for residencia when I move out there in July so I could leave the car a bit longer if necessary.

Anyway thanks for the additional info always helps to be fully prepared especially when dealing with things you know very little about!

Jo

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

On your V5 it will have date of first registration, this is when it was put onto british plates, make sure you have documented proof of date of manufacture

Just had a quick look at V5, its one of the new style ones it actually states date of first registration and gives the 13/12/2000, which is as per German information I have on the car and then under that it says date of first registration in the UK 25/08/2005. So I should hopefully not have to hand over German details anyway because I think this may confuse issue.

So the moral of the story is if you get the new UK logbook and can confirm to our very strict DVLA offices when date of first registration was for the car (if it was origionally registered abroad) then it should not be a problem!

Jo

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

Hi Costa

Good to see they have that sorted, we did hand over our german papers and it actually did help, so take them with you, bet you cannot wait, today is sun all day although they gave storms.
Our V5 only had date first reg in UK that really made it difficult everything else was ok. But we got it right, quite strange being anonymous again, well apart from the disco's wheel cover having the name of a British garage. Ho Hum. Not sure who is more confused them or the Brits.
Oh by the way another note, when you get your plates they will not reflect the age of the car, you actually get New car plates as in New. ie the latest plates start with D ie ours are DTG so only two months old (I think not), Spanish think it is so funny. It does not change yearly but when they run out of permutations with the D.

Have a good weekend all
pwwm

Re: Prices in Spain..Cheaper a Myth ??
 

I have a 10 year old grey import from Japan. When it came into the UK it had what is called an SVA, which is a form of comliance to EU rules. This is useful for anyone who buys from outside the EU and then moves to Spain for as long at the car has been SVA'd it should be OK to import to Spain or indeed anywhere in EU. Only problem from what you say might be proving the date of manufacture. All I have is the logbook.