# Has anyone bought a left hand car in UK



## Duchess (Sep 28, 2009)

Has anyone bought a left hand drive car in the UK, then brought it over to Spain?

Most of them seem to have high mileage and be quite old. Does anyone know how much the import cost is?

We would be getting a relative to drive it over and fly back. We have limited funds and can't seem to find any cheap secondhand cars in the Antequera/Malaga area.


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## peedee (Aug 30, 2015)

Duchess said:


> Has anyone bought a left hand drive car in the UK, then brought it over to Spain?
> 
> Most of them seem to have high mileage and be quite old. Does anyone know how much the import cost is?
> 
> We would be getting a relative to drive it over and fly back. We have limited funds and can't seem to find any cheap secondhand cars in the Antequera/Malaga area.


We bought from left hand drive place in Basingstoke then drove it down. At the moment we're still on uk plates as we've only been here just over 3 months and have only just signed on the residency. 
I believe (we've been told by an gestor) that if you register the car in spain you need to have owned it for 6 months for there to be no import tax.
Second hand cars are relatively expensive in spain


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Yes, I did. I too bought a LHD from the excellent Basingstoke place, however with Spanish plates so all I had to do was reregister in my name here in Spain.

You need to be sure when you buy that not only is the car in good condition as you would anyway but, if it is on UK plates, that you have all the documentation needed to transfer to Spanish plates and your ownership. I think this includes details of previous owner -p/copy of passport, NIE, signed Solicitud from previous owner agreeing to the transfer as well as all the technical documents relating to the car.
The LHD Centre at Basingstoke had all these documents from the previous Spanish owner so transfer to my name was inexpensive and a simple process, no import tax required.
If you do decide to buy in the UK, I'd advise you to look for a vehicle already on Spanish plates, making sure you have all the necessary papers. Only use a reputable dealer like the one in Basingstoke as there are rogues about..


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## peedee (Aug 30, 2015)

mrypg9 said:


> Yes, I did. I too bought a LHD from the excellent Basingstoke place, however with Spanish plates so all I had to do was reregister in my name here in Spain.
> 
> You need to be sure when you buy that not only is the car in good condition as you would anyway but, if it is on UK plates, that you have all the documentation needed to transfer to Spanish plates and your ownership. I think this includes details of previous owner -p/copy of passport, NIE, signed Solicitud from previous owner agreeing to the transfer as well as all the technical documents relating to the car.
> The LHD Centre at Basingstoke had all these documents from the previous Spanish owner so transfer to my name was inexpensive and a simple process, no import tax required.
> If you do decide to buy in the UK, I'd advise you to look for a vehicle already on Spanish plates, making sure you have all the necessary papers. Only use a reputable dealer like the one in Basingstoke as there are rogues about..


Ours was on French plates and ownership transferred to LHD Centre before selling to us


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## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

Duchess said:


> Has anyone bought a left hand drive car in the UK, then brought it over to Spain?
> 
> Most of them seem to have high mileage and be quite old. Does anyone know how much the import cost is?
> 
> We would be getting a relative to drive it over and fly back. We have limited funds and can't seem to find any cheap secondhand cars in the Antequera/Malaga area.


Just over a year ago, I bought a LHD UK reg car from the UK and drove it to Spain. It was a private sale and very keenly priced for a LHD, so even adding all associated costs, I have a car which is worth considerably more than comparable ones here (plus it has a service history and no scratches or dents lol).

The "import" costs vary depending on age, value when new and CO2 emissions - so for example, an old Fiat Panda will cost very little but a new Range Rover Sport will be cost a lot.

If you go on E Bay and search for "left hand drive" in the cars section, this should throw up quite a few.


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

We bought our Honda CRV LHD on Spanish plates at a place in Nottingham and did the anme change here , we bought it in plenty of time before we left so avoided the import tax, I should think that is the most cost effective way to do it if you can plan ahead. Second hand cars are v expensive in Spain and to bring a UK registered car requires real diligence with the required paperwork.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

maureen47 said:


> We bought our Honda CRV LHD on Spanish plates at a place in Nottingham and did the anme change here , we bought it in plenty of time before we left so avoided the import tax, I should think that is the most cost effective way to do it if you can plan ahead. Second hand cars are v expensive in Spain and to bring a UK registered car requires real diligence with the required paperwork.


Just to be pedantic, there is no such tax as "import tax" for bringing a car into Spain as you describe. However, there is a first registration tax which CAN be avoided if ;

you have owned the car for 6 months prior to bringing it into Spain and
you were resident in UK for the previous 12 months and
you do the 'import' within 3 months (ISTR) of signing on the padron


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## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

snikpoh said:


> Just to be pedantic, there is no such tax as "import tax" for bringing a car into Spain as you describe. However, there is a first registration tax which CAN be avoided if ;
> 
> you have owned the car for 6 months prior to bringing it into Spain and
> you were resident in UK for the previous 12 months and
> you do the 'import' within 3 months (ISTR) of signing on the padron


As we all know, it is a scam by the Spanish as they are not allowed under EU rules to have an import tax - so they just call it something else. If it were a true "first registration tax" then it should cost the same for all vehicles, irrespective of age or type.


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## Duchess (Sep 28, 2009)

Thanks for the replies. So it seems that the LHD centre in Basingstoke sells cars with Spanish plates, which is what we want. 
El romeral- do you mean that we won't have to pay import tax if our son drives the car over?
Mary - was the car you bought registered in the UK, and then you just re-registered in Spain? If so, where do we do that?


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## Duchess (Sep 28, 2009)

By the way the person who helped us register for NIE has said she charges 160 euros to register a car and that if we got one from UK we'd have to pay import tax. She said that UK dealers charge about £500 for the registering. Is she correct or not?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Duchess said:


> Thanks for the replies. So it seems that the LHD centre in Basingstoke sells cars with Spanish plates, which is what we want.
> El romeral- do you mean that we won't have to pay import tax if our son drives the car over?
> Mary - was the car you bought registered in the UK, and then you just re-registered in Spain? If so, where do we do that?


No, you may still have to pay re-registration tax. Please see post #7




Duchess said:


> By the way the person who helped us register for NIE has said she charges 160 euros to register a car and that if we got one from UK we'd have to pay import tax. She said that UK dealers charge about £500 for the registering. Is she correct or not?


She's wrong. See post #7 for rules as to whether you have to pay tax or not.


If the car is already on Spanish plates then you need to pay ITP (transfer tax) as well as other costs. We recently bought a second hand Merc and paid about 400€ which included the ITP, gestor fees etc.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Duchess said:


> Mary - was the car you bought registered in the UK, and then you just re-registered in Spain? If so, where do we do that?


No, it was on Spanish plates when I bought it. The previous owner had driven it from Spain to the UK and sold to the LHD Centre.
So all I had to do was take all the papers - the car docs, ITV certification, my passport, NIE p/copies, p/copies of previous owner's passport, NIE and signed Solicitud.
Can't remember if my Padron certificate was required but I would have taken p/copies anyway. Best to take every document you can lay your hands on...
I got a gestor to change it to my name as I couldn't be bothered to go to Malaga Trafico. I think the cost was around 150 euros, can't remember but if it had been a lot it would have stuck in my mind!
Just make sure the LHD Centre has all the papers from the previous owner. When I bought the vehicle they didn't have the Solicitud so they contacted the owner, got the Solicitud and sent it on to me.
Also check the vehicle has no outstanding fines. 
I'm still driving the vehicle, a LandRover Discovery. It had 60000km on the clock when I bought it, one careful lady owner! This lady owner hasn't been so careful and it's dented, scratched and stinks of wet dogs. But we've had no mechanical troubles, apart from needing a new fuel injector which was my fault as I forgot to have it serviced for five years.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

snikpoh said:


> If the car is already on Spanish plates then you need to pay ITP (transfer tax) as well as other costs. We recently bought a second hand Merc and paid about 400€ which included the ITP, gestor fees etc.


I didn't have to pay any tax on a three year old car I'd owned for well under a year. I bought it when I was living in Prague, owned it there for a month or two then drove it to Spain. I hadn't lived in the UK for three years.
If the car is on Spanish plates there is no record of it having ever left Spain. The car was on sale for a very short time before I snapped it up. Still had valid tax and ITV..


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## Duchess (Sep 28, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> No, it was on Spanish plates when I bought it. The previous owner had driven it from Spain to the UK and sold to the LHD Centre.
> So all I had to do was take all the papers - the car docs, ITV certification, my passport, NIE p/copies, p/copies of previous owner's passport, NIE and signed Solicitud.
> Can't remember if my Padron certificate was required but I would have taken p/copies anyway. Best to take every document you can lay your hands on...
> I got a gestor to change it to my name as I couldn't be bothered to go to Malaga Trafico. I think the cost was around 150 euros, can't remember but if it had been a lot it would have stuck in my mind!
> ...


Thanks Mary

At least we can now consider getting a car from the UK. I'll check out the Basingstoke company. 
We're still unpacking, but we'll get there eventually!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Duchess said:


> Thanks Mary
> 
> At least we can now consider getting a car from the UK. I'll check out the Basingstoke company.
> We're still unpacking, but we'll get there eventually!!


They are lovely people...I think the people you deal with are called Maggie and Duncan (not sure about that but he's very obliging).
He delivered the LR to us for a very reasonable price in Prague where we were living then, much less than if I had gone to get it myself and a considerable saving of time.
Why not ring them and tell them just what you're looking for...


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

snikpoh said:


> Just to be pedantic, there is no such tax as "import tax" for bringing a car into Spain as you describe. However, there is a first registration tax which CAN be avoided if ;
> 
> you have owned the car for 6 months prior to bringing it into Spain and
> you were resident in UK for the previous 12 months and
> you do the 'import' within 3 months (ISTR) of signing on the padron


Pedantic indeed !  Maybe I should re-word that we met the above criteria so therefore did not pay any tax to import the car to Spain , only thing I would add is that this tax is rightly or wrongly commonly referred to as import tax by professional people in this business and lay people.


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