# UK car, sell, trade or keep



## andrea1968 (Feb 27, 2014)

Hi everyone, we will have been here in Spain for 6 months at the end of January (loving it by the way). I need to decide what to do with my car. I have a Mitsubishi Shogun Sport Equippe, 2004, which I bought in the UK last year. It is immaculate and pretty low on mileage for a diesel, 110,000. It got us from Cumbria to Valencia without missing a beat. As you can probably guess I would love to keep this vehicle due to it's reliability and size. It is a right hand drive but apart from the odd trip to the airport I only use it locally and I have adjusted well to being on the wrong side of the car on the right side of the road!!! Now the dilemma, I cannot find any of these for sale on Spanish websites, so finding out it's Spanish value as opposed UK value is impossible. I have looked at 4x4's here and comparable to UK prices they are quite expensive. I do need a big vehicle for dogs, son and friends in tow etc. Does anyone know the approximate costs for registering on Spanish plates. Do I sell, trade or keep. Thanks in advance for any advice.


----------



## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

andrea1968 said:


> Hi everyone, we will have been here in Spain for 6 months at the end of January (loving it by the way). I need to decide what to do with my car. I have a Mitsubishi Shogun Sport Equippe, 2004, which I bought in the UK last year. It is immaculate and pretty low on mileage for a diesel, 110,000. It got us from Cumbria to Valencia without missing a beat. As you can probably guess I would love to keep this vehicle due to it's reliability and size. It is a right hand drive but apart from the odd trip to the airport I only use it locally and I have adjusted well to being on the wrong side of the car on the right side of the road!!! Now the dilemma, I cannot find any of these for sale on Spanish websites, so finding out it's Spanish value as opposed UK value is impossible. I have looked at 4x4's here and comparable to UK prices they are quite expensive. I do need a big vehicle for dogs, son and friends in tow etc. Does anyone know the approximate costs for registering on Spanish plates. Do I sell, trade or keep. Thanks in advance for any advice.


Hola 

Have the headlights been changed? If not find out the cost. 
Are there two reversing lights and two rear fog lights? If not factor in the cost of changing them as well. 
Have you got a "Certificate of European Conformity"? If not it is much simpler than getting a Ficha Technical reducida for around 120€ 
The ITV test is around 150€ for a rematriculation 
The hacienda will require you to pay a first registration tax based on the theoretical value of your car - from memory about 7% of 15% of the new cost of the car today. (the calculation takes your car say at 50,000€ at today's prices then reduces the cost until 10% at 14 years old - the resulting figure is today's value of your car and the duty is I think 7% unless they've now changed for CO2 emmissions) 
You will need to pay the road tax - say 250€ ??? 
Trafico will want 90€ to complete the paperwork chase 
30€ should cover the cost of number plates 

Davexf


----------



## andrea1968 (Feb 27, 2014)

thank you, very informative and rather scary for a girl to read :confused2: only joking, will look in to it as really would like to keep it. Cheers.


----------



## olivefarmer (Oct 16, 2012)

Good technical advice from Dave.


I would add a couple of things to consider too. You know the service history of your vehicle and also the life it has led e.g. accident repair , key components like timing belts replaced. Buy a Spanish car and it will come with very little such info.

Secondhand value. British cars don't fetch much money here. They are already cheaper than the equivalent here but perhaps more rusty underneath due to the UK regime of rain and road gritting. Even when you have transferred it onto Spanish plates it will still be a poor prospect for selling. Probably only appeal to another Brit expat.

Once you have addressed the technical issues as per Dave, I would say go for it. You have adapted to the driving e.g. figured out parking ticket machines and poorer visibility when overtaking.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Is there any difference in the insurance to be paid if driving a LHD rather than a RHD in Spain?


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Is there any difference in the insurance to be paid if driving a LHD rather than a RHD in Spain?


Not in my experience - quite surprising really.


----------



## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

andrea1968 said:


> Hi everyone, we will have been here in Spain for 6 months at the end of January (loving it by the way). I need to decide what to do with my car. I have a Mitsubishi Shogun Sport Equippe, 2004, which I bought in the UK last year. It is immaculate and pretty low on mileage for a diesel, 110,000. It got us from Cumbria to Valencia without missing a beat. As you can probably guess I would love to keep this vehicle due to it's reliability and size. It is a right hand drive but apart from the odd trip to the airport I only use it locally and I have adjusted well to being on the wrong side of the car on the right side of the road!!! Now the dilemma, I cannot find any of these for sale on Spanish websites, so finding out it's Spanish value as opposed UK value is impossible. I have looked at 4x4's here and comparable to UK prices they are quite expensive. I do need a big vehicle for dogs, son and friends in tow etc. Does anyone know the approximate costs for registering on Spanish plates. Do I sell, trade or keep. Thanks in advance for any advice.


Hi, your car is sold as a Mitsubishi Montero Sport in Spain. Most likely you have the 2.5 TDi engine?
The used prices for this model in Spain will be a lot higher than in the UK. As for the quality of what you will be offered here, well.....

Depending on where your model fits in with the levels of trim offered here, the price for the calculation, in the Hacienda tables, is between 21000E and 27000E. We can take an average of 24000E. 

Next year the car will be >12 years old so it means that 10% of the 24000 can be used in the calculation. 11-12 years old would use a figure of 13%.

The CO2 for your car is 278g/cc so is in the highest catagory (>200g/cc which will use 14.75% in the calculation). It is 16.9% in Andalucia as I found out.

So what you pay is: 24000 x 10% = 2400 x 14.75% = 354E

Other costs for ITV, plates etc as per what Dave said.

The car I recently imported had a simple lever to adjust the headlights from RHD to LHD - I was lucky. It had 2 reversing lights, think you only need one though? You only need one rear foglight as long as it is on the correct side. My car had one on the "wrong" side but the other one was in place just not wired up, so simple job to connect.

So if it were me, I would keep it.

Hope this helps?


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

el romeral said:


> Hi, your car is sold as a Mitsubishi Montero Sport in Spain. Most likely you have the 2.5 TDi engine?
> The used prices for this model in Spain will be a lot higher than in the UK. As for the quality of what you will be offered here, well.....


Are you sure about this?

When I came over 9 years ago, I had a Mitsubishi Montero Sport but was unable to import it! The authorities said that it wasn't sold in Spain and so could NOT be imported.

I've since found out that this was rubbish but you live and learn.


One of the issues was that they told me that I would have to remove the bull bars and the 'running boards' as they were NOT standard. I showed them the handbook and told them categorically that they were - they wouldn't listen!

In the end I traded it in for a Volvo XC90 (twin turbo) - most stupid move I think I've ever made!


Having said all of that, I would still try and keep it if you can get the CoC etc.


PS - just looked at some images of the OP's car and it does look very similar to mine. Sorry, @El Romeral you may be correct.


----------



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Is there any difference in the insurance to be paid if driving a LHD rather than a RHD in Spain?


No. We recently traded in our old RHD car for a new LHD one (same model) and the insurance was €28 more!

We got €1500 discount under the PIVE scheme for trading in cars over 10 years old, which is pretty cool. The new one uses half as much fuel so will pay for itself in five years.


----------



## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

snikpoh said:


> Are you sure about this?
> 
> When I came over 9 years ago, I had a Mitsubishi Montero Sport but was unable to import it! The authorities said that it wasn't sold in Spain and so could NOT be imported.
> 
> ...



Like everything in Spain there are so many grey areas, contradictions, variations from one place to the next etc etc. It depends who you speak to very often and if they are having a good day .
The first car we had in Spain was a big Pajero with the most massive non standard bull bars And running boards. The garage we bought it from had just imported it from Germany. They had no problems and neither did we in subsequent ITV's. That was a great car, perfect for Spanish roads and bad drivers lol.


----------



## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> No. We recently traded in our old RHD car for a new LHD one (same model) and the insurance was €28 more!
> 
> We got €1500 discount under the PIVE scheme for trading in cars over 10 years old, which is pretty cool. The new one uses half as much fuel so will pay for itself in five years.


Half as much!!
You must have had a 50 year old tank before


----------



## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Half as much!!
> You must have had a 50 year old tank before


No, just a 10 year old 1800cc Vauxhall Meriva that did around 30 mpg!

The new one is the "Eco Flex" model that tells you when to change gear etc. to drive in the most economical way. Took some getting used to but we've had it 3 months now and only top up once a month instead of once a fortnight.


----------



## andrea1968 (Feb 27, 2014)

Thank you for all replies, very informative and I think it would be best to keep the car. Who should I speak to about transferring it, a gestor or would a local garage help me. Cheers.


----------



## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

andrea1968 said:


> Thank you for all replies, very informative and I think it would be best to keep the car. Who should I speak to about transferring it, a gestor or would a local garage help me. Cheers.


There are specialised companies who offer this service or you can do some yourself (CoC, lights etc.) and then use a gestor for the rest.

The choice is yours but a garage (IMHO) won't be able to help.


----------



## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

andrea1968 said:


> Thank you for all replies, very informative and I think it would be best to keep the car. Who should I speak to about transferring it, a gestor or would a local garage help me. Cheers.


I will ask the chap who did all the paperwork and running about for me. He was very good and sorted out no end of potential problems. He travels a lot but not sure if he covers Alicante?


----------



## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

andrea1968 said:


> Thank you for all replies, very informative and I think it would be best to keep the car. Who should I speak to about transferring it, a gestor or would a local garage help me. Cheers.


Just heard back from the guy that I used and unfortunately he only works in the Malaga area. Hope you find someone as helpful in your part of the country. It cost me 150e which I thought was very good value.


----------



## andrea1968 (Feb 27, 2014)

thank you for all your advice everyone, did the school run this morning (40 minutes each way)and came back with the car steaming away through the grill and hood. Typical, I thought, boasting about how reliable it is. Anyway, managed to get hold of a mechanic who found it was only a pipe come loose from the radiator but had to take it away to fix as it is really hard to get to. He has lent me a left hand drive and off I went to pick the lad up from school. Could I drive the bleeding thing, nightmare, everything on the wrong side for me. So, have made up my mind, I don't care what it costs, I will be keeping my car. 30 years on the right side of the car cannot be undone.


----------

