# Transferring a UK car to Spanish plates



## DawnColin (Jul 12, 2018)

Apologies if this has been discussed before, but I have searched the site and cannot find any threads on this.

We plan to take early retirement to Javea and are still undecided about bringing over our UK car. It’s a Mercedes, only 2 years old with low mileage. 

Could you lovely people advise the process and cost of transferring to Spanish plates please?

Having researched buying a car in Spain they seem expensive by comparison so whilst a RHD may be a challenge, financially it may make more sense.

Thanks in advance
Dawn & Colin


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## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

DawnColin said:


> Apologies if this has been discussed before, but I have searched the site and cannot find any threads on this.
> 
> We plan to take early retirement to Javea and are still undecided about bringing over our UK car. It’s a Mercedes, only 2 years old with low mileage.
> 
> ...



Hola 

Before doing anything, Change to “left hand drive” style lights (both back and front), absolute necessity for a Spanish vehicle - costs can be astronomical so check carefully 


Now ensure you have a Certificate of European Conformity - all modern cars should have this but in the event you haven't got it, you will need a Spanish engineers report of a Ficha Techinical Reducida - about 150€ 


Next book the ITV test which tests whether your car conforms to the original specification - it is not a normal ITV test - cost about 100€ 


Next go to your town hall and pay the road tax - guess around 150€ 


Now go to the Hacienda (Tax Man); If you import it within 60 days of getting a padron (Volante de empadronimiento) then it should be accepted as part of your goods and chattels and be free. 


Finally go to Trafico with all the paperwork to get your Ficha Technical - cost about 100€ then you can buy the number plates. 


Davexf


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## DawnColin (Jul 12, 2018)

Thank you so much, that’s great information.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

DawnColin said:


> Apologies if this has been discussed before, but I have searched the site and cannot find any threads on this.
> 
> We plan to take early retirement to Javea and are still undecided about bringing over our UK car. It’s a Mercedes, only 2 years old with low mileage.
> 
> ...


It rarely does. Assuming that it is a fully compliant EU model, rematriculation will set you back somewhere in the region of 1500 -2000€.

RHD, as you have noted ,is a challenge since everything (parking ticket barriers, overtaking, etc) is based on LHD.

Secondhand car prices here are higher because there is a much lower deterioration rate - little salt on the roads in winter and cars last much much longer. Many of the cars here are 18 years old or older (you can tell from the registrations which changed format in September 2000 - if it starts with one or two letters then it is pre-September 2000) 

The best vehicle to have where you will be living can be determined by looking around at what is the most common type and manufacturer of vehicle in that area. In this area it is the small/medium sized mpv (Renault Kangoo; Citroen/Peugeot Berlingo/Partner; etc.) since these can double as the family car and also to go shopping for large items plus when you want to go on holiday they will usually take most or all of what you need. They will take five people in relative comfort PLUS their luggage unlike so many cars that will take five at a pinch but only room for one handbag.


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## Localizer (Jun 23, 2016)

We imported our U.K. car when we moved across. Probably cost about €1000 after changing lights in the U.K. and then performing the steps listed above.

It made some financial sense as we had a low mileage, reliable car in the U.K. which was worth comparatively little in the U.K., whilst Spanish cars appeared expensive. 

Move forward a year and whilst we still have the reregisted car, we have bought a spanish vehicle as well. The day to day issues of having the steering wheel on the incorrect side of the car never went away. Knowing what we know now, we would never import and reregister a RHD vehicle again - you are also unlikely to be able to trade or part exchange such a vehicle easily if you wish to change in future.

My $0.02 worth is that I’d sell my U.K. car in the U.K. and then buy a spanish vehicle in Spain - you’ll immediately see the sense of this in every car park, toll road and with each overtaking manoeuvre. 

Good luck, whatever you decide!


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## DawnColin (Jul 12, 2018)

Thank you, very sensible and sound advice. Much appreciated.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Localizer said:


> We imported our U.K. car when we moved across. Probably cost about €1000 after changing lights in the U.K. and then performing the steps listed above.
> 
> It made some financial sense as we had a low mileage, reliable car in the U.K. which was worth comparatively little in the U.K., whilst Spanish cars appeared expensive.
> 
> ...


 I have never imported a vehicle, in fact I took my test here, but I never would either. Just reading about what you have to do and pay when you could buy a LHD here which IMHO would serve better, makes my eyes glass over. And doing all of that on top of all the usual moving things? No not for me! Having said that, plenty of people do it and are happy with their decision.
PS A lot of this type of thing is discussed in the FAQs so might be worth having a look there...


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## DawnColin (Jul 12, 2018)

Thank you, I have tried to look in the FAQ's but struggled to find anything or search for it with any success - may be user error of course


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

baldilocks said:


> It rarely does. Assuming that it is a fully compliant EU model, rematriculation will set you back somewhere in the region of 1500 -2000€.
> 
> RHD, as you have noted ,is a challenge since everything (parking ticket barriers, overtaking, etc) is based on LHD.
> 
> ...


There may be less rust on second hand cars in Spain, but remember that touch parking is still the norm for many drivers, so most cars have had their fair share of bumps and shoves. Also, once out of warranty, many owners restrict the maintenance regime to changing the oil in those hateful "service centers" in car parks, so vehicles tend to be less cared for.

Also, I agree on the practicalities of vehicles like the Partner, but I would not be advising people to buy diesel fuel vehicles when there are big pushes to legislate them off the road. Of course, this probably will affect city dwellers before more rural users.


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## Simon22 (May 22, 2015)

We had a RHD car and it was a nightmare, small villages with tight turns that you can't see round, parking barriers you have to climb seats to reach the ticket, toll booths, overtaking. I would suggest you would be lucky not encounter any problems with a RHD car. I see many who don't seem to mind but to me it was much better when sitting on the correct side of the car.  Ironically, YMMV!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Overandout said:


> There may be less rust on second hand cars in Spain, but remember that touch parking is still the norm for many drivers, so most cars have had their fair share of bumps and shoves. Also, once out of warranty, many owners restrict the maintenance regime to changing the oil in those hateful "service centers" in car parks, so vehicles tend to be less cared for.
> 
> Also, I agree on the practicalities of vehicles like the Partner, but I would not be advising people to buy diesel fuel vehicles when there are big pushes to legislate them off the road. Of course, this probably will affect city dwellers before more rural users.


Definitely not the time to be buying diesel. Sooner or later they will be off the road, although according to a programme on TeleMadrid the pollution levels are pretty similar to petrol driven cars nowadays. However, the minister for "ecological transition" (!!) Teresa Ribera has said that their days are numbered. Of course this legislation will take years to go through and this government also literally have their days numbered, but diesel cars will be phased out at some point.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

IMHO, diesel cars are getting a bad deal. The problem is not with *them* _per se_ but with trucks and buses and primarily with congestion. Watch the traffic in big towns and cities. It is stop start, stop start so that vehicles spend several minutes stationary with engines idling and all the exhaust pollutants accumulating in their systems; Then they move and a large cloud of exhaust belches out as the vehicle moves forward a few metres and the process is repeated.

I have a diesel engined car and get far better consumption than the equivalent petrol model, most of my driving is out on the open road and very rarely stuck in traffic so we cause little in the way of pollution, by comparison.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

DawnColin said:


> Thank you, I have tried to look in the FAQ's but struggled to find anything or search for it with any success - may be user error of course


Take a look at our FAQ sticky thread http://www.expatforum.com/expats/sp...-living-spain/2725-faqs-lots-useful-info.html


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## danboy20 (Jul 10, 2017)

Bite the bullet and buy another car over here....speaking from experience, it´s not worth the hassle with poor visibility and having to get out of the car each time for tickets!!! 

You need all the visibility you can get driving on these roads!!


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## DawnColin (Jul 12, 2018)

Thank you. We talked about it again yesterday and whilst we were wavering on whether to keep our current car I think we see the sense of not doing that now, based on your feedback on here. 

So getting a LHD car sounds much more sensible. I've already been looking at local garages to Javea and getting an idea of cost, so we will just factor that into our budget. 


Thanks to you all for your comments, its great to be able to ask and get some really sensible and practical advice.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

DawnColin said:


> Thank you. We talked about it again yesterday and whilst we were wavering on whether to keep our current car I think we see the sense of not doing that now, based on your feedback on here.
> 
> So getting a LHD car sounds much more sensible. I've already been looking at local garages to Javea and getting an idea of cost, so we will just factor that into our budget.
> 
> ...


This is a good place to look since you will also find private sales. 
https://www.autoscout24.es/ and it will give you a guide as to prices.

However it is always better to go to an established garage that will make sure the vehicle you buy is fully roadworthy and have a warranty that is properly supported and not just a piece of useless paper. Nowadays, we always use the local Citroën agent for both purchases and servicing.

Don't forget Arthur Daly also has branches on back street lots in Spain and he will do you down here as easily as he would in UK


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## DawnColin (Jul 12, 2018)

Ha Ha, thank you, I have no doubt there are. We will stick to a garage as we normally do at home. We have friends locally who speak excellent Spanish so I expect they will be 'volunteered' to come along and help


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

DawnColin said:


> Ha Ha, thank you, I have no doubt there are. We will stick to a garage as we normally do at home. We have friends locally who speak excellent Spanish so I expect they will be 'volunteered' to come along and help


Be prepared to find vehicles that have a higher kilometrage (mileage) than you might expect in UK. With far less public transport and a larger country to move about in, cars get used more. However, in our experience (bearing in mind that we live inland) there is far less belting around and vehicles tend to keep to more moderate speeds than one would find in UK. Our first car had 455k on it when we p/x ed it for a younger model which only had 198k. Our current one had 140k when we bought it and now has 150k.


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## DawnColin (Jul 12, 2018)

Wow, that is high mileage. We had noticed that the mileage was generally higher on the second hand cars in Spain but we can live with that. We will just go for something as new as possible within our budget with the lowest mileage etc...


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