# Import new car to Spain



## Twain (May 24, 2009)

Hi

A new car in Norway, priced at 81.000€ is sold in Spain for almost 50.000€.
If I import the same car from USA it would cost me about 27.000€
It would be approved for use in the EU (car in question is a Volvo).

So, off to google I went. Searching for import rules, taxes and so on.
And found that this could be much worse than building a house.

First issue I came across was the drivers license. (only valid for 6 months).
But I found the solution to that and I should be clear any trouble.

Next was the import rules and tax/fees.
And there I was nearly lost. Found a lot about taking with me my own car, but not buying a new one and import it.

As I'm not good in searching in spanish, does anyone know if there are a webpage with more information on this?

And what did you do?
Brought your own car and imported it?
Or is it too complicated to import a new car so noone even tries?


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## Xose (Dec 10, 2008)

Twain said:


> Hi
> 
> A new car in Norway, priced at 81.000€ is sold in Spain for almost 50.000€.
> If I import the same car from USA it would cost me about 27.000€
> ...


I'm sorry I can't help much with the actual import process but here are some thoughts. Any cars brought into Spain have to be, or converted so that they are, homologados.

The other day I took my car in to get the tracking done. Whilst there I saw a beautiful Plymouth from the 60's. Looked a bit like the car in Men in Black, but it wasn't a Dodge Charger. The sad thing was that because this car had blinking break (red) lights as indicators, as do all American cars don't they?!, they had these horrible yellow lights stuck on the back, just to the side of the boot area. They spoiled the whole back end of the car and probably cost the owner some serious rewiring hours to get it into spec.

The thought then - once the import bit and taxes is done, you then have the ITV and if the car is a standard American spec car, some work will be required to get it approved in Spain. This is of course assuming that the import taxation etc., isn't tied in to the above.

On the plus side, I've seen a fair few of the more popular sports cars here Corvettes, Mustangs and the like, so it clearly is doable. 

Have you had a look at the prices in other European countries as it's a Volvo. There are importers in the UK living on the price difference between UK and other countries in the EU.

Good luck whichever way you go.


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

There are specialist companies in Spain doing just this type of paperwork but unless you have owned the car for a minimum of x months in a EC country, y months in a non EC country, z months in Guernsey the taxes, fees, charges etc will make your eyes run!


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## Twain (May 24, 2009)

Thank you Xose for your thoughts on this.

As far as I know the Volvo would be EU approved and thus doesn't need to be changed in any way to be legal in Spain.
Or does Spain have their own rules in addition to the standard EU rules?

If not I might be able to buy an European model in USA.
Anyway, the car itself I might be able to pick up in Sweden actually.
Saving me shipping back and forth to USA.

I'll see if it's possible to get this good price here in the EU as well. Good advice.

I can't see that it's possible to "fail" the ITV test on a brand new car?

This I found on another forum.
Seems like it would be best to get this "gestor" he's talking about.

"To import a car as 'personal item' it must have been in your name in the UK for at least 6 months. To avoid high import taxes, and must NOT already have an NIE or residencia (these are classed as being resident for import purposes) and you must do so within 30 days of car arriving. If you are resident, put the car into non-NIE holders name for 6 months, import it, get an NIE and submit the import application within 30 days, tax can be just a fraction of what it would have been otherwise. My import duty on Range Rover which sells here for €10k + was €490 , all the other fees, taxes and payments brought the grand total to €1,250, including ITV and Gestor."

I'm not sure if I understand why I can't be a residencia and have an NIE (don't know what that is yet, googling soon hehe). I thought that I had to be residencia to get the drivers licence and the rest of the import things - sounds like there's info pointing both ways out there.

It might be better to buy the car while I'm in Norway and keep it for a while before moving to Spain. It will ease much of this process.

Now I'll head out on the net for a better European price.


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## Twain (May 24, 2009)

SteveHall said:


> There are specialist companies in Spain doing just this type of paperwork but unless you have owned the car for a minimum of x months in a EC country, y months in a non EC country, z months in Guernsey the taxes, fees, charges etc will make your eyes run!


Sorry, I was writing my reply while you posted this.
Yes, is this what the "gestor" is for?

I've only found one fee/tax and that's the import fee of 10%.
So I might just do as you advice, buy it in good time before leaving to Spain (6 months I saw one place is the time limit)


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

No, there are taxes, homologisation, gestor's fees, ITV etc etc Remember you voted NOT to join the EU!!!!

It took me 2 and half YEARS to get a Norwegian friend's car fully legal in Spain - two gestors gave up!! Go to one who SPECIALISES and not one who says he does "everything"!


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## Twain (May 24, 2009)

Hehe, yes we said no to the EU and still do.
Oil/gas and fish amongst other things are more important than easy car imports.

Still, it would be the same procedure to import a car to Norway.
It would also need an "ITV" (NAF/EU controll in Norway).
Also the taxes (import fee and VAT).
But I think that most of the paperwork is done at the import handler (insted of me getting a gestor myself)

But I get the point.

Just one word I don't recognize, "homologisation" ?


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## SunnySpain (Jul 30, 2008)

Twain said:


> Just one word I don't recognize, "homologisation" ?



To make homologous or to make equal



Dave :juggle:


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

Ok. It's an anglicised version of a VERY common word in Spanish - homologar. Sadly the English word is only normally used to express the Spanish word and I don't know if a Norwegian/Swedish word exists (att homologa "looks" ok but.....) 

It means to standardise, to legalise 

ABC SL is a fully homolgated company would mean that ABC was a fully legal company.


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## Twain (May 24, 2009)

Ah, thank you both for the language lesson.
Not a common word to translate it into in norwegian I think, must be a phrase/expression or something.

For SunnySpains version we could use the norwegian word "homogent" to say that something is equal/the same. Typical to describe two markets.

But that wouldn't make sense to describe what you Steve explained it to be.

But thank you, now I know.


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## Twain (May 24, 2009)

Does this homologisation need to take place for every car imported to spain?
i.e. do Spain have their own rules in adition to the rest of the EU?

Or would any EU approved car go straight to the ITV and become legal after that test?

The homologisation can be seen on as a pre-ITV adustment?

I understand this is on the border and I should take this further with a specialist.

Thanks for very good advices here.
I now know where to take it from here I think.

EDIT
Just found out that volvo has its own expat division 
With discounts and special fittings for the country you're going to.
Why didn't I think of checking that earlier hehe.

Also seems to me that the lowest price in Europe is in the UK at the moment, still way more then in the US.


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## Xose (Dec 10, 2008)

Twain said:


> Does this homologisation need to take place for every car imported to spain?
> i.e. do Spain have their own rules in adition to the rest of the EU?
> 
> Or would any EU approved car go straight to the ITV and become legal after that test?
> ...


If anything is not "homologado", you won't pass the ITV. A very obvious thing is the once upon a time custom car in the UK. A Ford Taunus (Cortina in the UK) wigth a Rover V8 engine - never get it through the ITV. I understand this is similar in Germany where they are hot on "Factory fitted only" for most things of any importance.

On a not so obvious thing - a motorbike from the UK with twin headlights. Say a Yamaha FZR or a Suzuki GSXR. In the UK, both lights are dipped or main beam. So when the lights are dipped (low beam) both are on. In Spain, ONLY one light is on when using low beam.

That's a good example of a difference even though it is exactly the same bike in both countries.

With cars it is a similar thing. The US volvo might have a certain brightness level to the main beams that is above or below the Spainish norm. Just a lightbulb?! perhaps, but there's one example. My other example was that US cars use their stop lights for indicating - by blinking the red light. Is this not the case with European built cars in the US market any more? If it is, then this would also have to be changed.
Try a few UK sites on Google and see where in the EU the specialist importers are bringing their cars from to knock thousands off for people in the UK. The last one I heard about in the UK some years ago came from a Belgium dealer I think.

good luck.

Xose


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## Twain (May 24, 2009)

Ok, I get it.
Even inside the EU there are unique rules in every country regarding these "little" things.

And yes I see the point with the blinking break lights as an example.

I think the best thing to do would be to get everything fabric fitted and try to get some sort of info wheter it would pass the homologisation without doing lots of things with it.
I guess Volvo knows what it takes so if I ask them to fit it for Spain it would be ready.

Well just thinking loud here. And got much to think about now.
This is good, I feel better when I'm prepared for what I might stumble upon when the time comes.

I'll look for who the UK importers are getting theirs from.

Thank you.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

I bought a car from Japan in 1998 and imported it into the UK, whereupon it took an SVA test which allowed an MOT (test) certificate to be issued in the UK. I had a fog light fitted and a mph/kph speedo. That was it.

So when I bought it to Spain I was filled with trepidation. Japanese grey import sports car with numerous modifications v Spanish beaurocracy. In reality it cost me about €1200 including import registration fees (I was outside 30 days of residency before starting procedings) and was done within just over a week. I needed to make no changes apart from adjusting the headlamps. I hasten to add this was several years ago, but a good specialist gestoria such as the one I used can work wonders

From this year EU countries will issue a certificate of conformity on a new car as a matter of procedure, as opposed to being a specific request.




Twain said:


> Does this homologisation need to take place for every car imported to spain?
> i.e. do Spain have their own rules in adition to the rest of the EU?
> 
> Or would any EU approved car go straight to the ITV and become legal after that test?
> ...


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

Wow!! I wish I had used that gestor. I had two who used every excuse in the book before giving in. (To be 100% fair I was not too concerned as the car was off-road and not used/needed) Eventually, I found somebody who rattled off his head just what was needed, how much it would cost and how long it would take. Within 3 weeeks all was sorted. 

The difference between Strav/Steve and Twain is that our cars were older cars and had been taxed at source.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

I was lucky in that I was recommended to someone who had experience of bringing in non EU cars

I'm wondering if there is some kind of agreement for this kind of thing between EU and ex EFTA members. Certainly when I was in the Customs there were all kinds of these. But if Volvo have their own department dealing with this then I would guess they have it well and truly sussed



SteveHall said:


> Wow!! I wish I had used that gestor. I had two who used every excuse in the book before giving in. (To be 100% fair I was not too concerned as the car was off-road and not used/needed) Eventually, I found somebody who rattled off his head just what was needed, how much it would cost and how long it would take. Within 3 weeeks all was sorted.
> 
> The difference between Strav/Steve and Twain is that our cars were older cars and had been taxed at source.


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