# Import UK Car or Buy Spanish Car



## Chris Baptiste (Sep 7, 2016)

Can someone please advise.

I am so confused with what we should do about our UK cars. We plan to move to Spain next year for good. We have two cars in our household and my initial thoughts was to sell both cars while we are still in the UK and buy one car to drive over to Spain. After all, we will need some way of getting over there with our stuff. I have read that used cars are more expensive in Spain than in the UK but new cars are cheaper in Spain than in the UK.

I have no plans to buy a new car so I am trying to determine if it is more cost effective buying a used car from the UK and import it to Spain or just buy a used car in Spain.

The costs for importing a UK car can vary by age, value,(Spanish valuation I take it), length of ownership etc. In addition, there are a number of changes to the vehicle I am aware will need to be made to be compliant with Spanish Law.

Is it cheaper to import a RHD car from the UK or buy a LHD car in Spain?

How much more expensive is it for a used Spanish car? £1,000 - £2,000 or more?

I am considering buying from the UK a Honda CRV 2.0 Petrol or 2.2 Diesel, probably a 2010 model with average miles with a rough UK valuation of about £6,000 to £7000

The other aspect is safety and driving a RHD car indefinitely in a country that drive on the right. Is this a potential safety issue if I import a UK car?

Any update on this will be very much appreciated.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

My advice would be to either sell your two UK RHD cars and buy a LHD car from a *REPUTABLE *UK specialist dealer or failing that buy a LHD vehicle here in Spain.

I bought a LHD car in the UK already on Spanish plates. As the dealer had all the paperwork from the previous owner registering it in my name here was no problem whatsoever. The vehicle, a LandRover Discovery, would have cost several 000 euros more here in Spain, plus people who own them tend to hang on to them so good used ones are hard to find.
We did have a car we owned in the UK , RHD, on UK plates taxed and MOT , driven here but after a year sold it as we found the RHD inconvenient and at times unsafe.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

It varies by area - where we were in Andalucia 2nd hand cars are expensive and good ones are very difficult to find but I think the situation is different in at Madrid. 

Have a look at coches.net it'll give you some idea.

I have just spent a month on holiday in Spain and found no difficulty driving out RHD car at all.

To give you an idea of the rarity of second hand cars in Spain, within a few miles of where I live now (SW England) there are literally dozens of second hand car dealers - some with many hundreds of cars on display. I can hardly remember seeing one in Spain.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

jimenato said:


> To give you an idea of the rarity of second hand cars in Spain, within a few miles of where I live now (SW England) there are literally dozens of second hand car dealers - some with many hundreds of cars on display. I can hardly remember seeing one in Spain.


That must vary very much by area too - I'm in Andalucia and we must have a dozen second hand car dealers in this town alone. Here's one of them, for example.


Miguel Campos Motor - Venta de veh?culos de ocasi?n en V?lez M?laga, La Axarqu?a M?laga

I've no idea how expensive they are compared to the UK, never having bought one. If the OP clicks on "Nuestro Stock" he can see all the vehicles listed, with prices.


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## st3v3y (Aug 27, 2015)

Another site worth checking out...

https://www.autoscout24.es/


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

We sold our UK cars and bought a Honda CRV LHD on Spanish plates from a dealer in the UK , it was due an ITV not long after we arrived and that was no problem. We have transferred it to our name now and that was a bit more of a problem only because the dealer didnt inform us it was registered in joint names in Spain and we only had the docs for one of the owners. It wasnt a huge problem as the dealer provided us with the info we required but meant another trip to Trafico for the transfer. Apparently on the documention if there is a star next to the name it means there are 2 registered owners , in our case it was the husband and wife worth noting if you end buying in the UK. For us we have a great legal car that would have cost us a lot more in Spain , we drove it over with our 2 dogs in the back and it is meeting our needs here . good luck ;-)


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## Chris Baptiste (Sep 7, 2016)

jimenato said:


> It varies by area - where we were in Andalucia 2nd hand cars are expensive and good ones are very difficult to find but I think the situation is different in at Madrid.
> 
> Have a look at coches.net it'll give you some idea.
> 
> ...


Thank you jimenato for your post and the link for coches. I must admit, I was shocked how much more expensive the Honda CRV is in Spain! it is £7,400 cheaper to buy like for like in the UK. I am confident it wouldn't cost more to import a UK car than the above difference in price.

:fingerscrossed:


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## Chris Baptiste (Sep 7, 2016)

mrypg9 said:


> My advice would be to either sell your two UK RHD cars and buy a LHD car from a *REPUTABLE *UK specialist dealer or failing that buy a LHD vehicle here in Spain.
> 
> I bought a LHD car in the UK already on Spanish plates. As the dealer had all the paperwork from the previous owner registering it in my name here was no problem whatsoever. The vehicle, a LandRover Discovery, would have cost several 000 euros more here in Spain, plus people who own them tend to hang on to them so good used ones are hard to find.
> We did have a car we owned in the UK , RHD, on UK plates taxed and MOT , driven here but after a year sold it as we found the RHD inconvenient and at times unsafe.


Thank you mrypg for your advice. I did not consider buying a left hand car from the UK. This makes a lot more sense and this is the way forward. I have seen the difference in price for the car I am interested in and in most cases, it is £1000's of ££££ cheaper to buy in the UK.


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## Chris Baptiste (Sep 7, 2016)

Lynn R said:


> That must vary very much by area too - I'm in Andalucia and we must have a dozen second hand car dealers in this town alone. Here's one of them, for example.
> 
> 
> Miguel Campos Motor - Venta de veh?culos de ocasi?n en V?lez M?laga, La Axarqu?a M?laga
> ...


Lynn R, Thank you for your response and link which was very useful.


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

In my opinion it depends on the car. I brought over 9 year old Merc E class. It cost 500€ to matriculate, mainly because I avoided the import tax by doing it within 60 days of signing on the padron and some mods required on other makes aren't needed on the Merc. Allthough it's RHD I find no issues with this whatsoever. Doing anything else will cost you thousands, firstly in getting trade in prices for your old car, paying well over the odds for the new one and all for the sake of left hand drive? I decided that wasn't worth it.


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## Dedaneen (Jul 6, 2013)

Isnt over taking and having a clear view hindered by rhd?


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## sadlybroke (Jun 19, 2012)

Chris Baptiste said:


> I have seen the difference in price for the car I am interested in and in most cases, it is £1000's of ££££ cheaper to buy in the UK.


If you compare LHD and RHD cars for sale in the UK, you'll find that the LHD cars are more expensive than RHD cars in Britain. Also, quite a lot of them have foreign, non-Spanish registrations (French, Italian, etc.) and a lot of those on UK plates have been converted to comply with UK law, e.g. you'd have to buy new set of headlamps, wing mirrors, rear light clusters - all depending on a model of the car.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Dedaneen said:


> Isnt over taking and having a clear view hindered by rhd?


Yes, but in practice it isn't much of an issue. I just drove 3000 kilometres in Spain in my RHD and I honestly didn't really notice any drawback. But then I drive quite slowly and probably didn't overtake at all unless on a dual carriageway/autovia.


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## Williams2 (Sep 15, 2013)

jimenato said:


> Yes, but in practice it isn't much of an issue. I just drove 3000 kilometres in Spain in my RHD and I honestly didn't really notice any drawback. But then I drive quite slowly and probably didn't overtake at all unless on a dual carriageway/autovia.


The only real drawback with RHD cars in Spain ( unless you have a friend or a partner in the passenger seat ) is getting
out of the car to retrieve the ticket from the Car parking machine on, the left hand side of the car, then quickly getting
back to the driving seat before the raised barrier comes down on you again.
Also the same when you leave the car park - like they have in many Mercadona car parks.


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## ianjames (Jul 8, 2009)

jimenato said:


> Have a look at [coches.net] it'll give you some idea.


Interesting - just looked at that website and it had the car I was considering buying in the UK - a low-mileage LHD BMW X5 xDRIVE30d 5p, for under €20,000. 

However, this was a recent (2012) model, whereas for that price in the UK, from any of the "reputable" dealers (if there is such a thing!) for that price I can only get, at best, a 2008 model. For a 2012, I'd be paying more like €25,000. On that example, it looks to me like they are currently 20-30% cheaper in Spain than in the UK. Perhaps that's the effect of the post-Brexit tumble in the value of the pound? But I'll keep researching.


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

ianjames said:


> Interesting - just looked at that website and it had the car I was considering buying in the UK - a low-mileage LHD BMW X5 xDRIVE30d 5p, for under €20,000.
> 
> However, this was a recent (2012) model, whereas for that price in the UK, from any of the "reputable" dealers (if there is such a thing!) for that price I can only get, at best, a 2008 model. For a 2012, I'd be paying more like €25,000. On that example, it looks to me like they are currently 20-30% cheaper in Spain than in the UK. Perhaps that's the effect of the post-Brexit tumble in the value of the pound? But I'll keep researching.


That's interesting. It certainly varies by area - it must vary by car type as well- possibly top-end cars (as opposed to my-end cars) lose their value more quickly in Spain. :noidea:

I think the area I know (Campo de Gibraltar) is particularly bad. It's difficult to find any cars for sale let alone good ones or a particular model.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

jimenato said:


> That's interesting. It certainly varies by area - it must vary by car type as well- possibly top-end cars (as opposed to my-end cars) lose their value more quickly in Spain. :noidea:
> 
> I think the area I know (Campo de Gibraltar) is particularly bad. It's difficult to find any cars for sale let alone good ones or a particular model.


As intimated, the exchange rate will have a LOT to do with influencing these comparisons.


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## ianjames (Jul 8, 2009)

Chris Baptiste said:


> Thank you jimenato for your post and the link for coches. I must admit, I was shocked how much more expensive the Honda CRV is in Spain! it is £7,400 cheaper to buy like for like in the UK. I am confident it wouldn't cost more to import a UK car than the above difference in price.
> 
> :fingerscrossed:


I'd agree it's cheaper on true "like for like" - i.e. a LHD car in Spain and a RHD car in UK. However, the mark-up on LHD cars in the UK, at dealers at least, is horrendous. I have compared prices in the UK on several models I'm considering (mainly the large 4x4s) and I find that they are up to 50% more expensive than the same make/model/year/mileage RHD vehicle. My current car (a RHD low-mileage 2006 Merc 280) will only sell (at a dealers) for about £4,500; but to buy exactly the same car LHD is at least £7,000. It doesn't make any sense to me - I expected LHD cars to be cheaper than RHD (certainly, in Spain, you'll get a lot less for a RHD car, if you sell it, than for its LHD equivalent).


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## edjaspers (Sep 17, 2016)

Dunpleecin said:


> I avoided the import tax by doing it within 60 days of signing on the padron


Hi there,

Interesting to read your take on all this. I'm planning on bringing over a 2006 RHD Citroen Berlingo from the UK to Madrid and trying to get my head round the practicalities. What are the main things that I need to do? 

I'd be very grateful indeed for any advice.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

ianjames said:


> However, this was a recent (2012) model, whereas for that price in the UK, from any of the "reputable" dealers (if there is such a thing!)


Yes, there are 'reputable' dealers in LHD cars. Why shouldn't there be? I and other posters on this Forum have bought Spanish plated LHD cars from one such very 'reputable' dealer.

I bought a LandRover Discovery, Spanish plated, from such a dealer, all necessary paperwork supplied. I saw similar models, albeit few as LRs are in demand here, for several 000 euros more. Last week I saw a LR, same year, model, for sale at not much less than the price I paid in the UK eight years ago....
I bought a Freelander here last year, paid much more than I would have done in the UK.
Perhaps it depends on the make/model. There's much demand for 'tough' 4x4 vehicles round here from people living and working in the campo.


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## ianjames (Jul 8, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> ianjames said:
> 
> 
> > Perhaps it depends on the make/model. There's much demand for 'tough' 4x4 vehicles round here from people living and working in the campo.
> ...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

ianjames said:


> mrypg9 said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks - that's very useful information - I'm considering a whole range of 4x4's (simply because I love 4-wheel drive!) - the main criterion, however, that I've been applying up till now is that of space - as we want to drive to Spain when we move and take as much of our really important personal possessions as possible with us in the car. I shall now add the criterion of "tough", so that it's subsequently more saleable when we downsize later on. My current shortlist is - Range Rover, Audi Q7 or A6 Allroad, BMW X5 or 530 IX estate, Porsche Cayenne, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Volvo XC, Mercedes ML, Nissan X-Trail. Any of those that would not sell well in Spain? or alternatives that you would add to the list?
> ...


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## ianjames (Jul 8, 2009)

As part of my research, I enquired of a large car dealership in Velez Malaga, which has British senior staff, about whether I would be able to p/ex my UK-registered RHD car (a 2006 Merc C280 with only 50k miles on the clock) for a Spanish-registered car after arrival. The advice I received was a bit startling - "They just have no value over here and it is very expensive to transfer the car onto Spanish plates". When I mentioned I was considering the alternative of buying a Spanish-registered car in the UK, the advice was even more startling - "Be very careful if you are considering buying a Spanish car in the UK, lots of pitfalls including debts held on the car that have to be paid". Clearly this area is a minefield. I am rapidly reaching the conclusion that we should sell our car here, fly down to Marbella and subsequently buy a car in Spain.


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## ianjames (Jul 8, 2009)

Chris Baptiste said:


> Can someone please advise.
> I am considering buying from the UK a Honda CRV 2.0 Petrol or 2.2 Diesel, probably a 2010 model with average miles with a rough UK valuation of about £6,000 to £7000


This site lists (currently) 728 Honda CRV's available for sale in Spain! Used Honda Cr-V cars Spain
Incidentally, my son recently bought a 2010 model, with only 40K miles on the clock, privately, for just over £5K; but dealer price for the same car was £6K+. (Excellent choice, by the way!)


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

ianjames said:


> As part of my research, I enquired of a large car dealership in Velez Malaga, which has British senior staff, about whether I would be able to p/ex my UK-registered RHD car (a 2006 Merc C280 with only 50k miles on the clock) for a Spanish-registered car after arrival. The advice I received was a bit startling - "They just have no value over here and it is very expensive to transfer the car onto Spanish plates". When I mentioned I was considering the alternative of buying a Spanish-registered car in the UK, the advice was even more startling - "Be very careful if you are considering buying a Spanish car in the UK, lots of pitfalls including debts held on the car that have to be paid". Clearly this area is a minefield. I am rapidly reaching the conclusion that we should sell our car here, fly down to Marbella and subsequently buy a car in Spain.


The advice from the dealer was part sound, part rather silly and alarmist, imo.
Why would a UK plated RHD car be of value in Spain? The police seem to be doing one of their occasional clampdowns on UK plated vehicles whether LHD or RHD (good thing too imo!).
But whilst it is true that there can be problems in buying a Spanish plated LHD car in the UK, any sensible person will find out what they are in advance and take steps to avoid them.
That is precisely why I said that anyone thinking of buying a LHD car on Spanish plates should choose a reputable dealer, not some attractive-seeming offer on ebay.
It's easy to find out if there are unpaid fines on the vehicle, there are websites that enable you to do this. A reputable dealer will have all the technical documents of the car plus the required paperwork from the previous owner. 
It's not a 'minefield' at all if you proceed with caution as any sane person would do with any major purchase. I'm not the only very satisfied poster on this Forum who has successfully bought a Spanish plated LHD car in the UK.
There are just as many dubious dealers here in Spain as in the UK and the perils of falling into their clutches are greater if you speak little or no Spanish and are inexperienced. I had a very bad experience buying a used car from an English dealer, total crooks, falsifying ITVs, no paperwork....I was lucky because I stand my ground so I got my money back plus a bouquet of flowers , a box of chocolates and a bottle of champagne (not cava). That was no doubt to persuade me not to report them to the police.......I did but the police weren't interested, told me I should have been more careful..

Whether you bring your UK car, buy LHD in the UK or buy Spanish here, all these options require the 'caveat emptor' approach you'd take in the UK.
Good luck whatever you decide and bear in mind that if something seems too good to be true.....it usually is


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

mrypg9 said:


> But whilst it is true that there can be problems in buying a Spanish plated LHD car in the UK, any sensible person will find out what they are in advance and take steps to avoid them.


I think Ian should remember that the advice came from a car dealer in Spain, and it's not exactly in the firm's interests to tell him that it can be perfecty fine to buy a Spanish plated LHD car in the UK, as it means one less potential sale for them.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Lynn R said:


> I think Ian should remember that the advice came from a car dealer in Spain, and it's not exactly in the firm's interests to tell him that it can be perfecty fine to buy a Spanish plated LHD car in the UK, as it means one less potential sale for them.


Very true!!! 
There could be problems though for people who buy off sites like ebay or online ads and even from less scrupulous dealers as no doubt many Brits fleeing Spain with unpaid fines are only too willing to dump these cars on unwitting Brits.....with predictable consequences when they arrive in Spain, try to change ownership only to find that they haven't the required paperwork and the car is subject to heavy fines!


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## ianjames (Jul 8, 2009)

Lynn R said:


> I think Ian should remember that the advice came from a car dealer in Spain, and it's not exactly in the firm's interests to tell him that it can be perfecty fine to buy a Spanish plated LHD car in the UK, as it means one less potential sale for them.


True, but the initial query to that company was whether they would accept my UK RHD car in p/ex for a vehicle they were offering for sale - and their response was an unequivocal "no" - which would almost certainly have lost them their sale - so they do seem to give honest advice even if it's potentially harmful to their selling a car.


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## ianjames (Jul 8, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Very true!!!
> There could be problems though for people who buy off sites like ebay or online ads and even from less scrupulous dealers as no doubt many Brits fleeing Spain with unpaid fines are only too willing to dump these cars on unwitting Brits.....with predictable consequences when they arrive in Spain, try to change ownership only to find that they haven't the required paperwork and the car is subject to heavy fines!


That does seem to be the case. I have now checked with about 6 of the leading UK LHD dealers in or close to the London area and all have responded with quite satisfactory assurances - some will even give a binding acceptance of responsibility should anything of that nature happen after purchase. However, it would still be very difficult, I suspect, to sort it out from 1,500 miles away. 
Some, however, have said that "For us to sell you a Spanish-registered car, we will require a copy of your NIE". is this right? As I'm still in the UK, I don't have one. Is it possible to apply for one remotely?


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