# a cheap motor!!!



## tobesa (Jul 13, 2015)

Mary and I are coming down to Moraira to live from November to late February. We thought we might come down by campervan, but we would need to buy a cheap runabout locally. Can a non resident buy a car in Spain?


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## smitty5668 (Feb 25, 2015)

you'll need an NIE to do it legally. otherwise ask around, but it will probably cost you more than you think.


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## Guest (Jul 19, 2015)

tobesa said:


> Mary and I are coming down to Moraira to live from November to late February. We thought we might come down by campervan, but we would need to buy a cheap runabout locally. Can a non resident buy a car in Spain?




If you want to legally buy a car from the second hand market I strongly advise you that you obtain a NIE and use a gestor to do the paperwork as a lot of English people get stung when the car is transferred to their name. For example car debts, fines, insurance issues, stolen cars is rifle in Spain.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

nigelk said:


> If you want to legally buy a car from the second hand market I strongly advise you that you obtain a NIE and use a gestor to do the paperwork as a lot of English people get stung when the car is transferred to their name. For example car debts, fines, insurance issues, stolen cars is rifle in Spain.



absolutely

the OP will have to have a NIE to do the transfer, and an address - so if staying in a campervan that might be a bit difficult anyway

& I agree that paying a gestor to do the transfer could save a lot of headaches & costs later


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## tobesa (Jul 13, 2015)

Not planning to stay in the campervan (it's just a means to an end), we will rent a villa or apartment. Just want to buy a cheap runabout so we are not hopping about the Costa Blanca hills in a 6 metre truck!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

nigelk said:


> If you want to legally buy a car from the second hand market I strongly advise you that you obtain a NIE and use a gestor to do the paperwork as a lot of English people get stung when the car is transferred to their name. For example car debts, fines, insurance issues, stolen cars is rifle in Spain.


Unless he/she goes to a main dealer as I have suggested elsewhere. Some main dealers or agents don't do secondhand but many, out of the big cities do,


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

When you arrive (or before) check out the local facebook pages & you will see a number of cheap runabouts (your words) advertised.
As has been said use a Gestor to get its details checked & handle the changover as this is the easiest way to get it done for a small outlay.
Using a dealer to buy a car will mean paying over 20% vat/plus their markup/plus transfer fee on top and this makes the vast bulk of their secondhand stock expensive.


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## tobesa (Jul 13, 2015)

Thank you.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

VFR said:


> When you arrive (or before) check out the local facebook pages & you will see a number of cheap runabouts (your words) advertised.
> As has been said use a Gestor to get its details checked & handle the changover as this is the easiest way to get it done for a small outlay.
> Using a dealer to buy a car will mean paying over 20% vat/plus their markup/plus transfer fee on top and this makes the vast bulk of their secondhand stock expensive.


but, at least if anything turns out to be faulty or not as described you can go back to a dealer (assuming you went to a decent dealer in the first place) which may be well worth the little extra you might pay. A "private" deal or back-street dealer might have disappeared before you have had chance to find it that the reason it runs so quietly is the sawdust in it (engine/gearbox/back axle, etc). A main dealer or agent will be looking to sell a possibly decent car that he has taken in P/x and will probably come with either a long-dated or new ITV. Maintaining his reputation and his franchise should ensure that he won't offload a dud onto you nor welch on the deal.


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## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

baldilocks said:


> but, at least if anything turns out to be faulty or not as described you can go back to a dealer (assuming you went to a decent dealer in the first place) which may be well worth the little extra you might pay. A "private" deal or back-street dealer might have disappeared before you have had chance to find it that the reason it runs so quietly is the sawdust in it (engine/gearbox/back axle, etc). A main dealer or agent will be looking to sell a possibly decent car that he has taken in P/x and will probably come with either a long-dated or new ITV. Maintaining his reputation and his franchise should ensure that he won't offload a dud onto you nor welch on the deal.


Back street dealer/sawdust ........ you have clearly been tucked up in the past. 

Right anything taken in PX that is any good will already be spoken for.
Its not a little extra but quite a bit (around 30% min more)
Credit the OP with a little sense as they may well know what they are looking at.


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## ccm47 (Oct 15, 2013)

Tobesa my brother in law is non resident, but has an NIE as he has a house in Peniscola. Only last week he completed the purchase of a Spanish car from a fellow Brit returning permanently to the UK, using the services of a gestor. He commented that it involved several visits which ate into his relaxation time. The car, which he was familiar with, was "sold as seen".


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