# Furniture Transfer & Vehicle Swap



## Chris c (Jun 10, 2013)

Hi All

I have recently purchased a property in Mojacar and I am planning to move there sometime August/September 2013. The house is currently empty and the logistics of furnishing it is now quite overwhelming. (Do I fly out to Spain and then purchase items locally? Or will it be more cost effective for me to transport things there from England myself in a van, or use the services of a professional removals firm?)

I have two ideas but I do not know if they are realistic. 

Scenario 1:
An expat returning to England transports their belongings back to the UK using their own Left Hand drive van. They then want to dispose of the vehicle and are willing to swop it for a Right hand drive car (mine). Result! they have offloaded an unwanted van and I am able to transport my stuff to Spain.

Scenario 2:
An expat has sold his Spanish property within a 25 mile radius of Mojacar and now has a house full of furniture to dispose of before he returns to the UK. What are his options? To leave the house furnished for the new owner or sell-out to the second-hand furniture dealer? In such circumstances would it be possible for this Englishman and his wife to be offered first refusal (to cut out the middle-man) as we are hoping to fly over and get things set up before we actually relocate.

To anybody reading this any advice would be appreciated.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Here is what we did, we priced up the cost of replacing our furniture etc. and the cost of transporting the same in a container. Much to my surprise the container was cheaper. So we transported the lot with a professional removal firm called Shires.


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## Chris c (Jun 10, 2013)

Thank You for your input, I will visit the Shires website.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Chris c said:


> Hi All
> 
> I have recently purchased a property in Mojacar and I am planning to move there sometime August/September 2013. The house is currently empty and the logistics of furnishing it is now quite overwhelming. (Do I fly out to Spain and then purchase items locally? Or will it be more cost effective for me to transport things there from England myself in a van, or use the services of a professional removals firm?)
> 
> ...


or....... get in touch with these guys

One Way Van Hire Spain | UK Spain Removals | One Way Van Hire Spain


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## Chris c (Jun 10, 2013)

Great thank you, it is certainly giving me options.

I'm also still interested in the feasibility of a vehicle swap if anybody has comments?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Chris c said:


> Great thank you, it is certainly giving me options.
> 
> I'm also still interested in the feasibility of a vehicle swap if anybody has comments?


I'd reckon that the paperwork shuffle would make it difficult - let alone the chance of actually finding someone to do it being pretty slim


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

There is a removal chap called Jimbo the Scot who moved us. He charges £100 per cubic meter which is about 8 large packing boxes. If you just google the name I'm sure it will come up as I'm not sure I can post a link to his website. 

Great service though.

I wouldn't bother trying to buy someone's van, it's a one way ticket to losing money. Buy a vehicle once you're out here.

I'm not sure you get a great deal for furniture in the UK so if you like it and want to keep it then I'd move it.


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## Chris c (Jun 10, 2013)

Thank you for your comments it has certainly got me thinking. I had heard that vehicles were much more expensive in Spain? If that is the case would I be better buying a Left Hand Drive in UK?


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## Dunpleecin (Dec 20, 2012)

Chris c said:


> Thank you for your comments it has certainly got me thinking. I had heard that vehicles were much more expensive in Spain? If that is the case would I be better buying a Left Hand Drive in UK?


It's always a conundrum. There are a few things to consider. 1. Do you NEED LHD? Some people say it's a must, others don't. I'm in the don't category. I've not found any problems at all with a RHD car over here yet. I've had to get out of my car for a car park/toll both about twice altogether and even then its a few seconds to do.

The second point is that if you buy a foreign registered LHD car in the UK you won't be able to insure it in the UK. You could potentially insure with some insurance agent in the Netherlands or something, but it's very expensive and probably not worth it. The other disadvantage there is that you also won't know it's history so you could be buying a wreck. If you opt for a Spanish registered one, there is also the problem of possible fines outstanding which are covered in many other topics here. As you also can't register it in your name, technically you can't drive it either, but that's a risk you take if you decide to do that anyway. I very nearly bought a French registered Audi to take to Spain but in the end decided against it. Had I been stopped I risked having it removed and crushed.

Or you could buy a decent car in the UK and then re register in Spain when the time comes. It will cost you the best part of €1000 so if you're going down this route it should be a decent car you're going to keep. If you can get a UK registered LHD Merc or BMW or something that might be the ideal route.

It's true that cars can be more expensive in Spain although it depends on what kind. As far as brand new are concerned, Mercs and BMW's are much dearer, whereas the likes of SEAT, Kia and Hyundai are cheaper. I'm not sure if second hand prices follow this convention, but the Koreans make nice cars nowadays so I wouldn't rule that option out if you can afford it.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Chris c said:


> Thank you for your comments it has certainly got me thinking. I had heard that vehicles were much more expensive in Spain? If that is the case would I be better buying a Left Hand Drive in UK?


If it is on Spanish plates - maybe, BUT depending on how long you have owned it and its assessed value, you may have to pay importation tax and if it no longer has a valid ITV, that will have to be done.

If it is not on Spanish plates, you will, in addition to the foregoing, have to pay to have it 'homologated'

One of the reasons s/h vehicles are more expensive in Spain is they don't rust to the same extent as they do in UK (lower road salt usage). Some 40% of the vehicles in my road are more than 13 years old (the registration number format changed in September 2000!) and are quite good runners. It is quite normal to have vehicles here with 100k, 200k, 300k or more on the clock, many of them are immaculate (some have lots of minor scratches/dents depending on where they are used).


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## Chris c (Jun 10, 2013)

Very interesting and informative. Its starting to look like the best idea is to wait until I arrive in Spain and take it from there.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

It is a also a good idea to look at what are the commonest types of vehicle in the area where you are going to be living. That will invariably give you an idea of what is the most appropriate type of vehicle for that area. 

Around here, it is the small MPV (Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner, Renault Kangoo, Opel Combi, etc) - they are versatile (five passengers + their luggage and can carry goods [we bought our kitchen flat-pack and loaded it into ours to drive it 80km from store to home]). We have recently changed from the 2005 Berlingo that we had (93k when bought Nov. 2008 for €5,900 to 157k when sold p/x value €2,900) to a 2008 Partner (90k €6,900). Both excellent vehicles. Berlingo was a 1.9 Diesel, a good plodder, economical, but no sparkling performance - we drove it to UK and back via the tunnel! and it has done long trips here to Barcelona, to Galicia and planned to Cantabria this year. The Partner is 1.6 Diesel with turbo, more economical (gets into 5th much quicker) with more zip so we can overtake with greater safety.

Of, course much will also depend on your personal preferences. For us, a vehicle is a means of transport not a status symbol so it is a case of what suits our needs.

Further on the higher cost of vehicles here, as you can see the rate of depreciation is lower so the p/x value is higher.


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## Allsortsxx (Jun 12, 2013)

Hi
I'm new on this site and just saw your post - when we had furniture brought over to Mallorca we looked in the small ads in the Mallorca Bulletin and we found a 'man with van' that does regular trips to UK / Mallorca. It was very successful for us and not too expensive. Perhaps you could find something like that .... ? Just a thought.....


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## Chris c (Jun 10, 2013)

Thank You all, for your feed back, it has now prompted me to ask for quotes from professional movers. 

Also I am now tempted to drive my Right Hand Golf across and make do until i get a feel for the market.

Chris C


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