The official way of Purchasing a car in Spain.

[Remspoor]

May I start this off with a short note.
This post is about how to purchase a Spanish registered car. I have never  done this with the intention of importing a Spanish car into any other country. Having lived in Spain for many years I can assure you that a clerk in an office may just want to make up some sort of regulation which he knows about. Advise is go along with the flow.
Copies of any documents may have to be in Spanish and you may need photo copies of them. The government offices you are visiting in order to clear the paperwork usually do not copy any of your documents for you. They will know whee there is a machine nearby, usually a newspaper/book suppliers or post office.
This has been written as a guide and must not be taken as any legal framework.
 
Lets get down to it-
 
 
Documents:
Provided for the vechile:
 
Vehicle registration certificate(s). Comes in two parts. One is known as Permiso de circulación.
Front and back:

Inside:

The second is Ficha técnica del vehículo.One side:

The other side:

These have changed over the years but these are the ones you would more than likely encounter when look at Spanish Shite. ITV inspections are no longer stamped they now add stickers to the document with a fail or pass.
The windscreen sticker which states the car has passed its annual roadworthy test. Known as I.T.V. (Inspección Técnica de Vehículos).

 

The sticker colour changes every year. Normally issued for 12 months, but hire cars, taxis and buses plus HGVs are issued for every 6 months. The year end is indicated and the month is removed with a hole punch. No car can be driven on Spanish roads without a valid test. Not even to the test station. The new regulation is that the Spanish can now get a test  done up to one calender month before the end of year of the test cert.

 

 

To sum up that makes  3 sheets of paper and a little sticker.

[Remspoor]

Provided by the seller;

 

Identification of the person who sells the car.

This is the latest version of an identity card for a Spanish citizen.

 

This is a laminated plastic ID card which is renewable every 5 or 10 years in most cases, depending on the age of the holder. All Spanish nationals over the age of 14 are required to carry this card. As they are valid for 10 years you may encounter some older versions are still bing used.

The seller should also provide proof that they have paid a tax to the local council every year. This is not applicable for cars over 25 years old. Every council will have it's own amount and own way of proof of payment. This is not standardised in Spain. This is know as Impuesto municipal. Sorry no image for this one.

 

Contract of sale of the car. This has to be in Spanish and give the following details The buyer and sellers names; car make; model; year; plus some other details if included in the sale. Also to be stated is the price; date; time (yes really); location; signatures of both parties. This can be hand written and does not have to be on any formal document paper.

[Remspoor]

Next step is to head to the offices to exchange the official documents.

I personally would ensure you have at least 3 copies of your passport.

 

An appointment at the office of the DGT has to be made, one cannot just turn up. The Spanish can access the DGT website to make one, they can also pre pay any costs for the transfer of name. It is for you and the owner to agree who pays these costs. You can turn up at the DGT  yourself, with the seller, this will work out to a "few" Euros. If you use an export agent or a Gestoría (sort of accountant) will add costs but at least you know that the paperwork been done correctly. they can do things on line so it will be quicker to obtain the documents. Then there are costs for the new/temporary registration plates plus temp insurance (seguros temporales).

Once all the documentation has been gathered this is presented at an office colloquially called "traffico". Officially the DGT office. This is equivalent to the DVLC in the UK. The purchaser must provide his passport. You are meant to provide insurance too but without any registration details that is maybe something one cannot overcome! You will be able to purchase Spanish insurance for those 60 days once you have the registration details. I have also read that insurance can be purchased using the chassis number later to be revised with registration number. That is unconfirmed by the writer.

When exporting a car out of Spain the DGT will provide you with documents which will allow you to obtain registration for the car which are green in colour and have the letter P in front. P stands for provisional.

Number plates can be purchased only at certain shops and the DGT office can provide you with that information.

These number plates only have a validity of 60 days.

The car has to have a current ITV. Under current EU regulations his means you do not have to have the car MOTed right away. Only when the ITV date has expired . What will happen if the UK leaves the EU is not clear.

[Remspoor]

Final part for now:

Links of interest.

http://www.dgt.es/

Location of DGT offices.

http://www.dgt.es/es/la-dgt/quienes-somos/estructura-organica/jefaturas-provinciales/

UK Information.

https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/temporary-imports

 

_{Any questions?}

[Lord Sterling]

Buying a car in Turkey is it's burden as well.

 

As a citizen or a foreigner you need to have a residence permit before you can buy a car, as a foreigner you can buy car not subject to value added tax (VAT) and private consumption tax, as a foreigner you are subject to an annual TL 350 fee or a biannual fee of TL 575 for keeping the vehicle in the country. There is also a deposit calculated according to the model and engine size of the vehicle that is kept by the Touring and Automobile Club of Turkey (Türkiye Turing ve Otomobil Kulübü) and is returned to the vehicle owner once the car is sold, taken out of the country or handed over. I don't get that bit, seems like a waste of money but it does out paid to me keeping a car in Turkey.

 

As a resident it is a bit easier apparently, you may fristly need to obtain number plates from the traffic police office (yes, really) then choose a car, once chosen, go and meet the seller at the notoriety (a sort of Turkish version of a local DVLA office) to register you paperwork and register the car to yourself I think.

[Jazoli]

I lived in Spain for 7 years and found that by far the easiest way was to buy from a dealer, who then did all the paperwork and legwork for you, I did buy a couple of cars privately but it was too much hassle for us, used car prices are eye watering on the mainland, but depreciation is very low it made more sense to buy new, I bought my mother a new Dacia Logan (with her cash) when I was over earlier this year as she couldn't be arsed with the hassle of traipsing around various departments again.

[richardmorris]

The French like paperwork too. Invoices in quadruplicate etc. Why the hell they can’t copy them I don’t know.

[pshome]

For once, things improved here in Germany, I sold the 505 to Norway and the new owner drove it there on the German plates. Paperwork can now be done online. No more need to send the plates and car papers around and queue at the office to get the ownership change done. Confirmation was in the mail the next day,  tax refund two days later and insurance refund after a week. *)

 

* Works only if car was registered after Jan 1 ,2015. That is when  they started to issue plates that have a QR code needed to unregister a car online.

[Jerzy Woking]

Come March ill be spending half the year in Spain, half in the UK. Wanted to buy a motorbike in Spain but it's a real hassle, and due to depressed new sales over the last few years, used stuff is hard to find and eye wateringly expensive. 

 

Will take one of my bikes down there in my van and leave it there. After six months I'll ride it back to the UK and ride something different back when i return.

 

Great information - thanks.

[Essex V6]

As long as you don't mind having a RHD bike in Spain

[sierraman]

How thorough is the ITV?

[Jazoli]

How thorough is the ITV?

 

More thorough than the MOT, well it was however that may have changed with the new MOT rules, you must have matching tyres on the same axle for example, not 4 different ditchfinders.

[artdjones]

This explains why my brother in Spain has run the same 96 Laguna for 17 years, it's too much trouble to change.

[Remspoor]

Yer second hand stuff is very expensive when compared with the UK, or is it just that the UK is ultra cheap?

I have a dash cam video of me going through a ITV test. You are not meant to use a camera inside the station.

The test has just been revised so it is even harder. The word is that older cars are unsafe. Well that is the government and manufactures saying that. The ITV like most things comes along with a judgement from the bod to who you have to deal with. My pug had an advisory issued to say the blue country  "E" on the number plate was faded. I have since spotted that most cars have faded blue sections because of the sun, (I suppose). My solution was not to purchase a new plate, that would have cost around 20 to 25€ I got some new stickers from Ebay for a few euros.

Getting my Austin Westminster imported was a huge issue. I was told that was the only one in Spain. I have since found out that is not true. I had to pay for a huge amount of documentation to import the car.

Wife had a problem with her Honda Shadow motorbike. Being ex USA then was imported into The Netherlands it had twin filament orange front lights. The running lights are not permitted in Spain. The speedo was only in miles so the recorded distance was never changed on any paperwork.

[martc]

The above demonstrates why we shouldn't complain about the DVLA. One form to fill in, send it off, car's yours.

 

[sierraman]

I’ve got a feeling if you were a local it wouldn’t have been a problem.

[Jerzy Woking]

Just purchased a new motorbike from a dealer. All I needed to give him was my passport, NIE number, bank accout details and somethinget to prove my address (only had my intranet contract).

 

All done, bike PDI'd, registered and delivered the 40 miles to me. And less than the cost of the bike in the UK.

 

Good to see new bike sales are on the up in Spain, which, with the amount of new houses being built, hints strongly that the economy is in recovery (I hope).

[Remspoor]

economy?

It is a case of the have and have nots in Spain.

 

https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/01/17/inenglish/1547728227_901204.html

https://borgenproject.org/facts-about-poverty-in-spain/

This guide is how to purchase a second-hand vehicle. A new one is going to be quite different.

[New POD]

With all this paperwork do they by ave less vehicle cloning.

[Remspoor]

To be honest I have never heard of it in Spain.

[lesapandre]

Great useful post. Many thanks...!

[bangernomics]

Would be grateful for any guide to doing this in France, am I right that I need the original invoice?

[Remspoor]

Would be grateful for any guide to doing this in France, am I right that I need the original invoice?

I have not got a clue or any personal experience. Maybe a member, who lives there, could start a new thread for you.

[Jerzy Woking]

On the subject of second hand prices in Spain being high, I came across a couple of beauties yesterday. There was a rather large car and motorcycle show in Alicante's exhibition centre (like a smaller NEC). Lots of brand new bikes there that I had never heard of, mostly badged Chinese 125's. There was a Voge 500 at €4995 which looked very well put together. But back to the cars.

Not just new cars, but used ones to were in the main hall. These two beauties caught my eye as they were older than most cars there.

A 2007 Aygo 998cc, nice and shiny, probably because of what looked to be a very recent lacquer blow over, judging from the amount of dust and insects in it. No mention of ITV but as it's a dealer I'd assume it will have a full year when sold. I think the same car about £800 in the UK with a full MOT?

Secondly a 2007 Fiesta 1400cc that had a few dents and giffer marks, but not too bad (sorry, cant find the photo I took).Again no mention of ITV expiry, but same dealer so think it would have 12 months at time of sale. So a similar spec'd Fiesta in the UK with 12 months MOT, around a grand?

I'll be looking to buy something nearly new. Being a shiter here looks difficult!

[bezzabsa]

On 11/13/2018 at 7:53 PM, pshome said:

For once, things improved here in Germany, I sold the 505 to Norway and the new owner drove it there on the German plates. Paperwork can now be done online. No more need to send the plates and car papers around and queue at the office to get the ownership change done. Confirmation was in the mail the next day,  tax refund two days later and insurance refund after a week. *)

 

* Works only if car was registered after Jan 1 ,2015. That is when  they started to issue plates that have a QR code needed to unregister a car online.

watched a vid on you tube the other day, 2 guys from NL  purchased an old BMW 530! estate, had to take loads of paperwork to a place (unsure what it was called) also ended up taking the original owner of the car too, to get issued temporary plates to enable the car to be driven out of the country!!!

[Jazoli]

You can't really compare Spanish prices with English ones though, when I moved over there 14 years ago I paid €3500 for a 1994 Ford escort, the same car would have been £750 here.

The Spanish don't really do PCP or anything like it and keep their cars a very long time, my neighbour has owned his Panda for 37 years, the guy on the other side has had his fiat van for 30.

It makes sense to buy new in Spain, my mother bought a new Dacia Logan for around €13k, when the warranty expires she will be able to get around €10k for it, they just don't depreciate.

It's pointless trying to be a shiter over there, you want a decent car with good aircon, I lasted one summer with my UK registered none aircon Mondeo before I gave in, it really is unbearable in the heat of summer.

[sierraman]

Last time I was in Portugal a browse through the local papers turned up a 405 for €800. Which apparently was unfathomably cheap for a running car where as here it would be top dollar. 

I realise that cars won’t rust as bad as in U.K. but coastal cars seem to rot in some funny places, round the windows for example but the sills will be rock solid. 

[Jerzy Woking]

I am thinking that I should buy a relatively new van here, as depreciation over say five years is not much from my (basic) research. Newer means more reliable too ???

Depends on the outcome of all the B***** negotiations, but I think becoming a Spanish resident looks likely. I'm retired and have a pension so dont think the Spanish will block that.

Lots to consider away from the car and motorbike angle though.

[castros_bro]

If bored then look at secondhand stuff here in Portugal, Renault 5 for 20 euro? and lots more (don't look at old bikes) but still the eveyday stuff is older and more expensive then UK.

 

https://www.olx.pt/carros-motos-e-barcos/carros/?search%5Bdescription%5D=1&search%5Border%5D=filter_float_price%3Aasc&page=5

[Remspoor]

2 hours ago, Jerzy Woking said:

I am thinking that I should buy a relatively new van here, as depreciation over say five years is not much from my (basic) research. Newer means more reliable too ???

Depends on the outcome of all the B***** negotiations, but I think becoming a Spanish resident looks likely. I'm retired and have a pension so dont think the Spanish will block that.

Lots to consider away from the car and motorbike angle though.

If you mean in Spain. Think again about purchasing a van.  Speed limits are lower  on N roads and Autovias. Plus ITV can be more frequent. I don't know if insurance will be the same or more than a car.