Changing the registration of a British car to Spanish

When I registered my bike here I used a Gestor for the paperwork/admin and did the testing etc myself. 

My recent experience ... 

Step 1 - present the car at an ITV station, with the British V5 document. Most cars don't have LHD/RHD switchable headlights, so they fail. But the failure notice lists the necessary remedial work. The rear lights sometimes need minor modifications. They will also do the normal safety stuff (brakes, seat belts, rust checks etc), and they don't like modified cars. You get 2 months to correct any issues. They keep the V5, so make a copy before you go. 

Step 2 - when the work is done, take the car back to the ITV station for the sign-off. As long as you take it back within 2 months, they only re-check the listed items. Assuming it passes, you get the V5 back, and a new Spanish "matriculation" document that enables you to progress to Step 3.  Steps 1 and 2 cost around 230 Euros in total (that is the ITV station cost, to which you need to add the cost of work needed to get the car through the tests). 

Step 3 - you will probably need a gestor to help with this ... the new documentation (and the V5) goes to the tax office, and an import tax is paid. You then get the full set of Spanish registration documents, and your car is Spanish. From memory, you don't get the V5 back (I assume the Spanish authorities notify the DVLA in the UK - not sure).  The cost of step 3 depends on the age/value/pollution rating of the car.

They ITV Station and the tax authorities need to see your NIE, Padron, Residencia and passport at each stage. This demonstrates that you have moved to Spain and brought your car with you (as distinct from importing the car for profit).

We used a British-run garage near Pilar de la Horadada, who worked with a gestor. So it was (more or less) a 1-stop shop. They advised on what/when to do. PM me if you want the details.

Total costs - difficult to estimate. The main variables are the tax you pay and the cost of remedial work. If your car is new, valuable and has a big engine, the taxes are high. If your car is old and of low value, the you won't pay much. 

As an example ... we brought a USA-specification LHD Honda Accord 3.0 with us. Total cost to re-register was around 1200 Euros. This included new LHD headlights (the car had previously been fitted with RHD lights), minor work to the rear lights, pre-ITV check, the ITV costs, gestor costs, taxes and new number plates. The car was old. Approx value in Spain, 5000 Euros.  There is a Spanish government website that lists the "official" value of used cars in Spain. If I can find it, I will add it to this thread.

One thing I learnt ... I left it a bit late for one of our cars (not the Honda). It took it for step 1 about two weeks before the UK MOT ran out. It took nearly two months to complete step 2. The car had been modified from standard, and it took some time to get the parts to re-standardise it, and the Christmas holidays got in the way. The car failed at step 1, and the failure notice specified that the car could only be driven between my home, my mechanic and the ITV station. So once my UK MOT ran out, the car was grounded.

Thank you. It seems like minefield.

I went through this recently with our (originally French) but imported to the UK LHD Ford that we we wanted to move to Spanish registration. I used a company to handle all of this and it was reasonably painless, especially given we only have a holiday home in Denia and still remained in the UK through the process. Either way, one tip is don't assume there is some magic process that tells the DVLA to remove the car from its UK status once its all done. We ended up doing the notification ourselves with all necessary proof, we were warned that there is probably not a reliable process between Spain and the UK to handle this automatically.

It is expensive but in our experience its worth it to have a car you specifically know the history of.

Could you let me know the garage/gestor you used to register your car in Spain? We want to register our car but have read too many posts about problems!

Many thanks

Sue

Could you let us know which agency you used to register car in Spain? We need to do it but a bit wary because of all the posts saying how complicated it is.

Many thanks

My garage is a long way from Javea, so of no use to you.

These guys are often recommended ...  https://www.spanish-number-plates.com/

As I understand it, Brexit has added additional cost to the import process (from Britain), so the economics might not make sense anymore.

Good luck

this is who we used a while back, looks like they are still in business. Considering we did this all remotely from the UK I'd say it was pretty painless (apart, of course, from the cost!)

https://www.car-registrations-spain.com/

Hi, I usually come to Calpe from uk every couple of months , most of the time hiring is very cheap. Ive just been offered a lhd citroen on brit plates-the cost of  registering looks too £££. If i drove it back to the uk after 179 days, can i legally bring it back to start another 180 days a month later, please ?