buying a car in spain

Compare Spanish prices with those for the same make and model in Italy, Germany, and France (and most probably you'll never buy a car in Spain). At this time I am about to buy a Ford Kuga autom. with all the extras (nav., park assist, autom. speet limit etc). In Spain +/- 32K, in Germany 24 K. A few years go I bought a Passat 2.0 TDI for 18K in Germana, price in Spain for the very same vehicle 31 K. I'm talking about new cars.   https://www.autoscout24.com/?genlnk=navi&genlnkorigin=de-all-all-home

Since you mention tow bar I'll tell you of my experience this week.

I took the car up for its ITV and they said the tow bar had to come off, this despite the fact it had a label saying it was Type Approved and it had an e11 number on it.

Type approval means that it has been designed, manufactured and tested to accepted Standards and thus should be useable anywhere in Europe.  Otherwise what is the point of having EU Standards and homologation etc etc.?

The Spanish, however, have their own ideas. They wanted the certification for the tow bar. I never got any and have no idea what it would contain anyway.   It has been on the car for 20 years and MAY have had a Declaration of Conformity which will be long gone.  Do we even get certification for a tow bar in the UK?

They will only accept a tow bar on a car if it was fitted from new, so in effect they are saying all after market tow bars will have to be removed for the ITV. Not good news for Towsure or Witter.

I got really annoyed asking why Spain does not accept EU certified kit, but it was like arguing with a brick wall. They have the rules but absolutely NO idea about EU legislation or certification.

So I have taken it off and go for retest tomorrow.

You have just confirmed what someone stated on this forum couple of years ago .the UK does everything the EU orders it to SPAIN does what it likes when it likes just lets the EU thinks it’s doing what it’s told fair play to them.

I used to work for British Standards harmonising Standards. We always changed everything. The Spanish continued to do what they have always done. So no change then