One-way travel to Spain, with pet, from UK - best option?

Posted: Wed Nov 2, 2022 1:39pm

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Hola folks, hoping to avail myself of your collective wisdom on the subject of the practicalities of travel to Spain to begin our new life, which will be happening at the beginning of next month now that our house sale in the UK is going through. We have jobs lined up in Spain with my current employer in the UK, and we're going out to Spain next week for an appointment to get our NIE numbers.

We need one-way travel to Spain for myself, my partner and our dog from the Isle of Wight to Alicante region. What strikes me as the most straightforward option is to take our car and just do a one-way trip. The car is mechanically sound but is an 08 plate so doesn't really have significant resale value, and is probably worth less than the cost of changing over to Spanish plates etc. We plan to buy a Spanish-registered car soon after we arrive and have obtained the documents necessary to do so. Would it be viable to trade in a UK-registered car, sell to someone who needs a vehicle for a one-way trip in the other direction, or, failing that, to have it scrapped?

Other options would be to obtain an LHD car that has been registered in Spain from a dealer in the UK - there are dealers who specialise in these - or to sell the car in the UK and send the dog via a pet courier and either accompany the dog with the pet courier or to fly out ourselves and meet the dog at the other end.
Muchas gracias for your advice...
Steven.

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Posted: Wed Nov 2, 2022 5:21pm

Swimmer57

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Posted: Wed Nov 2, 2022 5:21pm

We scrapped our old UK car here and it was very straightforward........we even got €50 for it. We had offered it as a freebie on this forum to anyone wanting to go back to the UK, but got no takers.

You mention necessary documents to buy a Spanish car- presumably you know that you can only drive for 6 months on your UK licence, and can't swop it for a Spanish one currently? Benefits of Brexit.......

Posted: Wed Nov 2, 2022 7:42pm

StefMcDef

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Location: Onil

Joined: 17 Jul 2022

Posted: Wed Nov 2, 2022 7:42pm

Swimmer57 wrote on Wed Nov 2, 2022 5:21pm:
We scrapped our old UK car here and it was very straightforward........we even got €50 for it. We had offered it as a freebie on this forum to anyone wanting to go back to the UK, but got no takers.
You mention necessary documents to buy a Spanish car- presumably you know that you can only drive for 6 months on your UK licence, and can't swop it for a Spanish one currently? Benefits of Brexit..........

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...

Hi Swimmer, thanks for your reply. I'm aware of the Brexit "benefit" of only having six months before you have to change your licence over to a Spanish one but I'm hoping that by the time the six months elapses, the reciprocal arrangement the UK and Spain have been wrangling over since April will have been resolved.

Good to hear that it's straightforward to scrap the UK-registered car. I'm also looking into acquiring a Spanish-registered LHD car in the UK.

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Posted: Wed Nov 2, 2022 9:12pm

Swimmer57

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Posted: Wed Nov 2, 2022 9:12pm

StefMcDef wrote on Wed Nov 2, 2022 7:42pm:
Hi Swimmer, thanks for your reply. I'm aware of the Brexit "benefit" of only having six months before you have to change your licence over to a Spanish one but I'm hoping that by the time the six months elapses, the reciprocal arrangement the UK and Spain have been wrangling over since April will...

Read more...

... have been resolved.
Good to hear that it's straightforward to scrap the UK-registered car. I'm also looking into acquiring a Spanish-registered LHD car in the UK.

Hiya again, Steven, good luck!

To be on the safe side, I'd advise you to have a Plan B in place in case the licence agreement fails to materialise........it was supposed to definitely happen at the end of July haha. We are cycling everywhere, and using the trains meantime.

Swimmer

Posted: Wed Nov 2, 2022 9:25pm

StefMcDef

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Location: Onil

Joined: 17 Jul 2022

Posted: Wed Nov 2, 2022 9:25pm

Swimmer57 wrote on Wed Nov 2, 2022 9:12pm:
Hiya again, Steven, good luck!
To be on the safe side, I'd advise you to have a Plan B in place in case the licence agreement fails to materialise........it was supposed to definitely happen at the end of July haha. We are cycling everywhere, and using the trains meantime.

Read more...

Swimmer

Yes, I usually do cycle everywhere for short local journeys and I'm looking forward to the weather in the Costa Blanca region being more conducive to that than it is in the UK. Still need a car though because I'll have a whole new country to explore in the meantime!

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Posted: Thu Nov 3, 2022 5:31pm

Kimmy11

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Posted: Thu Nov 3, 2022 5:31pm

H Steven,

Friends of ours bought a 20 year old, LHD Honda CRV in the UK and brought it over to Spain - it cost them around €1,400 to import it (customs duty and fees) post-Brexit, so I would suggest getting an idea of the import costs before committing to buying a LHD vehicle in the UK. I believe you can significantly reduce the import costs if you re-register it in Spain within 3 months, as part of importing your "goods and chattels" - I'd recommend emailing Leigh at Spanish Number Plates for advice:

https://www.spanish-number-plates.com/

If you want to explore the pet transport option, you could try this company:

http://www.petsforpets.eu/pet-carriers.html

I've seen their van driving around the area, but I haven't used them. Hopefully, someone can give you a personal recommendation.

Kind regards,

Kim