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Taxes Etc associated registering UK car for people moving over permanently

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 1:03pm
11 replies225 views5 members subscribed
cocoloco

Posts: 11

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Joined: 29 Jul 2019

Hola,

We are moving over to Costa Blanca soon and would like to purchase a newish car in the UK and bring it over with us to re-register it in Spain. 

We understand the costs of about euro £1200-1300 to get it ligalised in Spian, BUT also read about the spanish government imposing VAT and CO2 tax on imported cars.

As people who are relocating to Spain and taking the car as "personal effect" do we still have to pay these taxes, that can be rather high?

Any advice woud be greatly appreciated.

Herefordjack

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 3:43pm

Herefordjack

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Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 3:43pm

My advice is, don't do it. Why go through all that hassle when you'll have enough to sort out with all the other things you need to do? Any savings will be wiped out by the extra costs and taxes and, unless you're planning to buy a LHD vehicle, you'll be bringing over a car which will be more difficult to drive and is potentially dangerous.

Buy a car in Spain and give your new country the benefit. And where are you going to take it back to if you get problems?

Rob60

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:06pm

Rob60

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Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:06pm

We used car-registrations-spain.com and total cost incl taxes, paperwork, changes to lights, ITV etc was 1200 € for a 5 year old 1.6l mini. I can highly recommend you get in touch and they will answer all your questions. Excellent service.

We have no issues at all using our rhd mini in Spain, although it can be a bit awkward at the local shopping centre car park if either of us go on our own. That's it though.

tebo53

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:19pm

tebo53

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Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:19pm

When I used to drive over to Spain in our UK car I was OK driving on the roads, although not ideal but when I was on my own in the car and went through to a car park I had to get out each time to put money in to raise the barrier, same thing at any toll stations again having to get out to pay at the toll booth or money into the machine.

I personally would not bring a UK car here because of all the hassle and being rhd. So easy to purchase a car here ready made for these roads.

Steve 

cocoloco

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:19pm

cocoloco

Original Poster

Posts: 11

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Joined: 29 Jul 2019

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:19pm

Herefordjack wrote on Tue Aug 9, 2022 3:43pm:

My advice is, don't do it. Why go through all that hassle when you'll have enough to sort out with all the other things you need to do? Any savings will be wiped out by the extra costs and taxes and, unless you're planning to buy a LHD vehicle, you'll be bringing over a car which will be more dif...

...ficult to drive and is potentially dangerous.

Buy a car in Spain and give your new country the benefit. And where are you going to take it back to if you get problems?

Thank you for your reply.

For simply putting it, the costs of cars in Spain are simply make it unaffordable for us. We have 2 x 13 years cars in the UK  atm that we don't trust to do the journey over to Spain from NI. We have researced the car prices both in person and online last time we visited and worked out taht even if we pay euro 1200 to re-register the car we are still saving over euro 6000 on a simular car.

We are lucky enough to have EU passports and having an appartment already so not that worry about the stress of it all.

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Rob60

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:23pm

Rob60

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Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:23pm

I forgot to add... the reason we imported our car was because we've had it from new and we couldn't purchase a similar quality second hand car in Spain for what we could get for it if we sold it in the UK, even with the 1200 € import fees. Residual values on second hand cars in Spain are very high.

cocoloco

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:25pm

cocoloco

Original Poster

Posts: 11

1 helpful points

Joined: 29 Jul 2019

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:25pm

Rob60 wrote on Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:06pm:

We used car-registrations-spain.com and total cost incl taxes, paperwork, changes to lights, ITV etc was 1200 € for a 5 year old 1.6l mini. I can highly recommend you get in touch and they will answer all your questions. Excellent service.

We have no issues at all using our rhd mini in Spain, although it can be a bit awkward at the local shopping centre car park if either of us go on our own. That's it though....

...

Thank you for the recommendation, will get in touch woth them about possible Spanish taxes.

There should be no VAT if we move over permanently and bring the car as our personal car- the timings have to be right, but should be a big savings.  Also belive, if the car's co2 level  is under 120g/km than wont have to pay CO2 tax when registering or road tax in the future- fingers crossed.

Anybody has any experience about this? TIA

Herefordjack

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:41pm

Herefordjack

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Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:41pm

cocoloco wrote on Tue Aug 9, 2022 4:19pm:

Thank you for your reply.

For simply putting it, the costs of cars in Spain are simply make it unaffordable for us. We have 2 x 13 years cars in the UK  atm that we don't trust to do the journey over to Spain from NI. We have researced the car prices both in person and online last time we visited and worked out ...

...taht even if we pay euro 1200 to re-register the car we are still saving over euro 6000 on a simular car.

We are lucky enough to have EU passports and having an appartment already so not that worry about the stress of it all.

Ok, I understand your reasons. I would still advise buying a LHD car. I understand there are several dealers in the UK who specialise.

Darro

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 6:36pm

Darro

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Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 6:36pm

You have to have owned and used a car for at least 6 months in order for it to be considered a personal import.

Totally bonkers idea if you want my frank opinion!

Short term it might seem appealing but in the longer term you'll almost certainly lose out.

Rob60

Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 7:29pm

Rob60

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Posted: Tue Aug 9, 2022 7:29pm

Darro wrote on Tue Aug 9, 2022 6:36pm:

You have to have owned and used a car for at least 6 months in order for it to be considered a personal import.

Totally bonkers idea if you want my frank opinion!

Short term it might seem appealing but in the longer term you'll almost certainly lose out.

Myself and thousands of others who have imported their UK vehicles to Spain would disagree with it being a 'bonkers' idea. Ours has been with us in Spain for over 12 months and we don't regret our decision at all.

Just wondering what you base your opinion on. Did you import a UK car and didn't enjoy the experience of driving it here?

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