Spain Money Saving Tips and Offers

Amazon offer FREE Super Saver Delivery to Spain on orders over £25.  They've been offering this for a few years now and I've taken advantage several times.  Whenever I've ordered, delivery has teneded to take around 4-5 days, which is pretty good.

Given that Amazon sell pretty much everything these days, why bother taking a risk using Spanish online shopping sites with their inevitably poor customer service.  With amazon, you know that if you have a problem, they will sort it out with a minimum of hassle. 

I recently had a problem with a Kindle that I bought from Amazon and had delivered to the UK.  I contacted them and they told me to send it registered post from Spain and they would refund the postage.  All I had to do was email them proof of the postage cost.  I got a new Kindle sent out to Spain and my postage refunded within days.  Try getting that sort of customer service in Spain!

Here are the terms and conditions from Amazon.co.uk regarding the free delivery to Spain:

Gift Certificates are not eligible.

Some items may be ineligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery due to size or weight.

 Eligible items are those purchased directly from Amazon.co.uk, or from the Amazon.co.uk Marketplace where marked "Fulfilled by Amazon", excluding gift certificates and certain electrical items (where this is stated on the item's product information page).
If your order qualifies for FREE Super Saver Delivery, you will still be charged a delivery fee for any ineligible items in the order. If your order contains items that are labelled as Fulfilled by Amazon, those items themselves will need to total £25 or more to qualify for FREE Super Saver Delivery.

Marks and Spencer will deliver to Spain for only €4.95 and delivery takes 4-6 days.  Unfortunately they will not deliver to the Canary Isles, Ceuta and Melilla, presumably due to VAT/duty issues in these places.  You can order online, over the telephone or at participating M&S stores.

More information here.

Primark in Spain are selling bottles of factor 50 suntan lotion for only €3.50.  The label says it's for kids but I don't see why adults couldn't use it.  This is by far the cheapest sun cream I've seen in Spain.  Similar SPF 50 suntan lotion is usually at least double this price.  I picked up a few bottles on a recent trip to Primark in Algeciras. I should have bought more really, to last the whole summer.

Road tax in Spain is extremely cheap, especially compared to countried such as the United Kingdom.  I know there are quite a few toll roads in Spain, which partly explains the lower road tax costs but it still seems way too cheap.

I got my car and scooter road tax bills in the post last week.  Thex tax for a Seat Ibiza 1.4 diesel comes to €35,78 and for my 125 cc scooter, a grand total of €4.64.  These prices have barely risen in the 4 years I've had the car and scooter.  When we are in times of so called austerity like this, I really wouldn't mind paying say 100 euros for the car and 50 euros for th bike per year.  It seems like the government is missing a trick here...  Although the Guardia Civil are quite good at taking money off motorists :-)

Traders must now ensure surcharges do not exceed the genuine costs involved in processing transactions.  The move comes after protests at the large surcharges often added to airline bookings and also to the price of rail tickets, cinema trips and hotel stays.

The Office of Fair Trading said consumers spent around £300million on payment surcharges in the airline sector alone in 2010.

Introducing the ban, Consumer Minister Jo Swinson said many add-on fees “simply do not reflect the real cost”.

Source: The Express

Olive oil prices to rocket as Spanish drought cuts harvest by 62%.  Spanish olive production is in “crisis” after suffering a drought that has cut yields by 62% and is set to push up the global price of olive oil.

http://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Ingredients/Olive-oil-prices-to-rocket-as-Spanish-drought-cuts-harvest-by-62

Holidaymakers heading for Spain are being warned that hospitals and clinics are increasingly paying inducements and sweeteners to trap tourists with big bills for treatment.

Tour operators, taxi drivers and even the police are offered backhanders for directing tourists to cash-strapped hospitals, according to insurers.

These hospitals will refuse to accept European Health Insurance, or EHIC, cards, which provide treatment for free, leaving older travellers and those with pre-existing medical conditions particularly vulnerable. Instead, they are presented with hefty bills for their care.

So acute has the problem become that the European Commission has warned Spain that it could take formal legal action, known as an "infringement procedure", after receiving complaints from various EU nationals about the refusal of EHIC cards.

Many young travellers also rely on the cards for part or all of their medical needs abroad. In total, around 24 million UK residents hold a current EHIC card, according to the Department of Health.

Read the full article at the Telegraph

According to estimates from the Ministry of Development, which compiles statistics on house prices in Spain, the average price per square metre in Spain was 1,531 euros at the end of 2012.  This represents a fall of 10% compared to the previous year.  The Government department estimates that these figures are a return to levels last recorded back in the second quarter of 2004.

At the current rate of decline, which appears to be accelerating, we may be back to pre-euro prices in a couple of years...

Finally some good news for consumers in Spain.  Electricity bills will fall by 6.7% in April after a sharp fall in the price of electricity in wholesale markets.  There have been some big increases in electricity prices in Spain in recent years, so it's nice to see the prices going in the other direction for a change.

Now let's see what can be done about the sky high petrol and diesel prices in Spain...

I recently discovered that most shops in Spain will gift wrap presents for you for free, which is great for those of us that hate wrapping presents!  You will obviously have to have bought the goods from the shop and not turn up with something from another store.  This is particularly useful at Christmas time when people often have a large number of presents to wrap.

Last Christmas, we bought some presents at El Corte Ingles and they had a special counter to go and get items gift wrapped. All we had to do was show our receipts as proof of purchase and a couple of minutes later, everything was beautifully wrapped.

All you need to ask in Spanish is "Puede envolverlo por favor?"