Importing a German car to Spain.

I am looking into buying a car in Germany and driving it to Spain and registering it on Spanish plates. I am not sure about all of the ins and outs of this though. I did hear that the car could be bought tax free in Germany, with the tax paid to Spain instead. Is this correct ? Also, how much does it cost to register a car on Spanish plates ?

If you look on any of the dealer sites selling German cars you will see that none of them have number plates. This is because the number , basically goes with the owner or is given up for re-issue.I once re-registered a German van & the owner had to have the plates back to return them to Germany. If you wish to buy a car in Germany from a dealer once you have agreed to buy it you will need insurance ,which a Spanish company will give on the chassis number alone. The dealer will then go with you to the vehicle reg. office where you will be issued with export number plates that have a validity of 3 or 4 days enabling you to drive the car back to Spain for re-registering. re; the tax I don't know but would think it was possible. The only reason I know the above is that I looked @ this option last year as they are much cheaper in Germany & I have a brother who has lived their for 30 years & was able to give me all the info. In the end I decided it wasn't worth the aggro. you can also purchase & have the car transported which would take out the aggro of needing export plates & ins. There are also companies who specialise in this as well inc. re-registreing it here in Spain.

Any time I have re-registered ,I just take it to the ITV station ,with its country of origin reg. docs. & tell them I wish to change to Spanish plates. They test it & issue you with a reg. doc. but it does not have a reg no. Go to your local council , fill in form & pay road tax on chassis no. take all paperwork , plus copies of everything,to the Hacienda, they'll tell you how much import tax is due ( based on Spanish gov. published used car values. ), pay the tax @ the bank in the Hacienda, back to the counter to get your payment forms stamped then to the local 'El Trafico' . Fill in forms for re-reg. hand it all in , go back the next day & pick up the reg. doc with a number on . Cost 200€ for ITV+registration,few cents for the various forms (you have to buy them !) cost of road tax @ your local council (depends on H.P & varies from region to region & council to council. ) Import duty & numbr plates.

Less stressful is to get a gestoria to do it for about 500€'s & you can do it all, inc. paying the import tax in his office.

I think "tax free" must refer to IVA / VAT or whatever the equivalent is in Germany? I imagine you can only buy a new car, or a second hand one registered to a VAT registered company, without paying VAT in Germany, and then pay the relevant IVA on importing it to Spain.

Registration "tax", on the other hand, will be applicable to any car being brought into Spain and registered here for the first time (unless you have owned it for more than 6 months already and are not already a resident). This tax, or fee, is now based on CO2 emissions rather than engine size or power, and the value of the car (according to Spanish authorities, not what you paid for it!) If it's a high value gas guzzler, it could be quite expensive. I think this probably has a lot to do with the fact that new high end models are much cheaper in the UK than Spain now, whereas on small cars the difference is negligible.

Thanks for the replies - lots of useful information there.

I somehow thought there might be a lot of paperwork involved. Could the tax or fee levied on the imported car, based on CO2 emissions, be worked out prior to importing so that the "total cost" could be seen upfront, thereby avoiding a nasty shock further down the line ?

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: best to get a gestor to check for you, because I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the info I'm about to post and would not like to mislead or give false info.

You can check the official value of your chosen model here.

Apply a depreciation value based on the vehicle's age. Use Annex IV here.

Apply tax according to this scale:

CO2 emission of less than 120g/Km = 0% of the vehicle value

CO2 emission of between 120-160 g/Km = 4.75% of the vehicle value

CO2 emission of between 160-200g/Km = 9.75% of the vehicle value

CO2 emission of more than 200g/Km = 14.75% of the vehicle value

This last part in particular I'm not 100% certain of, since I can't remember where I got it from! But as you can see, if you have a relatively new, expensive car with high emissions, you could be landed with a hefty bill. On the other hand, if it's an old Prius, it will probably cost you nothing (except your self respect!)

I repeat, this is very unofficial - I haven't done this myself and don't know if I've got it all correct or up to date, so please check with other sources before doing anything.

Many thanks.

The official used values based on % depreciation and age are actually pretty fair. I was half expecting them to be grossly inflated meaning having to pay a larger amount. Of course, the car in question produces over 300 g/km CO2, but at least it is not treated any differently to a 200 g/km car.

Spanish used car prices for more up market cars do appear to be coming dowm a little. Germany is still cheaper though (even factoring in all the import costs) and there is a much wider choice available.

Much better maintained, too.

I have a friend who is moving from the Uk to Spain in October and he will then register as a resident when he arrives.

He owns a  LHD BMW X5 that is registered in his name and has been for over 6 months. Value would be around 18,000 euros. The car was previously registered in Italy.

Does anyone know the likely cost of importing this car in these circumstances please?

Your friend can avoiid paying the import tax(matriculacion tax) if he goes to the British Consulate and obtains a Baja Consular certificate which verifies he is a resident in Spain.  He will need to produce his certificate from his nearest Policia de Extranjeros and a Empadronamiento from his local Ayuntamiento.  The whole process will cost approx 600 - 800 euros.  He can make a further saving ifhe can produce the conformity certificate.  Ifthe car was manufactured in Germany he should have this amongst his paperwork.

Hi,

I am looking into importing a LHD car from the UK. I am a tax resident in Spain, can I avoid the import tax?

Cheers.

Mike

I know this is an older post, but I have a good resource when it comes to registering a car in Spain (and have done it before). A-1 Auto Transport has a guide to the process and everything involved. It's one of the better things I was able to find online when I was going through the process myself. There's some good resources too and I would use them. The laws and costs change from time to time and that's one of the more important things to know going in.