I have bought a LHD Spanish Registered Car in the UK is it really that difficult to transfer into my name

I have read so many information sites and am beginning to think we have done something we may regret - having purchased our Spanish registered car in the UK from a dealer we have driven down to the home we own in Spain (only used for holidays) - and we now need to transfer it into our name - we have NIE numbers and we have a copy of the persons passport that sold the car to the dealer

Has anyone else done the same and is it as hard as it is appearing to be from what we have read

It worked very well for us.

I got the car insured in Spain whilst we were still in the UK, this ment that driving the car for our last week in the UK and down to the ferry at Portsmouth I was only covered 'third party', when we arrived in Spain it was fully comprehensive.

This is what you need, should have.

1/ Tajeta Tecnica De Vehiculos - Technical Card
2/ Permissio De Circulacion - Log Book
3/ Previous Owners Passport - Copy
4/ Previous Owners NI Number - Copy
5/ Comprador (Sale Contract) Signed By the Vendorer (Previous Owner)
6/ Traffico Report showing no Fines/Accidents or Embargo’s  - This is called a Infome and can be purchased on line here http://www.informes-trafico.es/index.php or though Traffico in Spain or local administrator (Gestoria) - this is equivilent to a HPI check in the uk, A MUST HAVE - many Spanish cars that end up back in the UK have debt on them still and this goes with the car and not with owner.

Items 1-5 you will need to transfer the car - item 6 the Informe is your choice but better to know that there are no embargos on the car before you start the process

When we got to Spain I just gave all the paperwork to a Gestoria and let them do the transfer, I think they only charged 80€ plus of cause taxes and fees.

Good Luck

Hi

If you nip in to your nearest Gestoria office they should let you have a Comprador ask them to show you the box where the previous owner should sign if it's not clear to you, I think you can also pick them up from the Post Office but not 100% sure.

Just a thought, but may be worth checking out.

I be may be completely wrong, but I have in the back of my memory that one cannot legally sell/buy a Spanish Reg vehicle outside Spain. I can't find anything on the internet though.

Wouldn't say completely wrong John, but i know for a fact that you can buy a Spanish reg car legally in the UK, I have done on plenty of occasions, if they went back i don't know, French reg one's as well and they went back to France, Southern Ireland are okay but can be hassle.

 Why not!

Tina

                    It's legal to buy in UK that we have checked

Hope you are right and that you checked with Trafico, as anyone else could be suspect.

For no 5 , factura, if you haven't got one just make your own.

lay it out as ;

VEHICULO                                                               VEHICLE

Marca                                                                         Make

Modelo                                                                      Model

Numero de Matriculación                                     Reg. number

Bastidor                                                                    chassis number

ITV : Si/No                                                                  MOT until whatever date

Impuesto de tracción mecanica: si/no                  Road tax paid up to date

VENDEDOR                                                                 Seller

Nombre                                                                        Name

Dirección                                                                    address

Numero de NIE                                                        NIE number

Precio                                                                         purchase price

Firma y fecha                                                             sign & date

COMPRADOR                                                           buyer

Nombre

Dirección

Numero de NIE

Firma y Fecha

OBSERVACIONES.

In here would go how it is being sold  I.e. If it has no itv & is being sold as spares/repair

Normally when sold with itv& current,paid, road tax all that would be here is ;

Vehículo vendido como vista y sin garantía                                                                       Sold as seen & without gaurantee

If you are asking the buyer to pay all transfer costs then add this

El comprador para pagar el  coste de transferencia de vehículo.                           Buyer to pay transfer costs.

If you are asking the buyer to pay this years road tax then add this in here;

El comprador para pagar el  Impuesto vehiculos traccion mecanica de 2013

well worth using this forum - BIG thanks for that

We now have our report and all good - getting somewhere

By the way our solicitor is Spain confirmed in writing that it is perfectly legal to purchase a Spanish registered car in the UK and return to Spain with it

Hi everyone, 

You may not be able to help, but have tried googleing so many things and can´t find a thing at all. We brought our Spanish car to the UK, because we used to live in Guernsey and there was no trouble to insurance it over there. But when we arrived to England, we realized that the insurence companies over here are far to expensive, if they actually insure the car. We are now thinking of selling the car, but we don´t know where to do it, or if anyone knows of any insurance companies that do what we need for a reasonable price, would be much appreciate it as well.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Vanessa and Luis 

Vanessa and Luis, If you are domiciled in the UK you can't drive a foreign plated car. Obviously if you are only visiting you can drive it for up to 6 months. I am assuming that you have transferred your car on to UK plates and need insurance for a LHD car? If so, it's is probabaly best to consult an insurance broker, who would know the companies to approach.

With a constant stream of people coming and going the UK has quite a buoyant second hand market for Spanish registered cars, you can either go to a dealer or sell privately. In the main, private buyers and sellers use either ebay or Gumtree

There would be a number of dealers prepared to buy your car (google them) but I suspect they will offer you far less than you are expecting.

Did you de register the car in Spain with Trafico? (Baja) Unfortunantley most people don't which means that the road tax is accuring all the time in Spain

I was looking on the Autotrader site for a BMW X3 and spotted one that was circa £5K under list, when the euforia wore off I noticed that it was a left hooker and could only be exported, any idea what the latter was all about? 

Hep

Most probably not made for the European market from the manufacturer, So no COC (and no hope of getting one) or EU harmonisation re VAT etc. You find a lot of these vehicles offered for sale out side the EU were made for the Chinese, Russian or Middle East markets.

GB45: You are not quite correct in stating that a U.K. resident can't drive a foreign plated car as one can. What you are not allowed to do is OWN a foreign plated car that is used on the U.K. roads. Also there is the 6 month rule which states that a foreign plated car (irrespective of ownership) is only allowed in the U.K. for 6 months in any period of 12 months. It is important that if you are using a foreign plated car you should carry proof of when the vehicle entered the U.K. and also when it is leaving the U.K.

Sorry Steone, you are quite right. It was my bad wording, I should have said OWN not DRIVE.