Registering a car in Spain

I know there have been postings about this subject before but this is my experience.  Because I live in Spain, but work in Gibraltar, I was advised to register my car in Spain to avoid having the car impounded, and recieving a fine,  by over zealous jobsworths on either side of the frontier.  So, I asked my solicitor of he could help me and he put me in touch with a company  who could deal with it.  They quoted me €1200 for the pleasure of importing my own car, which I've had from new, so that I can get back and forward to work and have already paid VAT on to the spongers in the UK.   My solicitor said he would come with me to the ITV test centre as his car needed a test also, and he would be able to help me with communications.  The registration company had not given him the original car documents back so the ITV centre wouldn't let us proceed.  We made a new appointment for 2 days later to do all again but with the original paperwork.   On that day it was put through it's test, AND FAILED!  The reason was due to the fact that they insisted I had to replace the headlights which shine on the opposite (set for the UK) side of the road.  This despite the lady assuring me at the registration company that the lights wouldn't be a problem, and the deflectors would be okay.  I can accept this but, because of the test, I bought 2 new tyres for the front wheels at a cost of £144.  I have had the same size tyres on the car (Toyota Celica) from the moment I drove it out of the showroom (205's).  They also failed it saying that I had the wrong tyres for the make of car, despite being shown the car handbook which states that the tyres can be 195's or 205's (16").  I went to the Toyota dealership in Estapona and they said that there is nothing I can do because the software at the ITV centre says that 195's are the only tyre for the car and the jobsworth's won't budge on their decision.  So I now have 2 brand new tyres I have got to discard and I have got to spend over £200 on 4 tyres that I don't need anywhere except Spain.  Does it ever get better?

The €1200 quoted is based on the make/model and age of the car, plus, presumably, the company's fee for doing the paperwork. It's not an import tax, rather a matricualtion, or registration, fee, which is the same as is charged on all new cars sold in Spain. Scandalous, yes, since if you ever decide to take it back to the UK, it will cost you, I think, £35 to re-register it there. But that's Spain. Depending on the car, I think it varies - either 7 or 12% of the "book" value. That's where problems can arise, because the "book", or as you say, the software, doesn't include every possible make & model combination. This is probably because different models & specifications are sold in different countries, and the software only covers models & specs that were sold as new in Spain. Ridiculous, since this is the criteria they use for imports, which are highly likely to have been sold outside Spain originally - der!

The thing about the headlights, I think you were just given duff info. They must dip to the right to be legal here, and stick on deflectors are not acceptable. Some cars apparently have a switch behind the headlamp unit so you can change from one to the other side, but otherwise, this ends up being one of the more costly aspects of importing a car from the UK, as sealed modern headlamp units can be very pricey. As for the tyres, I sympathise. The only time I imported a car was over 10 years ago, and because they couldn't find the exact spec in their book, they used the nearest available. The result was my petrol Landcruiser was registered in Spain as being a diesel, but that didn't seem to bother anyone, not even the ITV people! Perhaps since then, things have gotten stricter as the jobsworths have taken over.

Last year I moved my LHD UK registered Freelander (6 years old now) to Spanish plates. Used a guy from an advert in SUR.

Cost was 900 euros all inclusive, for that he met me at ITV Estepona and took car thru (failed on headlights, but I got them changed), arranged all paperwork, logbook and new plates. The special ITV was 100 alone inc. in his fee.

The problem is, the value used to work out the registration tax is based purely on the make & model, and a depreciation figure based on the age of the car. No account is taken of mileage or condition etc., let alone actual market values. Pretty unfair, but then.........you know it......This Is Spain!

Hope you can find a buyer for the surplus tyres. Try the classified thread on EOS? Good luck.

HI ALL.

I HAVE A (LEFT HAND DRIVE) CITREON BERLINGO 19OOCC (1997 P REG)... AND I WILL BE DRIVING  IT TO SPAIN IN NOV,

AND WILL NEED TO CHANGE IT TO SPAINSH PLATES AND GET IT ITV....(HOW MUCH DOSE THIS COST).. AFTER READING ABOUT THE TYRE'S ON HERE.. WOULD IT BE ADVISABLE TO GET THEM DONE HERE IN THE (UK) OR WAIT TILL I GET THE (ITV) DONE?...

ROB

Had a result!  On Monday I went back to the ITV centre in Estepona, suitably armed with the Manufacturer's handbook, a print-out from the Toyota dealer in Gibraltar that proved the tyres were the correct size for the model, and all my old invoices for tyres since I bought the car.  I found a nice young lady at the centre, who spoke some English, and she read all the information I had brought.  She then showed them to her bosses who also agreed that the tyres I had on the car were correct and that the information they had was wrong.  But, guess what, it wasn't their fault it was the fault of the company I had paid €1200s to for the registration and import duty.  They had filled out the sheet that was given to the ITV centre with the specifications on incorrectly.  So, I went straight to my solicitor who told them to re-do the paperwork and amend the specification details for the tyres.  I still have to wait 3 weeks for the new headlights to arrive, but then hopefully I will get it through it's ITV test and be one headache less.  Sometimes it pays to be stubborn.  If I had just accepted this I would be £432 out of pocket for the 2 tyres I had just bought and the 4 other tyres they were saying I had to replace them with.

Well done, orda, nice to hear a success story for a change.

Just goes to show that persistence (and shed loads of patience) can pay off.

bobby50, sorry, can't help with your question. There is a list of cars and values for the purpose of registration taxes, available on the Agencia Tributaria website, but the Berlingo is not listed. Could be because it's classed as a van rather than a car? Don't know what the score is there. There's another thread about importing a car based van, but I don't think there's any conclusion as to what the situation is. Only suggestion I can offer is that you try a specialist company, or a gestor, like orda did. Just check all their paperwork before they submit it!

HI ROBERTO

THANKS FOR YOUR INFO....BUT I WONDER IF IT COMES UNDER (CITREON BERLINGO MULTI SPACE)...

SOUNDS LIKE ITS GOING TO BE FUN WHEN I TRY TO GET IT (ITV).....LIKE SORTING OUT WHAT TYRES ARE THE RIGHT ONES TO HAVE ON IT.....

ANYWAY THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP

ROB...

Nothing under Berlingo at all. Sorry about the rather long link, but look here, and click on "vehiculos de turismo"

Click here

Edit: Hey, that's clever! The link was 5 miles long, but somehow it became "click here"!

Hi Roberto,

What do the values shown on the website represent ?        Are these the average new price of the vehicle ?

Is there a site that gives van values, or are these treated differently ?

Jon

As far as I know these are the average new price. To this, a depreciation value is applied depending on the age of the car. I can't tell you the source of the following info (classified!) so I cannot vouch for it's accuracy, but I'm reasonably confident

Hasta 1 año …….…..…..….….....................…. 100
Más de 1 año, hasta 2 …….....…….............… 84
Más de 2 años, hasta 3 …….....…..............…. 67
Más de 3 años, hasta 4 …….....…..............…. 56
Más de 4 años, hasta 5 …….....…..............…. 47
Más de 5 años, hasta 6 …….....…..............…. 39
Más de 6 años, hasta 7 …….....…..............…. 34
Más de 7 años, hasta 8 …….....…..............…. 28
Más de 8 años, hasta 9 …….....…..............…. 24
Más de 9 años, hasta 10 …….....…..............… 19
Más de 10 años, hasta 11 ….…......…..........… 17
Más de 11 años, hasta 12 ….…......…..........… 13
Más de 12 años .......................................… 10

When you have worked out the current value you apply either 7% if the engine is less than 1600cc (petrol) or less than 2000cc (diesel). If it is not in these categories the charge is 12%.

Based on this, if your Berlingo was worth about €20,000 new, and is 10-11 years old, the depreciated value would be 17%, i.e. €3,400, and your tax would therefore be 7% (less than 2000cc diesel) which would be €238. Well worth bringing it in that case, but please don't quote me on this!

Hope this helps, but as to why the Berlingo is not listed, I have no idea. You may need to seek the help of a professional.