ARE YOU LIABLE FOR FINES OWED ON A CAR YOU PURCHASE IN SPAIN?

Hi

I am looking to purchase a car in Spain and have been advised to be careful as if fines are owed on the vehicle when you purchase it you are responsible for them. Doed anyone know if that is true please?

Just the other way round................................our friend sold a car...................and he got 17 tickets for speeding from Spain AND Sweden.................................it took MONTHS and loads of letters BUT eventually it was proven that he did not own the car at the time of the fines.

You would be better to buy from a reputable garage I think, then at least you may have some comeback.

True. Mrs D, employ a gestor to check or, as Karensun, said, buy from a reputable garage (as we did recently). You need to employ someone ideally  (if you buy privately) to transfer documents into your name. Just saves you the worry of all this.

Thank you so much for your answers!

As far as I know, yes, fines stay with the car, so it's imperative whether buying or selling to ensure that the transfer of ownership is properly completed. If selling privately the best way is probably to physically go with the buyer to Trafico to do the transfer. If buying, I think you can check a car out through Trafico first for any outstanding fines, but I've never done it so perhaps someone else can confirm (or deny) this and how to do it.

 Yes, fines are charges on the car, so before buying one,  you can get from the Province Traffic authorities a certificate which will show  to you the  administrative status of the car ( fines,  reservation of right of ownership, embargoes.... .

Same certificate can show to you the number of owners the car has had, date of first  registration...
 

Quite worth it... yes!

MAria

I'm thinking that this is the form to complete to request information on a vehicle?

yes all fines stay with the car not the owner so if you get one with fines you have to pay them is rong i now . the seller should tell you a bout fines on the car they are selling

YES YOU ARE LIABLE FOR ALL FINES, EVEN IF YOU BROUGHT THE CAR OF SOMEONE THAT SOLD IT TO YOU AND HE STILL OWED MONEY ON IT (HP) , SORRY ABOUT THE CAPITALS BUT MY SMALL LETTERS DONT WORK.

stant, expatman, are you following the thread ?   Maria who is a lawyer has said that two posts ago.

stant, if you were the seller & there were debts I somehow doubt you'd be saying so !!!

dont undertand the last post ,

im just stating a fact, if you sell a car with debts on it then the debt is passed on, what part of this do you not understand,

if you are the seller ofcourse you not going to say this, is that not obvious!!!!!!!!

think u need to read again

 This happened to me when I first came to Spain in 95! Our ´wonderful, helpful´next door neighbours sorted a death trap of a car out for us, and only when we went to put it in our names did we find there were outstanding parking tickets and fines which came to more than the cost of buying the car!

In those days no one changed the name of the original owner and the debt stayed with the car, hence if you got stopped for anything, your details got logged against the car ownership and Hacienda would take the money owed from your account!!!!

Nowadays you HAVE to have the car in your name to get the insurance so things are changing but still any debts are transferred to the new owner.

I also got clobbered for debts after someone bought a car from me as they did not re-register the car, this was in 98, and whilst I could prove I was in the UK for a few months over the alleged offence and the car had never been in my name, as i was the last person whose details were attached to the car from a routine stop in 96, I had the equivalent of 85 sterling taken from my bank account by Hacienda just taking the money out with no notice, they deducted that in september 2000 and there was nothing I could do, even though I proved I was not in the country and was working in the UK at that time!

Their excuse was I was the last registered person - I had never even owned the car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rant over GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Under the General Regulations of vehicles RD 2822/18/1998 (ss. 32 and 33) it is compulsory to register the new ownership of a vehicle within a term of 10 days.

When a vehicle is sold, the liability of the new owner (for traffic fines, tickets, of the former owner, the seller) can be discharged when section 32 or 33 of the mentioned statute is complied with. The former owner or seller notifies Trafico that the vehicle has been sold to the new owner (buyer). This notification is know as Cambio de titularidad CT. Once the CT has been accepted Trafico will update the registration database to reflect the change of ownership.

It should be noted that even though a CT has been submitted and the registration database managed by Trafico is updated to reflect the new owner (buyer); former notices of fines may still be sent to the new or fomer owner.

The above is not applied to tax or other charges in the vehicle different than tickets

Nowadays you HAVE to have the car in your name to get the insurance so things are changing but still any debts are transferred to the new owner.

Well, I'veinsured a LandRover Discovery I bought on Spanish plates from a UK company  and the wretched vehicle's ownership hasn't been transferred yet in spite of the former owner's willingness to do so -she is back in the UK. I would like to get this sorted out but don't know how to go about it.

I also insured this month  a UK plated car via Ibex and the car is registered to my son.

 Then you are doing well. Linea Directa wont do it as i tried with them on a car I bought, and a friend of mine insured a car (I was with him at the time) and they asked him to drop back the registration once it was in his name - a note was made on file

One rulle, many different interpretations!!!