Importing LHD car

We are moving to Mallorca next August, we have already bought a LHD car here in the UK as we intend to drive over, and I believe once we arrive in Spain we are only allowed to drive our vehicle in Spain for six months before we have to register the car in Spain.....is this a straight forward process?? we would appreciate any advice on this subject.

Thanks,

Harrieman.

I believe that if you are going to live in Spain full time then you have 30 days to register your vehicle etc and if done within this time no import fees are due. Otherwise 6 months is the maximum time you can have a foreign registered vehicle. I'm sure if I'm wrong I will be rapidly corrected.

In my area of mainland Spain, once you begin the process of matriculation you have 30 days to complete.  You can start the process from month 1 to month 5 BUT should you sign on the padron ( important if you need to work or allotted a doctor)  before matriculation begins then you are liable for import duty on your vehicle.

Using the services of an gestoria is worth all  the hassle.

 Hi Spanishsteve,thanks for the advice on the 30 day registration, I never knew that! and I think you are spot on with the six months driving with the British plates.

Thanks,

Harrieman.

If you intend to stay in Spain for more than 6 months then you should start the re-registration process within 30 days. The bit about up to 6 months is for non-residents or tourists who intend to leave before the 6 months is up and not come back within the year. Also check with your insurance company as most will only give you 3rd party up to 3 months or charge you extra for fully comp up to that 3 months. After that lots of them won't cover you.

Hi Mariedav, yes we do intend to stay in Spain for more than six months as we are moving to Mallorca to live permantly, I appreciate the info on the car registration, I have done a bit of research but as you know, a lot of this information is difficult to obtain.

Harrieman.

.is this a straight forward process??

If your LHD car is of European origin and has type approval and with a COC (certificate of conformity) you will have no problems re registering it in Spain. If by any chance it's an American LHD you may have to jump through very expensive hoops, modifications, inspections etc

Hi Team GB, my LHD car was first registered in Germany and then again registered here in the UK, not sure if the car has or had that certificate but I will certainly make some enquiries from the LHD dealership where we bought the car.

Thanks for the info.

Harrieman

If your car was first registered after 1994/5 it should have one, being a German car you should have no problems, fill up some forms, pay transfer taxes, get a ITV (MOT) job done. As Spanishsteve said earlier, if you have owned the car for over six months and bring it with you as part of your chattels you won't have to pay import tax if you start the proccess when you arrive.

You do not pay import duty on a car that you has been registered in you're name for 6 months from the country origin

You will have to pay 4% transfer tax on what the cars retail value is in Spain (top book)

You will have to get one of the companies that advertise to replate you car for you average cost is 500.eu including ITV test. You will see Lot's of UK registered cars for sale in Spain if you go to a epat area this is the reason why it is just not worth it.

I have had a place in Spain for nine years and I have come across Lott's of people that have done this and to be truthfull unless it is something special like a classic car it is not worth the expense of taking a car over to Spain the current cost to have a car transported over to mainland Spain is around £500. More if it is one of the island's 

From January 2014 the Balearics introduced a new car transfer tax system based on co2 emissions for cars first registered after 1/1/2011, cars registered before that date are taxed by engine size - see table

Windtalker

You will have to pay 4% transfer tax on what the cars retail value is in Spain (top book)

Not quite so, the hacienda have a tax base database of every make and model and also some autonomos communities will charge 8% for vehicles that are over 150cv. From the tax base figure you reduce it by the percentage shown here depending on age and then you pay the tax at 4 or 8% depending on horse power and autonomos community

As wintalker said

truthfull unless it is something special like a classic car it is not worth the expense of taking a car over to Spain

this makes so much sense to me and surely it would be far easier and probably cheaper to sell the car in the UK and buy one when you get to Majorca

this makes so much sense to me and surely it would be far easier and probably cheaper to sell the car in the UK and buy one when you get to Majorca

Yes you are probably right Tad but it's personal choice, many people are quite attached to their car for whatever reason. Harrieman hasn't told us what the car is, if it's something special or not. He/she may have bought it at such a good price compared to buying the same car in Mallorca that it negates any transfer costs.

Team GB

fair comment

Hi Guy's, we were away all weekend and not had the chance to read all the posts......thanks for all the advice it is really helpfull.

We never gave the charges and costs a thought when we bought our LHD,Mercedes SUV, hopefully the last car we need to buy, and we just thought of retiring from work and driving to Mallorca as part of our holiday.

Once again thanks for the info and once we get there we will start the ball rolling.