Foreword from Alan
Hi my name is Alan Gardiner I moved to Spain in March 2006 amongst the orange groves and sunshine in Costa Azahar.
How can I be of help to you - well all of my working life I have been involved in the car business one way or another from learning to sell cars at a Leyland dealership in the early seventies to installing parts departments in various outlets around the West Midlands to starting my first business selling parts and accessories for several years to trade and retail.
During this period I developed a passion for classic cars and in my spare time restored a triumph TR4 from the chassis up followed by an MGB and helped restore various other lovely old cars.
The last 20 years has been spent building up a business manufacturing lightweight aluminium wheels, of the bespoke split rim type and have manufactured wheels for everything from historic Fl, Rallycars, most of the Kit car industry, land speed record cars, even down to the special wheels for the 9 foot tall motorised stainless steel shopping trolley for the Jackass movie.
I have only been in Spain for a short time but as you have read above I have a lifetime's experience in the automotive business, look at my references page to put your mind at rest.
In the next few paragraphs I will offer you some common sense advice to protect you from the con artists.
If you are still in England and relocating to Spain here are a few pointers.
DO NOT pay any money to any company who advertise they can get you a car from a foreign dealer, there is one company in particular who are using several different websites, they will ask for a deposit of around 10% with the balance payable 2/3weeks later supposedly when the car is being landed in the UK.
UNLESS the car is somewhere in the UK where you can view it DON'T get stung.
If you are going to ignore this advice because you know better then at least FIND OUT who the owners / directors of the company are and do this simple thing - "TYPE their name into Google and press 'search' - this simple act could save you thousands of pounds as most of the con artists are blacklisted by angry customers some who have lost tens of thousands of pounds.
But please note this does not mean that all importers or dealers in imported cars are unreliable.
IF you buy a left hand drive car in the UK to bring to Spain also buy a large box of aspirin to help you through the pain barrier when you get here.
To change a car from English plates to Spanish plates can be very expensive and very time consuming you will also have to pay Import tax which is calculated by the engine capacity and the year of the vehicle which will vary from 6% to 12% of the vehicles market value in Spain.
Even if you find a car in England with Spanish plates you will still have to pay taxes on it when you register the car in your name e.g. a 12 twelve month old Ford Focus will incur a tax of 4% on 85% of its market value which will be around 350/ 400 euros plus you will be responsible for any unpaid road tax etc.
For more details of the difficulties in trying to "do-it-yourself", click here.
For more information please email to info
How can I be of help to you - well all of my working life I have been involved in the car business one way or another from learning to sell cars at a Leyland dealership in the early seventies to installing parts departments in various outlets around the West Midlands to starting my first business selling parts and accessories for several years to trade and retail.
During this period I developed a passion for classic cars and in my spare time restored a triumph TR4 from the chassis up followed by an MGB and helped restore various other lovely old cars.
The last 20 years has been spent building up a business manufacturing lightweight aluminium wheels, of the bespoke split rim type and have manufactured wheels for everything from historic Fl, Rallycars, most of the Kit car industry, land speed record cars, even down to the special wheels for the 9 foot tall motorised stainless steel shopping trolley for the Jackass movie.
Amendments to vehicle import laws in Spain 2008
New and Used Vehicles
This information supersedes all other text in this website.
Importing your car from the UK as part of your personal belongings tax free
The expiry date on this option has now been extended to 60 days instead of 30 days
Import of second hand car or Spanish to Spanish car transfer Regardless of what the Manufactures quote is for
The CO2 Emissions for that model the car will have to be reassessed at the ITV centre and the Emission Tax will be based on the current CO2 reading which takes into account engine wear.
(Maybe if you're lucky they will just look at the Manufactures figures on the Logbook (fiche technical)
These new taxes will be ADDITIONAL to the current taxes not instead of.
Zero Rated are cars producing less than 120 CO 2 g/km a few examples are Toyota Pries, Peugeot 107, etc
Between 121 and 161 CO2g/km Tax at 4.75%
Between 161 and 200 CO2g/km Tax at 9.75%
Over 201 CO2g/km Tax at 14.75%
Road Tax will be increased as well at the discretion of your local Town Hall the higher the CO 2 reading the higher the road tax increase will be.
These new taxes will be ADDITIONAL to the current taxes not instead of.
These changes came into effect 1st January 2008.
The point of the above is over the years I have made lots of friends/contacts in all aspects of the motor trade and have also learnt who many of the rogue traders are. New and Used Vehicles
This information supersedes all other text in this website.
Importing your car from the UK as part of your personal belongings tax free
The expiry date on this option has now been extended to 60 days instead of 30 days
Import of second hand car or Spanish to Spanish car transfer Regardless of what the Manufactures quote is for
The CO2 Emissions for that model the car will have to be reassessed at the ITV centre and the Emission Tax will be based on the current CO2 reading which takes into account engine wear.
(Maybe if you're lucky they will just look at the Manufactures figures on the Logbook (fiche technical)
These new taxes will be ADDITIONAL to the current taxes not instead of.
Zero Rated are cars producing less than 120 CO 2 g/km a few examples are Toyota Pries, Peugeot 107, etc
Between 121 and 161 CO2g/km Tax at 4.75%
Between 161 and 200 CO2g/km Tax at 9.75%
Over 201 CO2g/km Tax at 14.75%
Road Tax will be increased as well at the discretion of your local Town Hall the higher the CO 2 reading the higher the road tax increase will be.
These new taxes will be ADDITIONAL to the current taxes not instead of.
These changes came into effect 1st January 2008.
I have only been in Spain for a short time but as you have read above I have a lifetime's experience in the automotive business, look at my references page to put your mind at rest.
In the next few paragraphs I will offer you some common sense advice to protect you from the con artists.
If you are still in England and relocating to Spain here are a few pointers.
DO NOT pay any money to any company who advertise they can get you a car from a foreign dealer, there is one company in particular who are using several different websites, they will ask for a deposit of around 10% with the balance payable 2/3weeks later supposedly when the car is being landed in the UK.
UNLESS the car is somewhere in the UK where you can view it DON'T get stung.
If you are going to ignore this advice because you know better then at least FIND OUT who the owners / directors of the company are and do this simple thing - "TYPE their name into Google and press 'search' - this simple act could save you thousands of pounds as most of the con artists are blacklisted by angry customers some who have lost tens of thousands of pounds.
But please note this does not mean that all importers or dealers in imported cars are unreliable.
IF you buy a left hand drive car in the UK to bring to Spain also buy a large box of aspirin to help you through the pain barrier when you get here.
To change a car from English plates to Spanish plates can be very expensive and very time consuming you will also have to pay Import tax which is calculated by the engine capacity and the year of the vehicle which will vary from 6% to 12% of the vehicles market value in Spain.
Even if you find a car in England with Spanish plates you will still have to pay taxes on it when you register the car in your name e.g. a 12 twelve month old Ford Focus will incur a tax of 4% on 85% of its market value which will be around 350/ 400 euros plus you will be responsible for any unpaid road tax etc.
For more details of the difficulties in trying to "do-it-yourself", click here.
For more information please email to info
