According to Spanish legislation, foreign citizens, both residents and non-residents, have the right to purchase a car near Spain. In order to buy a car, non-residents must have the following documents: a foreign passport, a driver’s license, a foreigner’s identification number (NIE), proof of registration at the place of residence from the local municipality or a document confirming the ownership of real estate in Spain. The latter is necessary in order to register the car at a specific address in Spain.
Before buying a car in Spain, you must:
- check the payment of road tax by the real owner (Impuesto de Circulación);
- check the date of the last technical inspection on the Vehicle Technical Inspection Card (Tarjeta Inspeccion Tecnica de Vehiculos or Tarjeta ITV). Technical inspection of Spain is a mandatory procedure for all cars. A new car must be inspected once every four years, a car under 10 years old – once every two years, and if the car is over 10 years old – every year;
- check whether the technical card contains all the important modifications of the car. It is useful to check the mileage, year of manufacture of the car and possible service and repair history book with payment receipts;
- make sure there are no fines or arrests on the car. For this, it is necessary to contact the Vehicle Registry (Registro de Vehículo) of the General Tax Office (Dirección General de Tributos). Access to the register is available upon prior request. The certificate from the registry contains the entire history of the car: who is the owner at the moment and who owned the car before, whether the car was in an accident, whether fines are charged, whether the car was used as a taxi. Although the presence of unpaid fines does not prohibit re-registration of the car to another owner, but a car with such tails can cause unpleasant moments in the future. According to the legislation, the responsibility for the violation rests with the culprit, therefore, the fines must be paid by the violator.
Registration of the purchase of a car in Spain
1. Signing the car sale agreement
First of all, the buyer and the seller must sign a sales contract, where the following data must be displayed: complete data of the seller and the buyer (surname, first name, DNI or NIE number, residential address), complete data about the car (make, model , year of production, title document), date and time of vehicle transfer, cost and method of payment, taxes and duties. The keys and car are handed over at the moment of payment by the buyer.
2. Car registration
After signing the contract and executing the transaction, it is necessary to go through the procedure of documenting the car for the new owner. This is done at the General Transport Directorate (Dirección General de Tráfico) in the presence of a package of necessary documents, the list of which is listed below. It is recommended that the seller and the buyer come to the office together, but it is possible to do it separately. In this case, the seller must apply to the management within 10 days, the buyer – up to 30 days from the moment of signing the sales contract.
The change of ownership occurs after payment of the property transfer tax (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales) . Its size is 4% of the value of the car specified in the sales contract. The tax is paid at the tax inspectorate of the autonomous community at the place of registration. It is necessary to apply to the Transport Department with a document confirming the payment of the tax on the transfer of ownership. It is also necessary to pay the fee for the procedure of changing the owner directly at the Transport Department.
Documents required to change the owner
- Application in two copies on an official form, which can be obtained from the Transport Department or downloaded from the website using this link .
- Receipt for duty payment in the amount of 7.60 euros.
- Property transfer tax payment receipt.
- Identity document (DNI or passport, resident card and NIE).
- For minors – a document confirming the parents’ consent to the procedure with their signatures and DNI data.
- Vehicle movement permit (Permiso de Circulación).
- Vehicle technical inspection card (Tarjeta ITV).
- Contract of sale.
- Agricultural vehicles must be previously deregistered in the Official Register of Agricultural Vehicles of the Autonomous Community.
3. Registration of insurance
Car insurance in Spain is mandatory. The cost of insurance depends on the age and condition of the car, the driver’s experience and the type of insurance. The average cost of compulsory insurance for small and inexpensive cars can be 350 – 450 euros per year, for expensive models – 1500 – 2000 euros per year.
Registration of the change of ownership and the procedure for buying and selling a car in Spain can be done on your own, or with the help of specialized companies. Car dealerships that sell cars also provide a service for processing all the documents, this costs about 200 euros, and usually the service is included in the price of the car. In Spain, there are third-party companies called Gestoria that can take care of all the paperwork and help with insurance. In this case, the car dealership or Gestoria issue temporary documents for the period of registration of permanent ones, which can last a month or a half. Replacement of license plates when the owner changes is not carried out in Spain, it will take 2-3 days to issue plates for a new car.
Sites and auctions for the sale of cars in Spain
- Autoscout24.es: This Spanish website provides access to many car classifieds, including used and new cars.
- Milanuncios: This is a popular Spanish site for posting ads for the sale of various goods, including cars.
- Auto10.com: Auto10.com specializes in new and pre-owned cars and offers information on prices and features of various models.
- Coches.com: This website provides information on car sales as well as helpful tips and reviews.
- Segundamano.es: Another popular classifieds site for used goods, including cars.
- AutoScout24 (Spanish version): This is the Spanish version of one of Europe’s largest car portals, which provides information on the sale of new and purchased cars.