Bringing RHD Car to Spain - Page 2

Bear two things in mind -

1. LMJ18 came over 2017 - pre-Brexit.  Brexit changed a great many things, not the last of which was import tax

2. Not all cars are equal - how much it costs to matriculate will be very much dependent on the car you have.  Mercedes, being German manufactured, have a switch on the headlights allowing them to change dip side.  Not all cars do, and if your car doesn’t, you are in for a complete headlight replacement which can get pricey - you’d be well advised to check that.

Hence my caveat.

Brought my 2016 car over in 2019. 

Mariculated it myself. Only thing I had to do was change the headlights ( no switch.) and the nearside tail light ( because the rear fog lamp was on the wrong side ). Sailed through no issues.  I bought the new headlamps here from the local dealer after negotiating a discount and fitted the lamps myself. 

I seem to remember the total cost was €600. Seemed cheap to me on the basis anyone will take a cut out of a sale and make profit on a new purchase not to mention the cost of taking it back to UK if thats what you wanted to do. 
Its nothing to be afraid of. Just ask around. People will help.

The garage advised us to keep our RHD car as would cost a fortune to buy the equivalent Spanish one.  Glad we did.  

Ah Brill. Thanks MaggieB, think we'll have to see how we get on with the car being on the right hand side of the road and driving on that same side. 

Must admit when we came over last Nov for a discovery trip, we hired a LHD car and I'd never driven one before, but it soon became natural after a few days of driving. 

So hopefully it shouldn't be too bad if we were to use our RHD car, at least until we've made our mind up.

Seem to be flitting between keeping it and see how we get on, to just buying a LHD and getting on with it? 

The more I read the more confused I become? 

I guess we'll just have to see what happens. 

But whatever happens, I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has replied and thank you all for the amazing amount of info you have given us, its been very interesting hearing about your own experiences. 

Kind regards,

Chris and Paula

driving RHD cars here is not a problem even on the motorways unlike UK with more than 2 lanes most here are just the 2 so no overtaking problems.  Only problem we had was we had a petrol car and they kept trying to put diesel in it!  Insurance wasn't a problem either once on spanish plates.  They drive to miss each other here especially on the roundabouts so you need to keep your wits about you and forget about their indicators but I  recommend you use your own at all times.

Lol yeah we had a close shave on a roundabout whilst we were there in November. I got tooted at! 

I came out at the roundabout because they were indicating prior to the junction before mine, but they stayed on....... oops! Lesson learnt. 

Thanks again Alicia 11.

The more I think about it the more I think we'll keep the UK car. 

Take care and kind regards, 

Chris

Alicia is right.

The TWO things to remember is roundabouts. 

First they come from the left not the right. Its a difficult habit to get out of giving way to the right! 

Second, the Spanish are taught! to drive on a roundabout on the inside lane - that is to say if they were entering a roundabout to turn left they will stay in their righthand (inside) lane all the way to their exit. Unlike UK. UK you only stay in the inside lane if you are turning left or going straight on. 

Other than that Alicia is spot on. Whether the car is LHD or RHD makes little difference ( except when you get to the toll gates or car parks and you are driving alone! 

Yeah great point truenudisttoo, it does take a while to get used to the roundabouts but luckily they're not as busy as back here in the UK,

Unless You're in a big town or city. 

My thoughts were.... take it more slowly and really concentrate when you come up to a roundabout, which seemed to work. 

Thank you for your reply and kind regards, 

Chris n Paula

Hi, contact car-registrations-spain who are based in Los Alcazares near San Javier. They are on Facebook, speak English and will give you all the information you need. They also remanufacture most headlights to LHD which can save a bomb and will advise you re import tax. 

Best wishes,

Paul.