Is it better to buy a LHD in UK or in when we arrive?

would always say buy your car here and some garages will take a RHD in part exchange.  or if your car is one you cherish then just keep it and matriculate it on to Spanish plates when you get here no problems driving here but you'll have to change the headlights.  if you really want to bring your furniture over here then it can be stored at Locations in Antas industrial estate.  or your moving company may offer storage here and delivery when required.  be careful how long you leave it thought as we found some damage to ours when we finally received it.  have you bought in La Parata or are you renting? you'll find it is very quiet here at the moment and a lot of the bars and restaurants are closed for the winter.  the weather has been fantastic with lots of sunshine to make up for it.  don't forget to change your driving licence to Spanish if you are staying and getting residencia all to be done before the end of the year so not much time left.  good luck.

Jealous!

I would advise not to buy a Spanish reg car in the UK,unless it is from someone you really really trust as you will be held liable for any fines/accidents that may have happened in Spain

Your car, if you have had it a while and know it to be reliable I would take that over and the register it in Spain asap,thats if you dont mind sitting on the wrong side,buy the headlamps on ebay in the UK (normally cheaper)

or buy a UK reg LHD car(normally cheaper) and drive that over then register in Spain(same advice re headlights)

There is a legal issue here which I have only recently discovered - I'm not sure whether this is generally little known or whether I was just slow on the uptake.  If you are a UK resident, then it is illegal to drive a non-UK registered car in the UK.  Likewise if you are Spanish resident it is illegal to drive a non-Spanish registered car in Spain.

Therefore if you are still a UK resident, and you buy a Spanish registered LHD car in the UK, then you may not legally drive it away from the forecourt.  You would need to either tow it, or find someone who is non-UK resident and has a non-UK driving licence to drive the car while you sit in the passenger seat.  Once out of the UK you are fine.

Conversely if you bring a UK registered car to Spain then once you take Spanish residency you must matriculate the car before you can drive it, or find a UK resident to drive it for you!  

I only found this out yesterday, so am happy to be corrected if necessary.     

Hi,

i’m very grateful for your initial response, and extremely grateful for the follow-up and work you put into that.

That is really interesting information - I had absolutely no idea.

again, thank you so much for your time and trouble.

Cheers. Brian. 

We moved from France and already had a LHD French registered car so no changing lights etc. it had a large engine and cost 1600 € to matriculate to Spanish plates, it was an older car and on reflection was not worth the hassle or expense.

In your position or given my time over again I would consider realistic value of my car and expense and time to matriculate if you decided to keep it against coming here buying a Spanish vehicle and either exporting your old car back to UK for sale or taking a hit and PX / selling it here as a UK registered RHD vehicle.

Be aware 2nd hand cars seem expensive here against a similar model in the UK and finally you may be liable for import tax on any vehicle you export to here that you haven’t owned for 6 months prior to emmigrating as it would not be covered under personal possessions. ( I stand to be corrected on the last point but that was the case 2 years ago when we moved here).

Overall and it is only in my opinion I would definitely purchase a vehicle here and dispose of your vehicle in the UK as a first option. The very best of luck with your move, this is a terrific country to live in.

Sorry but you are wrong on both counts. You can insure a Spanish reg car in the UK and you would have 30 days to register it onto English plates. If you buy it the week before you are coming to Spain then once it is in Spain you have 30 days to get/apply for your Spanish driving licence but you can't apply for that until you have done the first part of the TIE. Bit of a faf but hey ho. 

If you have a good, UK reg car then you can get it transported here, your UK insurance should cover you for driving in Spain for a certain amount of time so you can get it matriculated onto Spanish plates. Re matriculation, I brought a 2012 Volvo C70 convertible, had it transported over and took it to car-registrations-spain in Los Alcazares, took it there for 1000, all done and finished by 1400 including the headlights remanufacturing to lhd. Headlights were €90 each to convert and whole bill was €1340. Transport was done by SG HAULAGE in Lincoln and that cost me £720 from Oxford to Huercal Overa.

Both companies were very professional so would recommend both. Just to give you an idea of savings, the Volvo over here would have cost me €14500/15500 as it is the top of the range with all the extras. I paid £6750 for it in the UK so at current exchange that worked out at around €9250/9500 for everything so saving €5000-6000.

Good luck with whatever you do. Forgot to mention, if there is only 1 reverse light and rear fog light you may have to have them altered for LHD.

The issue that I was drawing attention to was residency rather than insurance.  If you are a UK resident then it is illegal to drive a non-UK registered vehicle in the UK.  I think this article sets it out clearly (I don't know the firm of Chartered Accountants who have written it, but I assume they are reliable) https://www.spenceclarke.com/articles/driving-your-spanish-car-in-the-uk/

Buying a UK registered car in the UK when you are a UK resident, bringing it to Spain and matriculating it before you take Spanish residency is completely correct, and your example suggests it can work well (albeit you still have a RHD car in Spain).  Owning a Spanish registered car and driving it in the UK when you are a UK resident is not, however from looking at various websites it seems you might have a short grace period to either register it or take it out of the UK, during which you cannot drive it.  But let's be pragmatic, you could just drive it anyway and hope you aren't stopped.

Of course you must also have valid insurance on the car, and it must also have a valid MOT/ITV or whatever from the country in which it is registered if it is above the relevant age threshold.  Also to buy a Spanish registered car you must have NIE or recent Padron or residencia - presumably this also applies to buying a Spanish registered car in the UK, and one would hope a specialist dealer would be on top of that.

     

 

there are LHD cars in the UK on UK plates available

as for buying a Spanish registered car in the UK as far as I am aware you cannot transfer ownership ion the UK it has to be done in Spain,hence my warning

A few years back an English couple nearly lost everything when they purchased a Spanish reg car in the UK the transferred ownership when they got to Spain,unfortunately for them the car had been involved in a serious car crash in Spain and were involved in an expensive and lengthy court case