Wanted: Looking to buy a car

Used car prices in Spain are indeed steep, but on the back end when you come to sell, it will retain a lot of it's value.

You do get cars come up occasionally on here and on other sites that are cheap but they usually have more kms on them than the starship Enterprise.

Just keep your eyes peeled and act fast as they tend to sell quickly if any good. Cheaper ones are often right hand drive that have gone on to Spanish plates. Bit of a pain, but not the end of the world

Good Luck with your search

Whilst it may be a little more expensive, you really are advised to buy from a garage.  They’ll give you a warranty, change car into your name - and ensure there’s no outstanding fines etc.

If you buy a car in Spain that has fines etc outstanding, they become yours and until they are paid you cannot transfer the car into your name, which makes it difficult to insure and pay tax on

Yeah, what Dario said, make sure if buying private, you do it thru a good gestor

Please consider FWR cars down at Alicante Airport. We have just purchased a secondhand car from here. Frank, the owner, could not have been more helpful. Everything from sorting out the paperwork & helping with organising very good & reasonable car insurance via Linea Directa. We cannot recommend him highly enough. He even collected us from the airport so that we could complete the purchase & then drive the car away. He was able to recommend someone who has parking at the the airport if you decide to keep a car there for when you arrive in Spain if that is what you intend to do. His cars are fairly priced & he has a website. He can also arrange ITV if needed. Good luck.

Thanks Marissa I will check him out

Really honest guy, he has been around for a long time & it’s a family business. We felt comfortable enough to put a healthy deposit down sight unseen on our car & after being collected from the airport in it, being happy with the car, & paying the balance we drove off in it! Taxed, insured & all the transfer paperwork sorted.

Something to please remember in Spain; if you put a deposit down on something and then for whatever reason subsequently decide not to buy, your deposit is non-refundable - you will lose it.

Thanks - Just checked their website.  Just a question: did you have insurance arranged in advance since you drove away with the car? Can you recommend an insurance company for someone who would visit and use the car a few times p.a.. I have NIE. Thanks

A good company to try is Linea Directa - they have a dedicated English helpline and competitive rates.

They are also one of only two companies that offer no limit on kilometres for recovery if you break down (many put a limit of 120 kilometres from home address)