Vehicle Import
(2003-05-07 by www.immo7.com)

Any member of European Union, non resident in Spain, can take his/her car (registered) to Spain without further formalities. The car can be driven in Spain but only for a maximum of 6 months per year.

Anybody staying longer than 6 months in Spain is considered resident and as mentioned before the car cannot be driven any longer before registering the car in Spain. The procedure for vehicle import can be quite complicated for those without earlier experience. There are driver associations like the spanish Real Automóvil Club de España (C/ José Abascal 10, 28003 Madrid, Tfno 91 4473200) which prove to be helpful most of the times but the only competent authority is the Dirección General de Aduanas de Madrid. However, for those who want to have their official residence in Spain there is no problem to import the vehicle for personal use once they have obtained the residence permit.
Vehicle Number Plate
The residents who import a vehicle must register it at the local Town Hall and later obtain the spanish number plates.
Non residents may only buy cars with a tourist number plate. These are then valid for only 6 months per year and can be renovated each year.

Non residents who establish their residence in Spain afterwards, must obtain regular spanish number plates and pay the correspodant 13% TAX, calculated upon the valuation of the car. When buying a car in Spain you must pay 15% IVA (Tax), but non residents don’t pay this special tax. Desde el 1 de marzo de 2000, las normas españolas de tráfico obligan al conductor a llevar los siguientes artículos en el vehículo:
1. A spare kit of light bulbs and neccessary tools for changing them.
2. 2 emergency triangles, officialy approved by the Interior Ministry, which have a round sign E9 and the code 27R03. The fine for not having these in the car is about 90 €uros.
3. Spare Tire and the neccessary tools for exchanging it.
Vehicle Insurance
Vehicle Insurance in Spain can be somewhat different to other european countries and we recommend to inform yourself very well of what the insurance covers. One big difference in Spain is if the car after an accident is declared a total write off the insurance company only pays a percentage of the valuation of the car even if it is fully insured.

Bajo la legislación comunitaria, los coches en los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea deben llevar como mínimo un seguro a terceros. Sin embargo, no existe una normativa comunitaria que especifique las condiciones de los seguros a todo riesgo y a terceros. Esto depende del Estado miembro. Por lo tanto, es recomendable examinar bien la póliza de seguro para cerciorarse de que cubre sus necesidades. Los turistas que traigan su coche a España deben tener un seguro a terceros.