Buying a used car in Spain

[Mark_J_W]

Hello to everyone on the Spanish PH Forum

I have been asked by my in-laws to help them purchase a used car for their villa in Javea on the Costa Blanca. I will be going out there in a few weeks for a few days to help them buy the car.

Can anyone offer any advice on the legal process/documents that they need to go through to legally own the car? I have heard stories of lawyers needing to get involved and the process costing approx EUR300ish?

Also, can anyone reccommend any dealers in that area? They are looking for a saloon/estate sized car that can seat 4/5 with luggage with a budget of 4000-6000 Euro's. (I was thinking E39 BMW Touring, Merc E-Class etc).

Many Thanks,
Mark

[Kneetrembler]

When you buy a second hand car here in Spain you will given the Log Book,&permiso de conducir,( which is the permission from the govmt to keep on the road to drive ) you will also be asked to sign another receipt which the sellers should have signed, in order that it can be transferred into the new ownership.

You then take these papers to your Gestor who will transfer the car over for you into your name.Unless you speak excellent Spanish and can be bothered to go to Traffico and do it yourself, personally I can never be arsed and it's cheap enough through your Gestor.

[Mark_J_W]

Thanks very much for the reply. Please excuse my lack of knowledge, I assume Gestor is some sort of solicitor/legal advisor?
Are you able to drive the car away before the Gestor gets the car transferred to you?

It seems on sites such as Coches.net most of the suitable cars near Javea are around the outskirts of Valencia, so would we need to find a Gestor nearby where the car is purchased? Or if the car was from a dealer/trader, would they be able to provide this service for us?

Edited by Mark_J_W on Wednesday 20th January 19:34

[Kneetrembler]

Mark_J_W said:

Thanks very much for the reply. Please excuse my lack of knowledge, I assume Gestor is some sort of solicitor/legal advisor?
Are you able to drive the car away before the Gestor gets the car transferred to you?

It seems on sites such as Coches.net most of the suitable cars near Javea are around the outskirts of Valencia, so would we need to find a Gestor nearby where the car is purchased? Or if the car was from a dealer/trader, would they be able to provide this service for us?

Edited by Mark_J_W on Wednesday 20th January 19:34

Sorry for a late reply.

A Gestor is a licensed legal run around who does all the paper work for licences,cars,motorbikes,lorries,fishing permits etc.

If you buy the car from a trader then they will do all the paperwork for you through their Gestor, you may have to wait a day or so to take the car away.
If you buy a car privately and it is the first time that you have ever done this sort of thing in Spain, then I would avoid it if I were you especially if you have cannot speak Spanish.
You would alos have to have your own Gestor, these days more and more Gestors speak English because of the sheer numbers of Brits on the Costas.

I have lived in various parts of Spain for over 20yrs and I do these sorts of things myself but even after all this time the Spanish/Napoleonic law which fills up endless reams of paperwork and it is something that is left over from Francos suspicious days.

Even today buying a car you can very easily have to sign many sheets of paper, so make sure that you take plenty of ink.

There are plenty of Garages in all the major towns up and down the coast, selling both new and second hand vehicles.
Best of Luck

[Mark_J_W]

That makes sense to buy from a trader and get their gestor to do all the legwork - any ideas what this costs on average? They also have their own gestor who helped with the purchase of the villa so I suppose he/she could come in useful if it is local.

They are currently weighing up the pro/cons of buying a car down here and driving it down, I assume it would probably be less hassle to buy one out there?

Cheers,
Mark

[Kneetrembler]

I buy wherever I can find the car I am looking for normally either the U.K. or Germany and change them over myself, but as I have previously said unless you understand the system, Engineers to get the car measured and checked out that it complies to what the Spanish will accept, then after you you have those details getting the car through its ITV, possibly changing the headlights, then going back to your Gestor with the details to finalise everything.

All of this can take as little as 1 month to longer depending where you are and how you understand everything.

I would say in your case unless you have a tame person to do all of the change overs who speaks Spanish and understands every thing it's cheaper and quicker to buy from a dealer.

[Mark_J_W]

Thanks again for your advice it is very useful. I will pass the info onto them tomorrow.

[111KAB]

Mark_J_W said:

That makes sense to buy from a trader and get their gestor to do all the legwork - any ideas what this costs on average? They also have their own gestor who helped with the purchase of the villa so I suppose he/she could come in useful if it is local.
They are currently weighing up the pro/cons of buying a car down here and driving it down, I assume it would probably be less hassle to buy one out there?
Cheers,
Mark

Generally less hassle if you buy out there and if you do buy outside Spain a Spanish registered car is the easier route. Traders will normally throw in the transfer charges - if you buy privately this is subject to negotiation. Your previous comment re Gestor charges at 300€ about right, if you want to shop around you might get for 250€. As in the UK I would pay c. £50 to get any s/h car checked out. I recently went for an Ibiza - not obvious the rad needed replacing - a 500€ job due to a/c having to come out and be re-gassed.

[Mark_J_W]

Only just noticed your post 111KAB so sorry for the late reply. Thanks for the advice, the rad on your Ibiza seems very expensive!

They have decided that they are going to buy a car in Spain now, so no more looking on the LHD section on PH!
I will (hopefully) post the results on here in a few weeks

[Mark_J_W]

An update as promised, I arrived back in the UK this morning having helped the inlaws do a deal on a used car.. not quite what I was originally looking for but yesterday we picked up a 2002 Focus 1.6 Auto with just 34,000kms on the clock with one owner and full service history at the local Ford dealer. Condition wise it is excellent for 8 years old.

Legal side of things was a bit of a pain but all the paperwork seems to be in progression at the moment so hopefully they (any any family/freinds that come out to the villa) should get many years use out of it with minimal cost.

Thanks to Kneetrembler & 111KAB for the very useful advice