Car import into Spain

So as a part of our moving to Spain is also importing our cars. My advice in hindsight is: "Prepare yourself, and do it fast you have only one month!". In this post, I will be explaining the process for a Dutch car, so your procedures might vary in your country of origin.

First and foremost, If you don't have your NIE get this one first, as you must have an NIE, or else they can't help you.

What we did was drive with our license plates to Spain, as in The Netherlands an export license plate is only valid for 2 weeks, in our case we didn't have a permanent place to stay yet, so I am happy we didn't have export plates, however at some point, you need the second part of circulation permit, for which the original license plates have to be destroyed, and they have to be retrieved in the country of origin.

First step is the ITV So the first thing you need to do is go to the ITV which is a technical inspection of your car which has to happen now and then, mostly around every year. You have to go to any of the stations, where you can fill in a form, you are also required to take some documents with you.

Required documents:

• NIE
• First and Second circulation permit or ficha tecnica reducida (which can be retrieved online)
• Empadronamiento (A document that states where you are registered)
• Drivers License
• Original MOT documentation

After this they will call you to make an appointment, when you go there you will have to pay a certain amount and they will thoroughly check your car. If everything is correct you will get three documents which you will need at other places.

Second step is the town hall. With the document received at the ITV, you make your way to the town hall, here you have to pay the circulation tax (IVTM). The price is dependent on a number written down on the document from the ITV. You can pay directly at the town hall.

Third step is AEAT (Tax Office/ Customs). Customs will check if you have a new car or not, if you have a new car you can take a little longer without any direct issues, else you have one month to do this, but you can only do this after you have gone to the ITV, if you are in your first month you can fill in a modelo 06, and with the information of the ITV this is easy, else you can go there and ask if you need to. If you have taken too long, or have a new car, you can fill in Modelo 576 and you don't have to pay if your car creates less than 120g/km of CO2 else you will have to pay tax, which you will have to calculate, the AEAT has enough documentation for this.

Fourth step is the DGT. If you have bought the car, make sure you still have the invoice, as they will check it. You take all the acquired documents and your original documents here after making an appointment, and after they have checked everything you pay a tax, and you can make your new Spanish license plate!

So that is most bureaucracy done, now you still need insurance, you can pick your poison here for which one you like, just make sure not to drive without insurance as you will get fined if they find you!

So that is all, with most of this information you can save about 500 euros per car (Yes I am Dutch, I am a cheapskate) but with that 500 euros saved you can easily pay for the first year of your insurance, so it is a win-win.

See you soon for the next post.