Importing a car from Spain..Advice

[vwkittie]

Definately a scam! Do not have a contact number? Whatever!

[Event Horizo]

Iv asked for a contact number but they said they do not have one??

 

Sounds completely legit to me. I always buy a car thru email. The guy's phone is probably on the blink. Send him the money regardless

[Greengeek]

Quit being such a pussy, this guy seems legit!

[truman]

Why would you want to buy a car from Spain (even if it exists) when there are thousands here that you can actually go and see? If something looks too good to be true.....You could always tell him you are going near to where he is and could you pop in and have a look?

[SHYTOT]

My brother bought a L/H drive car in Bradford when he moved to France because there is no market for L/H cars over here and so they fetch a pittance. Similarly there is no market for R/H dive cars in Spain so they are worth far less than left hookers.

 

Get the car checked out by a legitimate organisation over there. If it is cosher buy it and pay cash on arrival.

[truman]

A colleague of my wife's has just fallen for this scam..transferred the money and viola..no car can't contact the "seller",phone number no longer in use....police don't want to know,bank says they can't do anything about it...be very careful whatever you decide...

[sierraman]

If its been in Spain for more than 6 months it will have to have been imported and will carry a Spanish plate, import duty paid and an ITV certificate will have to be on the vehicle if it is over 4yrs old. Alternatively it could be an 'illegal' and being driven into Portugal every six months to evade being registered. The problem comes exporting from Spain to the UK where import duty will have to be paid, an M.o.T will be needed at port of entry, the vehicle re registered and issued with a new UK license plate, without the MoT and UK licence plate you can't tax the vehicle. I would imagine that the vehicle would have to pass a DoT inspection to assertain whether it is legal for use on English roads. Just one other thing ... a UK resident can't drive a foreign registered car on the roads in the UK.

Look around of a decent mini offshore, maybe Channel Islands or IoM. I'd sack the importing of the mini off if I were you.

[Rupert_Baehr]

If its been in Spain for more than 6 months it will have to have been imported and will carry a Spanish plate, import duty paid and an ITV certificate will have to be on the vehicle if it is over 4yrs old. Alternatively it could be an 'illegal' and being driven into Portugal every six months to evade being registered. The problem comes exporting from Spain to the UK where import duty will have to be paid, an M.o.T will be needed at port of entry, the vehicle re registered and issued with a new UK license plate, without the MoT and UK licence plate you can't tax the vehicle. I would imagine that the vehicle would have to pass a DoT inspection to assertain whether it is legal for use on English roads. Just one other thing ... a UK resident can't drive a foreign registered car on the roads in the UK.

Look around of a decent mini offshore, maybe Channel Islands or IoM. I'd sack the importing of the mini off if I were you.

 

Import duty? Is Spain no longer a part of the EU? If it's had VAT paid on it in Spain or anywhere else in the EU, then there is no tax due in the UK.

 

I don't know where you get the idea that a UK resident can't drive a foreign-registered vehicle in the UK. The EU directive allows ANY EU citizen to keep an EU registered vehicle in the UK for up to 6 months without re-registering it.

 

Certain Police forces have impounded vehicles which they've seen twice at an interval of more than 6 months on the grounds that 'the owner is registering the car overseas to avoid paying UK road fund tax' (Pretty stupid, when you consider that foreign tax and insurance often cost more - but Mr Plod doesn't always think and apparently can't understand that the reason the car hasn't been seen during the 6 month interval was because it was overseas:hihi::hihi:)... Fortunately there are courts in the UK and the Police can be sued, too.

 

You must get an MOT before you can register and tax it in the UK and you must register it within 6 months of bringing it to the UK if you intend to keep it there, but you certainly don't need an MOT at the port of entry. Many thousands of people bring vehicles from Europe into the UK each year and they aren't required to get a UK MOT.

 

This mini appears to be a dodgy deal. - According to Bonjon, Yahoo Finance doesn't exist.

 

As for 'buying a mini in the Channel Islands (my home) be very careful!:hihi:

 

1. The Channel Islands are not a part of the EU, so any car you buy there will be liable to VAT when you import it into the UK.

 

2. There are large numbers of low-mileage small cars available each year in the Channel Islands in October. That's because the Hire Companies buy new cars in March and sell them in October. The mileage might be low - but they rarely get into 4th gear and they've been driven as Hire cars by tourists who (usually) don't bother too much about them. Furthermore, those tourists will have been to the beach and will, no doubt, have dumped a ton or two of sand and very many wet (and salty) towels in the cars.

[SHYTOT]

Import duty? Is Spain no longer a part of the EU? If it's had VAT paid on it in Spain or anywhere else in the EU, then there is no tax due in the UK.

 

I don't know where you get the idea that a UK resident can't drive a foreign-registered vehicle in the UK. The EU directive allows ANY EU citizen to keep an EU registered vehicle in the UK for up to 6 months without re-registering it.

 

Certain Police forces have impounded vehicles which they've seen twice at an interval of more than 6 months on the grounds that 'the owner is registering the car overseas to avoid paying UK road fund tax' (Pretty stupid, when you consider that foreign tax and insurance often cost more - but Mr Plod doesn't always think and apparently can't understand that the reason the car hasn't been seen during the 6 month interval was because it was overseas:hihi::hihi:)... Fortunately there are courts in the UK and the Police can be sued, too.

 

You must get an MOT before you can register and tax it in the UK and you must register it within 6 months of bringing it to the UK if you intend to keep it there, but you certainly don't need an MOT at the port of entry. Many thousands of people bring vehicles from Europe into the UK each year and they aren't required to get a UK MOT.

 

This mini appears to be a dodgy deal. - According to Bonjon, Yahoo Finance doesn't exist.

 

As for 'buying a mini in the Channel Islands (my home) be very careful!:hihi:

 

1. The Channel Islands are not a part of the EU, so any car you buy there will be liable to VAT when you import it into the UK.

 

2. There are large numbers of low-mileage small cars available each year in the Channel Islands in October. That's because the Hire Companies buy new cars in March and sell them in October. The mileage might be low - but they rarely get into 4th gear and they've been driven as Hire cars by tourists who (usually) don't bother too much about them. Furthermore, those tourists will have been to the beach and will, no doubt, have dumped a ton or two of sand and very many wet (and salty) towels in the cars.

 

A few years ago I bought a new car in Holland. It came fitted with European temporary plates which allowed me to drive the car without a tax disc until I obtained a UK registration.

 

I was offered the option of paying VAT in Holland or the UK. I chose the UK as VAT rate was lower, but once VAT is paid in any member state the vehicle can be sold on in any other state without being subject to tax. All that is required is to pay a one off licensing fee in the country of choice.

 

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[Rupert_Baehr]

A few years ago I bought a new car in Holland. It came fitted with European temporary plates which allowed me to drive the car without a tax disc until I obtained a UK registration.

 

I was offered the option of paying VAT in Holland or the UK. I chose the UK as VAT rate was lower, but once VAT is paid in any member state the vehicle can be sold on in any other state without being subject to tax. All that is required is to pay a one off licensing fee in the country of choice.

 

.

 

That is so. - But be aware that although a car bought in any member state is legal in any other member state, the specifications may not be the same. I bought a Renault 18 Diesel (which I intended to use in the UK) in Belgium in 1982. It was LHD (which didn't particularly bother me.) At that time there was some question at law whether cars designed for use in the EEC (the EU didn't exist then) could be imported to the UK. - Mine was (I was told) the 'test case'. The ruling was that if the car had been registered and used in another EEC member State, it could be registered and used in the UK.

 

Not a problem.

 

A year or so later I was driving down a little country road and the windshield exploded. It turned out that although cars made for the UK market (and for many other European countries) had laminated glass windscreens, those made for the Belgian market had toughened glass screens. - Presumably to keep the cost down, because the taxes on cars in Belgium were very high.) It wasn't a huge problem (though It was quite spectacular when the screen blew:gag:) and the replacement screen was laminated but if you do buy a car which was designed for another market, check that the specifications of the car you are buying meet your needs