Registering a car from another EU country in Spain is a regulated and fairly predictable process: four steps in a fixed order, with specific papers at each one. What makes it hard is turning up one document short, getting the tax wrong or booking the ITV too late. This is what we do on every import, explained so you know what to ask for even if you do it yourself.

1. The papers you need before you start

Before it travels, the car must be deregistered for export in its home country. And to register it in your name you must be its owner: if the foreign registration document is in someone else's name, the invoice or contract proves the purchase.

• Registration document from the home country. Complete: in Germany, both parts (Teil I and Teil II); elsewhere, the documents or deregistration certificate issued by that country's register.
• Invoice or contract. From a dealer in another country, an invoice showing their VAT number. From a private seller, a sale contract with its translation.
• Certificate of conformity (COC). Or, instead, a technical data sheet (ficha reducida) signed by an engineer. For cars built before 2002, an individual approval.
• Your ID. Spanish ID card (DNI) or foreigner's number (NIE), with your address in Spain.

2. The pre-registration ITV inspection

This is the first step, and it gives the car its Spanish technical card (tarjeta ITV). At the inspection station you show the foreign registration document, the COC or its alternative and, if you are not the owner named on that document, the invoice or contract. They check that the car matches its papers and is in good condition.

• With a COC, it is an almost ordinary inspection: the certificate proves the model is type-approved in Europe.
• Without a COC, you ask the manufacturer for a duplicate or get a technical data sheet. This is the most common delay.
• Cars built before 2002 have no European type approval: an engineer prepares an individual approval before the ITV, either by equivalence with the home country's approval or from scratch.

Book the appointment early. In some areas, the ITV appointment is the slowest part of the whole process.

3. Taxes: what you pay and where

Registration tax

It is paid to the Spanish Tax Agency before going to the DGT, using form 576. If the car is exempt or not liable, the relevant form (06 or 05) is filed instead. The rate depends on official CO2 emissions:

A car with a single motor that is not a combustion engine, such as a fully electric car, pays 0%. If the CO2 emissions cannot be proven, the highest rate applies. And the percentage is not applied to what you paid but to the tax value: the car's price when new according to the Tax Agency's tables, reduced by its age. That is why you should know the exact CO2 figure from the registration papers before buying, not the one in the advert.

Vans (category N1) used to a significant extent for a business activity do not pay this tax, unless they are converted into living accommodation.

VAT

• Used car from a private seller or from a dealer under the margin scheme: the home country's VAT is already included and no Spanish VAT is due.
• A "new" car for tax purposes (under 6 months since first registration or under 6,000 km): VAT is paid in Spain with form 309, even if a private person sells it.
• Businesses: with an EU VAT number they buy without the home country's VAT when the seller applies deductible VAT, and declare it in Spain.

The details, with a cost example, are in the guide How to import a car from Germany to Spain.

Transfer tax, if a private person sells

If the seller is a private individual, the DGT also asks for the translated contract and proof of payment of your region's transfer tax (impuesto de transmisiones patrimoniales). With a dealer's invoice, this tax is not due.

Road tax

The municipal vehicle tax (IVTM) is paid every year to the town hall where you live and depends on the car's power. Registration requires proof of payment, so it is paid before going to the DGT.

4. Registration with the DGT

With all of the above you apply for registration with the DGT, online or by appointment at a traffic office, yourself or through an agent (gestor). You pay the registration fee (fee 1.1, around €100) and submit:

• The application and your DNI or NIE.
• The ITV card you were given at the station.
• The foreign registration document.
• The invoice or contract.
• Proof of the registration tax and, where applicable, of VAT or transfer tax.
• Proof of the road tax.

The DGT assigns the number and issues the Spanish registration certificate.

5. Plates, insurance and sticker

• Plates: ordered from an authorised supplier on presentation of the registration certificate.
• Insurance: compulsory before driving. If you want agreed-value cover, we pass your request to a registered insurance intermediary.
• Environmental sticker: the DGT label (0, ECO, C or B) depends on the fuel and the Euro standard shown on the technical card. It can be bought at post offices (Correos), among other places.

If you need to drive while the process finishes, the DGT can issue temporary green plates, as long as the car is insured.

How much does it cost to register an imported car?

The biggest item is almost always the registration tax: from 0% to the top rate depending on CO2, applied to the tax value. The rest is more predictable:

• The pre-registration ITV, at the station's price (it varies by region).
• The DGT fee, around €100.
• The plates.
• The road tax, depending on the town and the car's power.
• The technical data sheet or approval, if there is no COC.
• The agent, if you do not do it yourself.

When you import with us, all of this is included in the fixed price we give you in writing before buying.

How long does it take?

With the paperwork in order, two to three weeks from the day the car reaches Spain. The ITV appointment and the workload at each province's traffic office make the difference. The full timeline of an import, stage by stage, is in How long it takes to import a car.

Special cases

You are moving to Spain with your car

If you move your residence to Spain and bring your own car, you do not pay the purchase taxes and you may be exempt from registration tax. The exemption for a change of residence has conditions: you must have lived outside Spain for at least the previous twelve months, have used the car for at least six months before moving, have bought it with the normal taxes of the home country, apply for registration within 60 days of the car entering Spain and not sell it within twelve months of registering it. It is declared to the Tax Agency before going to the DGT.

The car was registered in Spain before

If it is a Spanish car that was taken abroad and is coming back, it is not registered again: it is reinstated and gets its old Spanish number back.

Cars over 30 years old

A classic can be registered as a historic vehicle, through its own procedure. Ask us before buying: the papers and the timescales change.

From outside the European Union

From a non-EU country such as Switzerland or the United Kingdom, the car goes through customs first: any duties due and import VAT are paid.

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands have IGIC instead of VAT, and the registration tax has its own rates.

Mistakes that delay registration

• Bringing the car without deregistering it in its home country.
• Paying without having the complete registration document in hand (in Germany, part II).
• Finding out at the ITV that there is no COC.
• Working out the tax with the CO2 figure from the advert instead of the registration papers.
• Buying an "almost new" car without knowing that VAT is due in Spain.
• Booking the ITV only once the car is already here.

If the car comes from France, Italy, Belgium or the Netherlands

The steps in Spain are the same, but the papers at origin change from country to country: the French official history report, deregistration in the Italian register, the Belgian Car-Pass or deregistration with the Dutch RDW. We explain them, in Spanish, on our pages for France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands.