Spanish Car Registration

Spanish car registration is all about the three T’s.  Understand how we can handle your car registration efficiently for you.

When we register a vehicle for a client, we break to process down into what we call, the 3 Ts; Technical, Tax and Tráfico:

Technical, Tax and Tráfico

Getting Spanish plates for your car can be a nightmare and a time-consuming process. It involves dealing with many different offices, passing a technical test and making sure you pay the right taxes at the time of registration. Using a complete start to finish service like ours takes away all that hassle and can even save you money. Our knowledge and experience mean we can get your vehicle onto Spanish plates with minimum hassle and effort required on your part.

Spanish Car Registration

Technical - Inspección Técnica de Vehículos

Before you can even think about registering a vehicle, it first must pass an ITV test. The different technical specifications of the car and where it’s from all effect the test and the paperwork required. If a vehicle has EU conformity, if it’s right hand drive, commercial or even historic all affect the requirements of the ITV centre. We asses this all beforehand so there are no last minute surprises the day of the test.

Tax

Once you have your documents from the ITV centre, you can move on to taxing your car:

Road Tax

In all cases, vehicles must pay road tax. You register for road tax at your local town hall or provincial tax office. Its known as IVTM or SUMA depending on which part of Spain you’re in. You will only pay tax for the remainder of the year, so if you were to register in June, you’d only pay for the last 2 quarters of the year. The tax is calculated normally by the horse power of the vehicle.

Special Registrations Tax

Here in Spain, to register a vehicle, you must pay special registrations tax. This tax is valued based on various factors including the age and emissions of the car. In some cases, if the registration is due to a change of residency, this tax can be waived as it’s your right to bring your vehicle with you as part of your personal belongings.

Change of Ownership Tax

If you haven’t owned the vehicle for a certain amount of time and you are a resident in Spain, you may be asked to pay Transmissions Tax. This also applies if the paperwork isn’t in your name.

Tráfico

With your ITV documents and your tax is all sorted, you can move on to Tráfico. This is the authority in charge of providing you with your ownership documents and plate number. They will require your passport, NIE or residency and proof of residence in order to provide you with your plate number. Once received, you can then have your Spanish plates made up.

Ready to find out more about Spanish Car Registration?

If you would like to find out how we can help you register your car in Spain, book a call with us today.