What is more profitable: to buy a car in Spain or to transport your own from Russia?

The first thing you need to find out is whether you are entitled to preferential customs clearance of your car.

Here is a short checklist:

— received your first Spanish residency (e.g. residence permit)
— you have owned the car for at least six months
— you have been registered in Russia for at least one year
— your car has been registered in Russia for at least one year

If you have passed the check, the customs clearance procedure itself will cost around 2000-2500 euros. The cost of the car does not affect the costs.

What is included in this amount:

Technical inspection — 150-200 euros
Technical description of the car — 150 euros
Technical passport — 135 euros
Application for new numbers — 96 euros
Replacement of numbers — 35 euros
State duty — 450-500 euros
Transport tax — 100 euros

Cost of customs broker services — from 900 euros.

If you do not meet the parameters of preferential customs clearance, then the cost of customs clearance will be about 40% of the cost of the car in Spain.

For example, if your car was valued in Spain at 40 thousand euros, then they will turn into 56 thousand euros in the end.

If you have an “American” — expect problems. In short, there will be problems with red turn signals, the absence of rear fog lights, and most importantly, the VIN number on the body or frame. We will talk about the difficulties of re-registering American cars in more detail — we know how to work with them.

Tuning is also not welcome in Spain. It is unlikely that you will be able to pass a strict technical inspection with non-standard optics, additional bumpers and other modifications to the car. If your car is “not like everyone else’s”, it is better to consult with us in advance to be sure that you will be able to re-register the car.

The main "problems" of cars from the USA: red turn signals, no fog lights and running lights, no VIN number on the frame.

There are many options here:

— drive it yourself
— hire a carrier
— use the services of a car carrier or tow truck

The price will vary from 1,000 euros to 3,500-6,000 euros, depending on the brand.

We have experience in transporting and registering cars when the car was in St. Petersburg and its owner was in Georgia. They met in Spain. The car had local license plates and was re-registered remotely.

According to the most conservative estimates, if you have the right to preferential registration, drive the car yourself and it fully complies with Spanish technical regulations, then you can get by with 3,000-4,000 euros.

That is, add this amount to the cost of your car in Russia - you will get the full cost in Spain.

After that, you need to find a similar model in the EU and compare. For example, a 2018 Volvo XC40 with full registration in Spain costs from 30,000 euros. A similar car in Russia is about 40,000 euros.

It seems that the choice is obvious. Why transport your car if it is cheaper to buy a new one in the EU?

Transportation is justified if it is a rare car, it is loved, in excellent condition and you have simply gotten used to it. In this case, money is not the main thing.