Buying cars

[bilbo]

Hi,

I need some advise on buying a LHD, Spanish plated car.

I am told that to do this I need to have my NIE card, and although I haven't applied yet, coming over at Easter to do it in Estepona (how long will it take to be processed ?)

I assume that even if you buy a car privately the seller will need to see the NIE and wondered whether there was a temporary solution rather than renting a car.

Thanks in advance

[McT]

An NIE isn't actually a card, it's an A4 sheet of paper. You need to go to the police station twice - first to fill in the form, then to collect your number. The time taken on each visit could vary between a few minutes and a few hours, depending on which police station you go to. The time between visits could be two or three days, or a couple of weeks - again dependent on how busy the particular police station is. I believe that you can also get an NIE number from the Spanish consulate in the UK, but that will certainly take weeks. Search this forum for more info.

Only Spanish residents can buy a Spanish plated car, so the other thing you need before you can buy one is one of the following:

A Certificado de Empadronamiento (which you get when you have registered with the local council and for which you need one of the two following items)

or

A long term rental contract

or

An escritura (title deed)

There is no temporary solution I'm afraid, other than registering the car in someone else's name.

McT

[daneinspain]

You can buy the car when you want its just registering your name that will suffer these consequences