Our Search for a Car in Spain
Our car, Seat Ibiza 2014 TDI. SEAT is owned by VW and made in Spain. VW also Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche and Skoda.
Buying a car anywhere is an interesting proposition. We purchased a few cars in the US and I hated the process. My father would go buy a car and by the time he was finished haggling they gave him the car, for nothing! I’m not my father when it comes to buying vehicles. Cindy is much better.
We have lived in Ronda for over a year, minus the trip back for “The Wedding” and we’ve not had a car; buses, trains, and friends have taken us places when the destination was mutual, like a party or shopping, but really it was time to spread our wings. We also have friends coming to visit and our children will be here for Christmas, and Raphael and Kathy (daughter in-law’s parents) will be in Málaga December to March so we need a car. Another good point to make here is economics. The value of the dollar in relation to the Euro. When we arrived in August 2014 the exchange rate was $1.35 to the Euro, yesterday it was $1.07. A 10.000 € car went from 13.500 € to 10.700 €, a huge savings. So the Euros fall, ability to move about more freely, the children and friends are coming just meant that the time was right. Since I’m speaking about money, let’s talk gas/diesel prices in the world. I know in the US they have fallen from $3.50 range when we left to $2.20ish now. Same here and the drop has been as significant. When we arrived, I’ll use diesel since most cars here are, the price was 1,30 € per Liter and 3.78 L equal a gallon, so the math comes out to 4,91 € or at the 2014 exchange $6.63 in 2014. Yesterday in Ronda a liter was .98 € per liter times 3,78 equals 3,70 € and now with the more favorable exchange rate, $3.96, down 59% compared to about 62% in the US. So the drop in price helped everyone and since a Spaniard’s annual income is lower than the US it helps even more. I put 44 liters into the car yesterday, full tank, and spent 44 €, $46. Diesel is less costly in Spain and probably Europe, but I’m only guessing in Europe. Spain it definitely is. Enough with the economics.
Finding a Car
The car dealers are similar to the US. Many are private and deal only with second-hand cars, which are really a good buy since we have no Vermont WINTER, and SALT. Cars here last. The average Spanish car is 10 years old and being diesel, they run forever. I used three websites: http://coches.net, http://coches.com and http://segundomano.es, they’re all very good and there’s a wide selection. We visited a dealership that sells Fiat and Toyota, but unlike Cody Chevrolet or Berlin City with massive lots full of cars and trucks, I haven’t seen one. They will have just a few newer models, some used and do not have the huge inventories you would see in the US. Also in the states salespeople come out to greet you and really hover over you, not here, much more relaxed. So you just have to adjust to the new reality which was not really a big problem.
The first car we looked at was in Marbella, 48km south and our good friends John and Carol Small who are fantástico, as John would say, were wonderful and headed there and dragged us along.(Word of caution to friends and family, especially those who get car sick. The road to Marbella will do that, as Cindy can attest to. This road is the App Gap in Waitsfield on steroid and we will have a supply of dramamine in the glovebox.) The trip to Marbella was our first and is really different from the rest of our world here. Many Europeans and others who own second homes and English is spoken by many, however, we went there to test drive a Seat Leon like John’s. The car was white, lots are white, nice car, a few dings, Spanish cars have dings. The car was ok but we decided to keep looking, it was the first car.
I found a used car dealership in Ronda on the recommendation of our friend Miguel who owns the local jamon store. Mobikars is located in north Ronda and I went to see what they had. They had no automatic but a nice Peugeot, white with low mileage, and the former owner was the daughter of the owner of Mobikar, Paco Castillo (more coming on Paco and you’ll have to keep your Pacos straight). I called Cindy to tell her about the Peugeot which was a manual, but she said we needed the automatic, and she’s right again. It is just so much easier especially when in cities and mountains like here in Ronda. The wife knows!!
So we found a nice Seat Ibiza 2014 TDI with DSG (automatic transmission) with only 48.000 km, 30,000 miles at http://karavan.es . I contacted Paco Castillo and met his partner, Paco. Paco Castillo said if I wanted to see the car he would pick us on at our house on Wednesday morning and drive us down. He had some business to do in Málaga so we went with him and while there visited a Fiat/Toyota dealer. We had a Prius in the US and loved it and hybrids are automatics, but the one they had on the lot was too expensive so we continued our journey to see the Seat Ibiza. We met the salesperson, Francisco Millián Gutiérrez, another Paco, I’m not making this up. In fact we have a friend in Hull, MA from Spain with connections to the our family who I plan on writing about in the future who is another Paco, and the young man I’m helping with English is Paco too. Now back to the car. It was just what we were looking for and grey, actually more silver. We decided we liked the car which ticked all the boxes, so the end, well not quite. Important to remember when buying a car here, road violations follow the car and not the driver. You must make sure the car has a clean driving record and you will be held responsible for any outstanding fines associated with the vehicle. Strange but true. And we still aren’t quite finished.
We brought everything we thought needed to close a deal: Cindy’s passport, NIE, my DNI, bank book (no checkbooks in Spain). The one document we didn’t bring was the proof that we live in Ronda and have registered with the local town government, Ayuntamiento. What is interesting is our document here in Ronda was from May but it can only be 3 months old. So back to Ronda and the first job here was to go to the Ayuntamiento (town hall) and get a new one. It was simple enough, we just showed the old one which had all the information and in a minute we had the new one. I then scanned the document and sent it to Paco in Málaga. Now insurance on the car, Nick Bergeron where are you? I spoke with a representative from Linea Directa. He had lots of questions and I had lots of answers. The deductable could be 210 € for a 500 € policy or for 180 € more, no deductable and I spend 680 €. We took the more expensive policy 100% coverage and a new car if totalled. He recommended the more expensive policy and you might think, good salesperson. But driving in Spain is different, remember the car with dings. Spanish drivers have, let’s say have a reputation. Also included is roadside assistance anywhere in Europe, AAA type coverage. Total cost of the insurance as I said was 680 € which is a very comprehensive policy similar to the US and will decrease over 5 years at 15% a year with no claims. With some good luck that could be 75%. Now one more detail, pay for the car and since there are no checkbooks or checks of any kind you must transfer money from your bank to theirs. I had taken a lesson at my bank in Ronda from Julian, great guy. I setup the system to implement the transaction and tried 3, 4, 5,…more times, nothing. I called our language school and received help from Javier, another great friend. I could write another 7 pages, but in short the cause of the problem was my account was set to only pay X amount, which I guess they set unilaterally. I needed to send 2X to buy the car, so my amount had to be increased which we did over the phone. This is similar to raising your credit card limit which I have done in the US. When you make a large transfer in Spain the last part of the process is the bank will send a code to your cellphone to make sure it’s you. Enter the code as the final step and terminado. There are definitely more layers of security here involving money. One more small item when buying in Spain, Impuesto al Valor Añadido, IVA. This is a value added tax or consumption tax, similar to a sales tax but not exactly the same. Spain has a 21% IVA (pronounced here as EVA) which is applied to most things you buy, including food. However, the rate you pay depends on what you buy. A car is 21%, food is 4%, and for certain items, like entry into a museum, tax free. So Vermont’s 6% sales tax is in comparison quite small.
I think we just purchased a car!
Thursday after all the paperwork had made its way to Paco in Málaga we contacted Paco in Ronda who had offered to take us back on Friday, but unfortunately he was unable to fit us into his vehicle since his family was going with him. This really wasn’t a problem since the buses here are so good. Friday morning we hopped on the bus and arrived in Málaga at 10:45 and took a taxi to the car dealer. Paco in Málaga said, “You’re punctual” and I said, “It’s an American thing”. We signed the papers, actually it’s Cindy’s car, only her name is on the title. I had explained that we wanted both names on the title but you can’t do that here so it’s her car. After all the papers were signed and a little discussion about the buttons and the gear shift we were set to voyage out onto Spain’s highways. (There will be a future article on driving in Spain, which you will be able to experience it by coming to visit us)We left the dealership and were heading home, but first, IKEA. When looking for the dealership I noticed IKEA was directly opposite and they’re pretty obvious with the patriotic Swedish colors. Another good item I brought from the US was my Garmin GPS. I could use my phone but coverage can be challenging in mountains and the Garmin is more reliable. (I don’t know who chose the person or computer to give directions in English for Spanish driving, but it’s the worst Spanish pronunciation in the world). So first stop was IKEA where we bought some items for the impending arrival of family and friends, Friday the 13th was definitely a fun day.
What I know now!
- You can buy a car in Spain and it isn’t that difficult
- Finding an automatic isn’t that hard either, but you’ll have to search to find just the right car, as you would anywhere.
- Many companies offer insurance.
- Spanish people are wonderful and this experience was no different, many were helpful in so many ways.
- Our English friends John and Carol Small took us to Marbella twice to find a car, really generous people.
- You can only have one owner on a car title in Spain.
- Make sure your residence document, Certificado de Empadronamiento, padrón is less than 3 months old
- Make sure the amount of money you want to transfer from your bank here to the seller can be accomplished, you may have to increase the limit.
- Buy or bring your GPS and make sure you have European maps installed before coming.
- We lived here for a year without a car which was a good idea. You need to see if you fit, we do.
- I will continue to say that Spain has a different rhythm; so did Australia when l lived there and so does Vermont, not better or worse just different.
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Road Trips!
Our España 