Buying a second-hand car

Rumour has it that buying a used car is nowhere as simple as in New Zealand. But it can run similarly smooth in Spain. What makes it particularly easy is the fact that Spanish number plates stick to the car, not to the owner. The only backdraw really is that you already need to have a NIE number ("Número de identidad de extranjero"). Then, all you need to do is to take the following two step:




First, purchase a car. You'll find heaps of second-hand cars on vibbo.com, coches.com and wallapop.com and so on. For the purpose of the purchase the General Directorate for Traffic (Dirección General de Tráfico, DGT) hands out a ready-made sale agreement ("Contrato de Compraventa"), short and clean. You can download it here [c] or get one in their office. In the agreement basically both parties agree on the car as seen and the seller confirms that there are no hidden flaws to it. Make sure that you also have a copy of it. Once agreed upon the sale, the seller should provide the following [0]:

• Vehicle registration document ("Permiso de Circulación")
  
• Proof of roadworthiness (a valid ITV test certificate)
  
• Receipt for municipal vehicle tax ("Impuesto Municipal sobre Vehículos de Tracción Mecánica")
  
• a copy of the former owners DNI ("documento nacional de identidad")
  
• a signed transfer agreement [1] (See next paragraph)

Second, claim the car's number plate. You are obligated to let the DGT know that you are the new owner ("cambio de titular"), so they can update their database. Therefore both seller and buyer have to sign a transfer agreement ("Solicitud de Transmisión de Vehículos"). Typically this is done by mutually paying a spontaneous visit to the DGT with the seller. However, Barcelona DGT nowadays requires to previously arrange an appointment ("cita previa"). You can get your cita here. So you will likely be doing this on your own. All you need to bring is the following:

• The former owners signature under the transfer agreement 
• The copy of the former owners DNI
• 53,40 € fee ("Tasa cumplimentada")
• Your own DNI and drivers licence
• And finally the vehicle registration document ("Permiso de Circulación").

And that's it. You're good to go, the car is all yours.

Good Luck,
Luigi


Some further notes

• DGT address: Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes, 184, Barcelona, 08071; Telephon: 932 986 500
• Make sure to see the originals of all the paperwork when buying privately and to match the name on the paperwork to those on the sellers' personal identification document.
• It is common practise to use the service of agencies to have the paper work at the DGT done for you. But the process is really simple and can easily be done by yourself.
• Old diesel machines will soon be banned from the city. Don't buy them.
• You'll probably need an insurance. I found Mapfre rather expensive, Generali was fine.
• Some first hand information [0,2]

Vocabulary
Número de identidad de extranjero - identification number for foreigners
Contrato de Compraventa - sale agreement
Permiso de Circulación - Vehicle registration document
Impuesto Municipal sobre Vehículos - municipal vehicle tax
documento nacional de identidad - National identification document
cambio de titular - change of owner
Solicitud de Transmisión - transfer agreement
cita previa - previously arranged appointment
Impuesto de Circulación - motor vehicle tax


Links
[0] https://sede.dgt.gob.es/es/tramites-y-multas/tu-coche/cambios-titularidad-o-transferencias/
[1] https://sede.dgt.gob.es/Galerias/tramites-y-multas/modelos-solicitud/02/Mod.02-ES.pdf
[2] http://revista.dgt.es/es/tramites/2015/1110-tramites-cambio-titular.shtml
[c] https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik_luDdq1W4IcwhMqmDpnzp7qNgPU7COrb9umLKfJAx5nhVkHFRl71QsajRdef_rU1Cn2EX8O44DL3IuhxR_B4gXWCvP6vo-H32s1QcyKOxUFxMcL8cc6VirBIUbioa5Ep7cXj-8e2XYvo/s1600/contrato.png