Moving to San Cayetano

Buy a Spanish registered car in Spain. Firstly, you need to be left-hand drive if driving here regularly - ease of use at car park barriers, toll booths, etc.; but more importantly safety, particularly when overtaking.

If you did import your car, (unless it is a one-off import on your permanent move to Spain) you need to pay import duty which is based on a depreciation at 10% per year against the original cost of the car when new, multiplied by a % tax based on the car emissions {e.g. (not real rates, but close) - car £30k new, 5 years old, so £15k x 19% tax = approx. £3k tax}. You also need to have the car matriculated onto Spanish registration, take an ITV (MOT) and potentially change the headlights - average cost for this is around £1k. And you still have the inconvenience of driving a RHD car here. So, unless you have a car that you have a special attachment to, it's generally not worth it!

Used cars are generally more expensive in Spain than in the UK. www.coches.net is the equivalent of autotrader, so you can get an idea of prices there.

I've used Linea Direct (directline) for car insurance and they seem to be fair. Most insurance in Spain covers any driver over 25 years old, which is handy (the car is insured, rather than the driver).

Hope this helps!