Importing a Motorbike into Spain - a step-by-step diary!

[Knobby]

Hi Great post on bringing a UK bike to Spain.
Thinking of carrying this out with my bike. I live in Mojacar, where would I go for Traffico please ?

You would go to the office in Almería.

[Tetley]

just out of intrest,there was some body local,whom wanted to plate an RD 400  i saw the bike outside Longos it was like new,but i think the theiving nitts wanted abought 850e for the emissions tax alone ................. :crazy:

:tiphat:

This is half the problem; people who know ripping off those that don't!

If I use the same calculation and percentages that the tax office used on my bike, then the emissions tax on an RD400 should be approx. €50

knobby,can yer calculate mi the emissions for a 90,s 883,1200 Harley also a 70,s Iron head 1000 

TVM   :tiphat:

Took mi 25 year old gpx 600 to day for itv...... no emissions test,only decebell test, hey ho..... :)

[Maiasdanda]

Hi Great post on bringing a UK bike to Spain.
Thinking of carrying this out with my bike. I live in Mojacar, where would I go for Traffico please ?

[Knobby]

just out of intrest,there was some body local,whom wanted to plate an RD 400  i saw the bike outside Longos it was like new,but i think the theiving nitts wanted abought 850e for the emissions tax alone ................. :crazy:

:tiphat:

This is half the problem; people who know ripping off those that don't!

If I use the same calculation and percentages that the tax office used on my bike, then the emissions tax on an RD400 should be approx. €50

[cheakychops]

EU hate stokers that's why its so high.
That bike is worth a good few £ in UK
:wave

[Tetley]

just out of intrest,there was some body local,whom wanted to plate an RD 400  i saw the bike outside Longos it was like new,but i think the theiving nitts wanted abought 850e for the emissions tax alone ................. :crazy:

:tiphat:

[Jim1544]

  Great result Knobby, and thanks for taking the time to explain every step. Seems ironical when friends of ours transferred a german registered motorhome onto English plates in the UK, total cost....MOT about 40 quid and transfer cost 45 quid ?????? still, we are in Spain and they seem to overcharge for most services. well done mate.  regards, Jim

[Knobby]

I had my appointment at Trafico yesterday. I was given a ticket and waited to be called over to one of the 7 booths. When called I explained that I wanted to matriculate my motorbike and started to had over the various forms & documents that I had:

Completed "Solicitude de Matriculacion" form completed and downloaded here - https://sede.dgt.gob.es/Galerias/tramites-y-multas/tu-coche/matriculacion/9.03-Castellano.pdf (kept by Trafico)
Padron (returned to me)
NIE Certificate (returned to me)
Residencia Certificate (returned to me)
All 3 copies of the Ficha Tecnica from the ITV station (2 copies kept by Trafico)
Modelo 576 produced by the Gestor (kept by Trafico)
Certificate of road tax payment provided by my Ayuntamiento (kept by Trafico)
Original V5C Logbook (kept by Trafico)

I paid the Trafico fee of €94.60 and waited while the lady typed in loads of information into the computer and ticked off the various sections on the "Solicitude de Matriculacion". She then passed all 3 copies of the Ficha Tecnica through the printer to have the registration number printed onto them, followed by the new registration document. One copy of the Ficha Technica was returned to me along with the new registration document, and ....................

That was it - job done!  :drinks:

All that was left was to find somewhere to produce a numberplate which I did at a cost of €10. I just have to fit it now, get my insurance sorted and I'm on the road again.

So here's a summary of costs (your will obviously be different but it'll give an idea):

Ficha Tecnica Reducida - €135
Import ITV - €159.78
Road Tax (pro-rata) - €12.72
CO2 Emissions Tax - €133.96
Gestor Fee - €10
Trafico Fee - €94.60
Numberplate - €10

Total - €556.06 plus a bit of fuel for the running around.

The Gestoria I use for sorting out my tax affairs, etc. here in Spain wanted €946.22 to do this form me. I'm sure there would have been others who would have quoted more, and some who would've been considerable less. But with a little bit of Spanish, Google Translator and some time, it's relatively easy to do it yourself.  :tiphat:

[shirtsleeve]

Brilliant post Knobby, now that you've got all your papers its time to get your bum on your bike and ride one of the finest roads in all of Europe. Whip along to Seron on the Baza road enter the village and hang a left just before the village signposted Gergal, when you get to the top hang a right upto Calar Alta. Blow you mind with the views, then turn back the way you have come and hang a right at the junction to Bacares in the village do stop at the hostal for cuppa that's a must as you about to ride one of the best roads ever. Take the road to Velefique, STOP at the top before you hit the 16 hairpins and God knows how many wonderful bends to take some piccys. Once you've belted down this road its on to Tabernas take a left towards Sorbas before you get there take left towards Uleila del Campo through the village then take the mountain road over to Albanchez and then on to Arboxland. I know you have just enjoyed that. The next one is a blast to Cazorla and back about 500k in the day. yum yum.
                Always sunny side up, Shirty (Steve)

[markandkaren]

i'm glad i did mine a few years ago because it looks like they've complicated it even more.   i did two trips to huercal overa (to drop off old and collect new paperwork) to the gestor who did my ficha tecnica as well,  paid tax at my ayuntamento, trip to lorca itv, number plate made on the way home and i thought that was a lot of work. well done knobby for going through all that. feels good doesnt it to have a shiny white number plate.    mark

[Tetley]

it was a 98/ 99 sportster ,HD  said they didnt issue co2 certs for uk bikes ,this was going back around 3 years ,i was  looking for a harley project at the time ,883,1000 iron head or 1200 but he had a right twxt abought and ended up taking the bike back to the uk ,wich at the time put me off bothering so i bought a cheap sports bike.


:tiphat:

if we dont come out of the EU  i might have another look at project  cruzin later  :)

[Knobby]

Knobby

were did the gestor get the co2 emission figures  from  ?

somebody i know tried to plate a Harley and they wouldent do it because he couldent get an emissons cert from HD and they wouldent do the paperwork this end without the HD  emissions cert.

:crazy:

The Gestor didn't get CO2 figures - he just entered the details on the Modelo 576 for me. I don't have any CO2 figures for my bike, as at that time they didn't keep records of the emissions. To get around this the tax office taxes your bike at the highest rate. I reckon he used the wrong rate for mine and I ended up paying about €15 more than I should have (or so I believe) but I'm not too worried about that.

Once my bike has been matriculated I'm going to do my car. I asked KIA in the UK for a Certificate of Conformity and they sent it to me free of charge (which will save my €135 for a Ficha Tecnica Reducida). The CoC states the CO2 emissions for my car.

What age was you friends HD? Maybe he needs to speak directly to the tax office or get a new Gestor.

[Tetley]

Knobby

were did the gestor get the co2 emission figures  from  ?

somebody i know tried to plate a Harley and they wouldent do it because he couldent get an emissons cert from HD and they wouldent do the paperwork this end without the HD  emissions cert.

:crazy:

[brucie1]

must agree with you its informative and about spain where we live a great post lets hope more people will pass this sort of information with such quality

[steveconway24]

Without a doubt!
This is the best post ever, posted on the Arboleas forum. Not just for bikers, but all the people still driving around in UK plated cars.
Keep us informed Knobby.

[Knobby]

Onwards and upwards...............

This morning I went to my Ayuntamiento (Lubrin) to pay my road tax. I handed over my Ficha Tecnica to the lady who then calculated the amount of road tax to pay. For a bike the size of mine the yearly figure is €38.16 (different Ayuntamientos may charge different amounts) but as there's only 4 months left before 2015 tax is payable mine came to €12.72. She gave me a note with the relevant details on to take to the bank and pay. Once I returned with the receipt she gave me a certificate to say my road tax had been paid.

Next stop was the tax office in Huercal Overa to pay the CO2 emissions tax. This is where I hit a bit of a snag!

To pay this tax you have to complete form Modelo 576, and try as I might I couldn't find it on the tax office website so thought I'd just ask for one when I went to the tax office. I arrived at the tax office and took a ticket for my turn, but had hardly sat down before my number came up on the screen and I was off upstairs to my allocated desk. I explained what I wanted to do and the guy told me that you can no longer complete a Modelo 576 manually; they have to be completed electronically via their website. To do this you have to have some kind of special, secure access which I don't have (but plan to get in the future if possible). The only other option was to pay a Gestor to do it for me. The guy did, however, do the calculation to show how much I would have to pay in tax (€133.96) and printed out a sheet for me.

I wandered down the road and come across a Gestors office so popped in and asked if they could complete the Modelo 576 on my behalf. They could and proceeded to enter various details from my Ficha Tecnica, Padron and sheet from the tax office into a form on the tax office website. I was given a printout and told to go to the bank, pay the tax and return with the receipt. This I duly did and a few minutes later was given my completed Modelo 576. I was surprised when I asked "How much do I owe you?" - €10! Considering the amount of time it took I was expecting 3 or 4 times that!

It now appears I have everything I need, and I have an appointment with Trafico next Monday. Before I go I need to complete and print off the "Solicitud de Matriculacion" form ( https://sede.dgt.gob.es/Galerias/tramites-y-multas/tu-coche/matriculacion/9.03-Castellano.pdf ) and remember to take all my other documents with me, e.g. Residencia, Padron, Passport, etc.

I'll report back after the Trafico appointment.

[Knobby]

Went through the ITV test this morning and she passed with one minor defect  :clap:

When I arrived at the ITV station I had to show my original V5C again even though they had a copy. The inspection is nowhere near as thorough as an MOT test in the UK, so if your bike would pass an MOT then you should be fine. They do, however, check the CO2 emissions and the loudness of your exhausts (properly with a decibel meter and each exhaust is done separately), and compare the figures to those on your VIN plate and Ficha Technica Reducida. It appears that you are allowed 4dB above these figures before you fail - mine was 0.4dB above that quoted on my VIN plate so was OK.

After the test I had to wait around in the office for quite some time while they prepared the paperwork. Once done I was presented with the ITV checklist and 3 copies of the ITV document for the matriculation process proper. I was also given my ITV sticker which, in my case, lasts for 2 years.

Cost of the ITV inc. IVA was €159.78

[rf9rider]

Really interesting for me too, planning to sort my Triumph Tiger out ready for Spain in a while.

Final cost of doing it yourself would be handy to know, seeing what saving there would be of getting someone else to do it.

[Knobby]

They young lady phoned me this morning to tell me (in excellent English) that may appointment is tomorrow at 11:30.

I'de better give the old girl a scrub-up.

[Jim1544]

  A really useful post, thanks for posting it and I'm sure there are lots ,of british bike owners watching with interest for the final result.  regards, Jim

[Knobby]

Hi folks,

Well my UK tax and insurance has expired and the MOT will be up soon too, so thought it time to attempt to matriculate my 2003 Aprilia ETV1000 Caponord. I've had a few quotes for other people to do it for me but it's prohibitively expensive so, with a bit of research and some info from ghostrider1611 on this forum, I'll be attempting this myself. I thought it an idea to document the process here for anyone else who wants to have a go. My Spanish is rubbish so this is going to be an additional obstacle.

Before I left the UK I swapped headlamps with a guy who was returning with his Caponord from Italy so this saved me quite a few quid. I'd also heard that I would need a Certificate of Conformity (CoC) from Aprilia and asked them if the could supply one. They said not, as they only supply them for bikes up to 10 years old.

Last week I went to the ITV station in Vera to find out what documents I would need to present to them to obtain my Import ITV. I took with me my V5C (logbook) and asked what else I would need to present. The lady told me that I would need the original V5C and one of the following:

1. A Certificate of Conformity from Aprilia (see above)
2. A Ficha Technica Reducida which is a complete technical specification of your bike
3. A report from an Ingeniero Technico (she gave me the number of the engineers college in Almeria but I could never get an answer)

I went for option no.2 and applied for this document from TUV Rheinland in Madrid ( http://www.tuv.com/es/spain/home.jsp ) at a cost of €135. They sent me a questionairre to complete and return to them, but said just to leave out anything I didn't know or understand. I returned this with photographs of the VIN plate and the VIN number stamped on the frame. While I waited for this document to arrive I returned my bike back to standard just to avoid any potential problems at the ITV station. End cans replaced with standard exhausts, luggage racks removed, standard height screen refitted, etc.

When the Ficha Technica arrived after only 2 days I checked through it and found a couple of mistakes; it said my bike had ABS which it doesn't, that it was fitted with catalytic converters in the exhausts which it isn't, and the part number for my exhausts was wrong (yes, they even include the make and part number of the exhaust in the document so good job I'd put the standard ones back on). I contacted TUV with the changes, sent the Ficha Technica back to them and 2 days later received an amended one.

Today I returned to the ITV station in Vera with my V5C and my Ficha Technica and presented them to the lady at the counter. She has a quick look through them then told me to take a seat and wait while someone else checked them properly. After 10 minutes or so she called me back to the counter, entered the details into their computer system and started a file for the paperwork. She took a copy of my V5C and returned the original to me, but kept the Ficha Technica and placed it in my file. She then printed out 2 copies of the "Solicitud de Inspeccion no periodica" for me to sign; one copy placed in my file and the other copy for me to keep. She then told me they would phone me (possibly tomorrow) to tell me when my appointment for the ITV test would be.

I'll update you all when things progress.