For anyone thinking or starting the process of matriculating their UK registered vehicle, I hope this information will be useful. A friend of mine recently started the matriculation process of her UK registered car, and like most people including myself she thought that the first part of this process was to gain a mechanical report and ITV on the vehicle, she then discovered that the next process was the online completion of a form to the traffico department in Tarragona, which required a gestor's electronic signature.

Today we attended an appointment with the English speaking geston in Jesus, who told us the first thing to be completed is a visit to the British Consulate in Barcelona, who on production of your UK log book will issue you with a document. On production of this document to the traffico department you will then have NO import duty to pay on your UK car to Spain. He says this is a unique agreement between the UK and Spain. In my friends case this would have saved 600 euros. After gaining this document from Barcelona you then have one month to gain ITV on your vehicle and get the documents into Tarragona Traffic department.

In addition the gestor's charges for Matriculation of a UK vehicle is less than 100 euros for his services. Both my friend and I would recommend that you use the services of a Gestor to complete the process in a stress free and cheap manner. You yourself however have to attend the consulate in Barcelona, he then does the rest.

Hope this is of help to some of you.

We too have just completed the process.  Our experience was a little different.  We went directly to a Gestor (Cardona in Tortosa).  We needed the registration document (or in our case the certificate of permenant export), the original purchase invoice (to avoid paying any import tax) from when we bought the car (it was second hand but we had the invoice) and the letter from the consulate confirming that we lived here.

The consulate letter was obtained by phoning the consulate who then sent us a card to fill in (you can get the card from this site - see 'Registering with the British Consulate' in the 'Useful Info' section from the menu above).  We also needed to send in a letter from our ex-council in the UK to say that we no longer appeared on the electoral register.  We sent the letter from the council and the completed card in and transferred the fee (I think it was 20 or so euros) and they sent us the letter. We didn't need to go to Barcelona at all.

The total cost was €600 - this included everything - Gestors fees, ITV, Engineers report, 1st year road tax and all the Traffic department fees.

The only thing we needed to pay for then was the 2 number plates - €12 each.  You MUST take your document with your new registration number on it to the place you buy your plates from - they cannot make them without.

Nigel

I´ve also just completed the process.  Completely without any gestor.  The entire process cost me about 600 euros including paying the 2 taxes, itv & 12 months insurance.  Included a couple of nice afternoons out in Tarragona ... fab Roman architecture. :)

Also like to recommend these car insurance people for friendly advice, good communication &  competitive quotes:
www.spain-insurance.com

The only way you can avoid metriculation tax requires complying with a tight set of rules.

Must have owned the UK car for more than 6 months (not too difficult)
Proof that you have left UK  
Now the killer
Produce a letter of local residency (Padron) I believe.  The padron must be your first one issued  and less than 60 days old.  Then you can apply for a get out of paying tax card from the Consulate

So anyone has had a padron issued say for getting a mobile phone or something similar seems a bit unfair.

The metriculation tax is on a sliding scale based on

A The Valuation of Said Vehicle
B A % of this valuation is then payable dependant on the vehicles offical CO2 emissions.

Very Low emissions  0 % payable then next level about 5 % up to the max of around 16% for gas guzzlers 4x4 ect

% Figures are approximate. My C4 modern family diesel hatchback with very good MPG just misses the free tax band of  below 120 CO2 thingys at 128 and I will have to pay the lowest of the 4 scales @ 4.75% of the valuation of my car for matriculaion tax amongst the other fees for road tax ect

If anybody need assistance in re registering vehicles we can help. Just call Catalunya Insurance Services on 0034 977493607.

Chris,
What is the cost for you to Matriculate a car and approx.how long does the process take please ?

Hi. The cost is around 550 euros and usually it takes 2 to 3 months depending on how quick Tarragona process the papers. We do everything for the client. Some vehicles can be a little more complicated so may take a little longer. Some taxes may be applied.