[ephennaCypota]

The details of the cars that you are thinking of importing do throw a different perspective forward. Putting aside the RHD issue. Then I can see the value in bringing over, what could be termed as specialist cars. I too would consider importing something a bit special from the UK, as you quite rightly say, very hard to find here & expensive. However to me this would be a second car, purely for pleasure. One of the benefits of living here is that away from the main coastal and inland city areas, it is still possible to drive on un congested roads, and I could imagine the enjoyment of doing this behind the wheel of a classic Jaguar.

On the insurance issue, you do pay more for non Spanish registered cars, as the mainstream Spanish companies will not insure them. One thing to be careful of if you are driving round on UK plates is that, the car is only legally allowed to stay here for a maximum of six months at any one time. Please check out the small print, in the event of a claim proof may be asked for to show that the car has left the country. If you can’t prove it beware the get out clause in the small print. "Legal for use on the highway". I am not aware of anyone falling foul of this yet. But it is a possibility. Compensation vastly outweighs the cost of repair these days and I for one would not want to be exposed to this risk. Remember these days the over whelming majority of the cost of your insurance policy is to insure you against third party action.

Second hand car prices reflect market conditions and local taxation laws. The cost of trading in the business here is higher than the UK. When you px a car with your local dealer he should transfer the car from your name immediately and then when sold it has to be transferred again. For this you have to pay transfer taxes & a gestor. These cost all affect the price. There is IVA (VAT) on 2nd hand cars as well as new unlike the UK where VAT is only levied on new cars. You have to give a guarantee by law for a minimum 12 months. We all have been sold, or know of people that have been sold used cars with the insurance backed guarantee policies, which 1st time you come to use them cover absolutely nothing due to obscure condition hidden in the policy. After twenty years as a Service Manager the one that always amazed me was “The repair must be as a result of sudden component failure & cannot be due to far wear & tear” Right so what we need is a 60,000 mile 4 year car with no wear & tear? Good news is cars cannot be sold under these terms here. If it goes wrong we have to fix it within the period of guarantee. This obviously means that we make as sure as possible that the cars we sell are not going to end up costing a fortune in guarantee work.