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Buying a Car in Tenerife is certainly not as simple as buying a car in the UK. Buying a new car is relatively easy and is similar but if you are buying a car you will need an NIE Certificate and a Certificate of Empadronamiento.
If you are buying a second hand car you will need to be very careful as to whether it has any debts assigned to it such as parking fines, road tax or loans. These debts are associated with the car not the previous owner so if you buy a car and it has debts then you are responsible for them. You can check the car’s history at Ministerio de Trafico and you would also transfer the change of ownership there. You will also find that second hand cars in Tenerife hold their value well. If you are buying your car privately it is probably easier to employ someone to sort the paperwork out for you as it can be complicated, there are many on the island and a few advertise their services in the free Tenerife Newspapers. If you do buy a car in Tenerife then when you transfer the ownership you will have to pay a tax of 4% of the value of the car. This value is determined by the authorities, not you. Road tax is relatively cheap and you will find for a small car it is around 45 euros per year. Once the car is 4 years old it has to have an ITV which is the equivalent of an English MOT. These last for between one or two years depending on the condition of the car and once passed you have a sticker on the windscreen of the car with the expiry date. You need to keep all your documentation in the car for inspection as there are many checks by The Guardia Civil. These are identified by green uniforms and white and green vehicles. They park on roundabouts and the side of the road and pull over at random cars. They are not there for long and then move on to a different place for the road checks. They need no excuse to pull you over and they can be very tough. They can fine you on the spot and even impound your car if you do not have the means to pay so be warned.
You can of course bring your car from the UK, if you are a non-resident you can use it for 6 months of the year. If you are a resident you have 6 months from when you imported the car to matriculate it on to Tenerife plates if you drove the car to Tenerife. If you shipped the Car via a container you only have one month to complete the paperwork. One thing to remember is that if you have not owned the car for more than 6 months prior to importing the car you will have to pay extra tax which is around an extra 11% of the car value. If you do decide to import your car you would be well advised to employ the services of a company in Tenerife to handle things as it is a very complicated process.
Things to consider when you are bringing your car to Tenerife are basically is it worth it? and after your costs can you buy the same car in Tenerife for less. You have to take into account the cost of your various ferries, petrol etc. against flying to Tenerife. On top of your transport costs to Tenerife you then have the cost of Matriculating the car and taxes. Other costs would be for making the car fit to drive on the opposite side of the road such as new headlight units. More costs are involved with such things as a Technical Inspection of the car and you will have many forms to fill in all with a fee. It can be very complicated but there are people on the island that will do all this for you. You must of course remember to keep your ferry tickets and have them stamped and dated to prove the date of entry for the car. And after all that you have a right hand car to drive on the right hand side of the road and you can’t really see to overtake so it’s not that safe. Other problems include driving in and out of the underground car parks - yes the ticket machines and kiosks are all on the wrong side as are the drive in’s so you need long arms.
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