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Importing, exporting and car trading: how it works

Making money with cars between countries rests on a simple idea: the same car isn’t worth the same everywhere. Germany has loads of used premium cars and they’re often cheaper; in other countries, a car that’s “worth nothing” in Spain is still in high demand.

The three businesses

Importing into SpainYou buy in another country (usually Germany, Belgium or the Netherlands), bring it over, register it here and sell it or keep it.
Exporting from SpainYou buy here and sell to someone in another country: in the EU (France, Portugal…) or outside it (Morocco, Africa, Latin America…).
Local tradingYou buy and sell within Spain. It’s the basis of everything: if you can’t buy well here, you won’t abroad either.
For yourselfImporting your own car to save money. It’s the best way to learn the paperwork without risking a business.

An import, from start to finish

1Find and checkYou find the car and check its history, mileage and papers.
2Buy and payContract or invoice. Never pay blind.
3Bring it overDriving on temporary plates or by truck.
4PaperworkCOC, ITV, taxes and registration with Tráfico.
5SellYou prepare it, advertise it and sell it with a guarantee.

What you need to know from the start

  • It’s a business with a lot of money tied up and small margins: you can have €25,000 in one car for weeks to make €1,000-2,000.
  • The paperwork isn’t hard, but a mistake can cost you dearly: a car that fails the ITV, a badly calculated tax or a car with debts attached.
  • If you do it regularly to make money, it’s an economic activity: you have to register. We cover it in the law lesson.
If you study or work in the motor trade you have a huge advantage: you can tell whether a car is good, what a repair costs and what they’re trying to hide.