Registering a Foreign Car in Spain: Deadline, Tax and DGT Steps

Residents of Spain cannot keep driving a car with foreign plates: it must be registered with the DGT (matriculación), normally within 30 days of starting to use it in Spain, or 60 days if you qualify for the tax exemption for moving your home. The steps are deregistering the car abroad, an ITV inspection, the registration tax or its exemption, the local road tax and the DGT application.

When do you have to register the car?

The Agencia Tributaria states that residents of Spain are not allowed to drive vehicles with foreign plates and gives owners 30 days to register an imported car. Under the excise tax law, Ley 38/1992, a car used in Spain without applying for Spanish registration within 30 days becomes liable for the registration tax. The period is 60 days when the car comes with you as part of a move of your main residence and the moving-home exemption applies.

While the process is under way, you can drive only with valid temporary plates from the country of origin or with Spanish green temporary plates (placas verdes), and only if the car is insured. The DGT says green plates allow driving for two months and can be extended.

Do you have to pay the registration tax?

The Impuesto Especial sobre Determinados Medios de Transporte (registration tax) is paid once, when a vehicle is first registered in Spain, on form 576. For cars, the rate depends on official CO2 emissions. These are the state rates for the Spanish mainland, as of November 2026:

Regions can approve their own rates, which then replace these, so the rate shown when you complete form 576 is the one that applies. For a used car, the tax is calculated on its current value rather than the original price.

Can you avoid the tax when you move to Spain?

Yes, if the car comes with you as part of moving your main residence to Spain. Article 66 of Ley 38/1992 exempts it if all of these conditions are met:

• You lived outside Spain for at least the 12 consecutive months before the move.
• You bought or imported the car with the normal taxes paid in the country of origin, and it did not benefit from any tax exemption or refund when it left that country.
• You used the car in your previous country of residence for at least six months before you left.
• You apply for registration within the deadline, 60 days in this case.
• You do not sell or transfer the car for 12 months after registration. If you do, the tax becomes payable from that date.

The exemption is declared to the Agencia Tributaria on its own exemption form rather than paid on form 576, and the DGT accepts the receipt of either as proof. Keep evidence of your previous address, the purchase invoice and the car’s registration abroad, since you may be asked to prove each condition. Cars from outside the EU also go through customs, with import duties and VAT, which the Agencia Tributaria explains separately.

What are the steps?

The DGT’s procedure for cars coming from another EU country:

1. Deregister for export in the country of origin before bringing the car to Spain.
2. Pass the ITV (technical inspection) at an authorized station. Bring the foreign registration document and the European certificate of conformity (CoC) or an equivalent homologation document. The station issues the Spanish technical card. Cars from before 2002 without European homologation need an engineer’s report first.
3. Settle the taxes: the registration tax on form 576, or the exemption form; and, if you bought the car rather than moving with it, proof of VAT or transfer tax.
4. Pay the local road tax (impuesto de circulación or IVTM) to the Ajuntament where you live. It is charged every year and depends on engine power.
5. Apply to the DGT online or in person at a traffic office (Jefatura de Tráfico), using the procedure for new vehicles or vehicles from abroad, and pay DGT fee code 1.1.
6. Fit the plates. With the new registration certificate, buy Spanish plates at an authorized plate maker and fit them.
7. Take out Spanish insurance on the new plate number.

The DGT warns that the process can take time, so start the ITV and paperwork as soon as you have your residence documents.

What else changes once the car has Spanish plates?

Once registered, the car appears in the DGT vehicle register, which determines its environmental classification and therefore whether it can enter Barcelona’s low-emission zone. The annual road tax is billed by the Ajuntament of the address on the car’s registration, so keep it up to date; our guide to registering on the padrón explains how to prove your Barcelona address. Your driving licence is a separate matter, with its own six-month rule, covered in our guide to driving in Spain on a foreign licence.

Bottom line

Check the moving-home exemption before you ship the car: if you have used it abroad for at least six months and plan to keep it for a year, you can usually skip the registration tax. Find the certificate of conformity before the move, because the ITV station needs it and a replacement has to come from the manufacturer or its importer.

FAQ

Can I drive my foreign car while I wait for Spanish plates?

Only with valid temporary plates from the country of origin or Spanish green plates, and with insurance. Once you are a resident, normal foreign plates are not enough.

How much does registration cost?

There is the DGT fee, the ITV fee, the plates, the annual local road tax and, unless you are exempt, the registration tax based on CO2 emissions. The first three are fixed amounts set by each provider or the DGT; check them when you book.

Do I need a gestor?

No. You can do every step yourself, but many people use a gestoría (administrative agency) to handle the DGT and tax forms for a fee.

What happens if I sell the car within a year?

If you registered it under the moving-home exemption, selling or transferring it within 12 months makes the registration tax payable from the date of the sale.