Guide to buying a car in Germany on your own

Buying a used car in Germany is an option we cannot ignore if we want to have a high-end vehicle at an exceptional price. As we saw in a previous article, you can buy cars from German brands (Mercedes, Audi, BMW…) at prices quite a bit lower than those offered in Spain. This can be done through an importing company or, as we will see now, by making the purchase ourselves.

Finding a car from a private seller

To find the car you are looking for in Germany, you can use websites specialized in this type of vehicle. Two good options are Autoscout.de and Mobile.de. On these websites you can choose the region to search in, the city, and the mileage range for the search. By filling in the corresponding fields, the vehicles for sale in the area appear, and you can begin to assess whether it is worth making the trip to Germany to buy the car.

The cheapest option is to fly to the chosen city and drive back in the newly bought car. In this way you can save quite a lot on the operation.

Documentation for the car for sale

The car being sold needs to have several documents that are essential for the sale to take place. These are the documents the owner of the car for sale must provide:

• Valid MOT (ITV).
• Certificate of Conformity: this is where all the vehicle’s characteristics appear.
• Registration certificate.
• Service book.

Once these documents have been checked, a first inspection of the car must be carried out, checking, among other things, whether the chassis number matches the one on the documentation. Keep in mind that German law requires the seller to disclose whether the car has been involved in any accident. If everything is in order and you have decided to proceed with the purchase, it is time to take the following steps, that is, to comply with all the requirements set by German law for buying the vehicle with full guarantees.

Procedures to complete

The first thing to do is prepare a sales contract. It must include all the documentation and the terms of the transaction. Buyer and seller must be properly identified, and the price and the date of transfer of the vehicle must appear.

Afterwards you must go through an ITV (MOT) inspection, which is mandatory to complete the sale. In this inspection 12 key points of the vehicle are checked and the exhaust gases are measured. The approximate cost of this inspection is 100 euros, which must be added to the cost of the car.

You must also apply for temporary insurance to make the return trip to Spain with the vehicle. Once the insurance has been granted, you must apply for provisional plates to travel to Spain across Europe. This procedure costs about 100 euros, and to obtain them you must present the following documentation:

• Passport.
• Inspection certificate (ITV).
• Emissions inspection certificate (ITV).
• Vehicle documentation.
• Temporary insurance certificate.
• International insurance certificate.

With this documentation you can obtain provisional insurance, which is valid throughout the European Union, and the provisional plates will be issued. These procedures must be carried out at the Verkehrsamt, the registration office. Each office has its own opening hours, so it is important to know them and to find out how to get an appointment in advance so that everything is as quick as possible.

Procedures in Spain

Once in Spain, several steps must be taken to be able to use the vehicle normally in our country. The first thing to do is a sworn translation of the contract, which will be written in German. It is essential to prove ownership of the vehicle.

Registration must be done as soon as possible, since new compulsory insurance must be taken out once the provisional one has expired. You will also have to pay the Mechanical Traction Vehicle Tax, which depends on the town council. With all of this, you must apply for the car’s registration at the Traffic Headquarters.

With all these documents, the car must once again go through an ITV inspection. All these costs can add around 500 euros to the total, so they must be added to the travel expenses to Germany and to the price of the car. The most advisable option is to leave all these procedures to a gestoría (administrative agency), since it saves time and you can enjoy your car as soon as possible.