I have read a lot of different post relating to moving to Spain. I also have made a decision to move there, I want to explore my heritage; my grandparents originated from Catalan. I live in the US and is becoming to militant, and intolerable. I have decided on Barcelona.

I have several questions:

It is wise to bring over a Mercedes S500 (2006) from the US; what insurance am I looking at?
Do apartments have covered parking spaces?

I receive approximately 35,000 Euros (Converted from US) yearly from an investment portfolio.

Would that be sufficient to pay for an rent, utilities, food, insurance, entertainment, etc?  The car is paid for so I don?t have a car payment.

Any input will be appreciated, and I may be duplicating questions already asked and answered.

Gracias Amigos,

REMI

Hi Chipstone, What’s the cost of shipping your Merc?  Generally speaking cars are 20-30% more expensive in Europe than the US, even some European models, but add on shipping and the difference will be significantly smaller. The legalities will be complex, too - see elsewhere on this site for details of re-registering foreign cars in Spain. Parking in Spanish cities is phenomenally difficult and expensive - think Manhattan levels - and although of course some apartment buildings have covered parking spaces, they will either be very expensive or out in the distant suburbs, or both. Commercial parking garages are expensive and cram cars into tiny spaces, so everyone has scratches and missing mirrors. Central Barcelona is just a lousy place to keep a nice car, and you really don’t want one except for hitting the countryside on road trips. I think 35k is a fair bit more than the average salary in Spain, but it depends on what standard of life you’re expecting to maintain and where you choose to locate. In Barcelona you can easily get through that and more. You should work a little though - it’s the best way to make a few friends and learn about the culture, and you’ll earn some extra money at the same time.

I visited my cousin in Madrid over the summer.  He shipped his car and his motorcycle over from the US.  His car is TRASHED from all the small parking spaces and tight streets (and he hadn’t been there for more than a year).  Leave your S500 at home.  If anything, bring a small car you can beat up and don’t have to worry about at all. 

Good luck!

BTW - in his building in Madrid you can buy a parking space for 100,000 euros

How much does shipping a car cost. I’d like to keep mine, if possible. I have a relative that lives in a small nearly remote area who I could probably leave it with safe and sound.

Hi Sulano,

We shipped our car from Baltimore to Madrid, we shipped it with our household goods which meant we used a 40ft container instead of a 20ft container but the price difference was only 700 USD so that made it worth our while since we wouldn’t have received much for the sale of our car in the USA and would have had to pay a lot more to buy something similar here (RAV4 1999). If you are moving here to live then you have a right to move your goods into the country free of tax and this includes the car. It was a pain getting it registered, i had to go to various places with my gestor to get tests and paperwork and had to replace the indicator light fittings but in the end it was worth it since it cost about 500 euro all in to get to the last stage i.e. getting the Spanish plates on it.
Geico is the only US insurer i believe that will give you a green card that allows you to legally drive the car over here until you get your plates after which you should switch to a local insurer. I could not find a Spanish company to insure it while it had US plates on it even though it was physically in Spain.

Hope this helps…