Never nice getting bills for a sold car!

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This is a true story about a successful businessman in La Zenia, who made a big mistake and kicked himself afterwards. 

Brian sold his car in a small now defunct car dealership in Cabo Roig in 2006 as a trade-in on a new Honda he had bought. The dealer said they would organise the paperwork when they re-sold his old Tata jeep. Rather than have us check it, and against his better judgement, he agreed and thought no more of it. 

Two full years later, Brian got a speeding fine, and a bill for Suma (road tax). 

He went looking for the dealer, who had returned to wherever he was from and a new unhelpful mechanic was running the showroom. Bottom line, absolutely no progress. Brian contacted the police, nothing they could do, so it was now a case of damage limitation as our solicitor said that Brian legally he was 100% liable for the fines and taxes. He still owned the Tata as the paperwork had not been done.

Firstly, this is why people should absolutely come to someone like us when they sell a car privately, as otherwise it can and often will, end up a mess. We have many cases involving private sales turning sour although Brian bought through a small unregistered dealer. One case in particular comes to mind involving a young guy whose parents had sold a car privately. This was expensive for all involved. 

What needs to be done when a car is sold is a contract of sale and a change of paperwork at Trafico, which we can arrange for you. You must get the buyer´s ID.  If this is not done, the log book will stay in the previous owner´s name, and they will be responsible for any fines, road tax etc, unless it can be proven that they car was sold. Worse still, imagine Brian’s car or the car of any of our other clients had been involved in a crime? 

We told both Brian that we could resolve his problem, and duly did, very cheaply, with the purchase contract and their passports. It is of course best to do things properly, and secondly to always keep records of paperwork and ID if you sell a car. 

For clients in this situation, the car will be taken out of their name by us doing a “baja” or taking it off the road, as we have no choice, but the “owner/seller” will still be liable for fines and so should get a denuncia against the buyer to prove that they no longer have the car and that the buyer has the car and should be complying with changing the ownership. Obviously this should only be done after every attempt to contact the seller who has disappeared or would not deal with paperwork, even possibly via a legal letter. 

If you are buying a car in Spain, the cost of dealing with the purchase/sale properly relative to the cost of the vehicle itself is very small. Please don’t even think about not doing it properly. 

 Contact Amanda on enquiries@spanishsolutions.net with any motoring related queries, as we have a special offer on until the end of January 2018.

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