Car costs

Could anyone tell me roughly how much it would cost to run a small secondhand car, i.e. something like a Hyundai i10 or Renault Clio costing about €2000, probably around about 2002-2004 year of manufacture?

I am just trying to work out whether it will be beneficial to buy a small runabout to use for 5 1/2 months over the winter or whether just to keep hiring a car. It would probably also get used for the odd week or two over the summer when family are staying at the apartment.

Petrol slightly cheaper than UK, diesel a bit cheaper than UK so that would depend on your mileage.
Insurance costs about the same as UK (tends to go up the older you get, though).
Annual service costs much cheaper than UK.
Road tax on my 1.6 diesel SUV is €42.60 a year. It will depend on the CO2 emissions of the car you buy.

All in all, less petrol because that depends on the driver, about 500 euro a year for tax, insurance and service give or take.

And you won't get a Hyundai i10 from 2002 as they weren't made until 2007.

marcliff wrote:Petrol slightly cheaper than UK, diesel a bit cheaper than UK so that would depend on your mileage.
Insurance costs about the same as UK (tends to go up the older you get, though).
Annual service costs much cheaper than UK.
Road tax on my 1.6 diesel SUV is €42.60 a year. It will depend on the CO2 emissions of the car you buy.

All in all, less petrol because that depends on the driver, about 500 euro a year for tax, insurance and service give or take.

And you won't get a Hyundai i10 from 2002 as they weren't made until 2007.

Ok not an i10 . I need to add €250 to keep it at Alicante airport so about €750 a year to run. Hmm.... it's close, I think I will see how it works out this winter and then decide. Thanks Marcliff most helpful.

You do not need to pay to keep your car at the airport because it would be much cheaper to get a taxi to and from the airport.

Surely that would depend on how many times you came back and forth? A minimum of 90 euro return only gives three visits before it becomes more expensive.
Obviously, if just coming once, then it would be cheaper.
And, who knows, after next year a stay of over 3 months may become rather difficult without a long term visa or residency.

We are planning a couple of trips a year so it would be €180. I've seen that you can get parking for €200 which I think I would prefer as it should be safer.

Marcliff, I am hoping that the UK and Spain continue to have the same arrangements after next year as we bought the apartment with a view to spending the winters there and summers in the UK. At the moment we are planning on 5 1/2 months Spain/6 1/2 months UK but if it comes to the worst we will look to swop it around and take out Spanish residency. C'est la vie!

Now, there's the thing TonTri. I've been to a couple of presentations on this, one the British Consulate roadshow and another the Torrevieja/Orihuela town hall and Valencia reps, each one of them said you should formalise your status (ie, residency, padron, driving licence) before the withdrawal date at the end of March next year. After that it will become more difficult.

At the moment, for non-EU residents, only private healthcare counts, you have to show a lot more regular income than an EU citizen ($32,000 for a couple and more for each child) if you want residency. For non-residents it is a maximum of 90 days within a 180 day period (so 6 months a year but a minimum of 3 months gap after the first 3 months) or you have to get a long stay visa from the Spanish consulate / embassy in your own country.

Now, I'm not saying this will apply to UK citizens after Brexit (who knows what the agreements will be) but the over-riding message at these meetings was to do it before the exit date at the end of March next year.

marcliff wrote:Now, there's the thing TonTri. I've been to a couple of presentations on this, one the British Consulate roadshow and another the Torrevieja/Orihuela town hall and Valencia reps, each one of them said you should formalise your status (ie, residency, padron, driving licence) before the withdrawal date at the end of March next year. After that it will become more difficult.

At the moment, for non-EU residents, only private healthcare counts, you have to show a lot more regular income than an EU citizen ($32,000 for a couple and more for each child) if you want residency. For non-residents it is a maximum of 90 days within a 180 day period (so 6 months a year but a minimum of 3 months gap after the first 3 months) or you have to get a long stay visa from the Spanish consulate / embassy in your own country.

Now, I'm not saying this will apply to UK citizens after Brexit (who knows what the agreements will be) but the over-riding message at these meetings was to do it before the exit date at the end of March next year.

That's quite worrying, not just for us but also the thousands of other Brits who winter in Spain, France etc. We're coming over at the end of October and this will be our first whole winter in Spain, staying until end March/early April and then again a couple of weeks around the end of May. We're planning on signing on the padron and getting temporary SIP cards and if necessary sign on the register of Extrajaneros.

I've just realised though that we have just signed up for equity release so our UK house has to be our main residence unless we sell up, pay off the mortgage and buy a smaller house but that would be a big wrench. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed for now that things don't change.

Thanks for the heads up though, definitely food for thought.

Tontri - who do you currently use to rent a car?

I am watching this thread with interest (both the original topic and the Brexit meander it then took) as I too am aiming to do 6.5 - 7 months in the UK in summer/Spring and then 4 - 5 months in Spain over winter. Getting my head around the changes that could occur through Brexit is something I am struggling with. I will go now to the relevant forum and have a good read to find out what else aside from healthcare this might effect.

PGA wrote:Tontri - who do you currently use to rent a car?

I am watching this thread with interest (both the original topic and the Brexit meander it then took) as I too am aiming to do 6.5 - 7 months in the UK in summer/Spring and then 4 - 5 months in Spain over winter. Getting my head around the changes that could occur through Brexit is something I am struggling with. I will go now to the relevant forum and have a good read to find out what else aside from healthcare this might effect.

I use doyouspain who are an online comparison type site, but out of all the car hire companies they list I only use Firefly. We have always had good service with Firefly and many of the others have dreadful reviews. The trick though is to only book 2 to 3 weeks at a time as it works out much cheaper. Yes it means going back to the airport every 2 or 3 weeks to change the car but it only takes 40 minutes drive and we get there for about 11am, pick up the new car about 11:30 and make a day out of it, stopping for lunch at Gran Alacant, Santa Pola, La Marina or somewhere along that bit of coast. If you dont book too far ahead, i.e. 2-3 weeks before you fly out, the car hire works at a fraction of the price of hiring a car for several months.

Last winter was our first in Spain and we went from the end of October until mid December, came back to the UK for Christmas and then went back out from early February until early April. This year, as I mentioned above, we are going out from the end of October and staying 5-5 1/2 months so I am going to keep a record of the costs to see whether cheaper to keep a 2nd hand car in Spain.