Importing a car from the USA to Spain
From 1 July 2026 the EU customs duty on cars of US origin drops to 0% — a temporary measure, and it depends on where the car was built, not where you bought it. Everything else — homologation, import ITV, DGT paperwork — still applies. Our fee stays the same: €900 + VAT, with duty and taxes confirmed against your paperwork.
Prefer email? Write to info@itv-costablanca.es
We do not sell paperwork. We sell the outcome: your car on Spanish plates.
See the comparison →0% duty on US-origin cars — from 1 July 2026
Regulation (EU) 2026/1455 cuts the EU customs duty on cars of US origin from 10% to 0%, for imports from 1 July 2026 onward. It is the single biggest change for anyone bringing a car over from the United States — but it comes with fine print worth reading before you plan around it.
The 0% rate applies by origin of the vehicle, not where you bought it. A European or Japanese car purchased in the United States does not become US-origin and does not get the reduced rate — origin has to be backed by documents. The measure is also temporary, in force until 31 December 2029, so we check the rate that applies against the actual date of your import before anything is filed.
What changes and what does not
What changes is the duty: a US-origin car can now clear customs at 0% instead of 10%, provided the origin is documented. What does not change is everything else — the car still needs a full individual homologation, an import ITV, a DGT file and Spanish plates, exactly the same steps as any other import from outside the EU.
The papers we ask for
We need your US title or registration document in your name, the purchase invoice or bill of sale, your NIE and your padrón certificate. Because the 0% duty depends on where the car was built rather than where it was bought, we also need whatever documents establish the vehicle's origin before the DUA is filed — we will tell you exactly what qualifies once we have seen the car's paperwork.
Why we do not publish a tax figure
IVA and the registration tax (IEDMT) depend on the declared value, the invoice date and the technical sheet that comes out of homologation — and the duty rate itself sits inside a temporary measure. We would rather confirm the real numbers with your documents in hand than publish a figure that might not hold on your import date. Our own fee is fixed: €900 + VAT.
The file goes to the traffic office of your province
Registration is handled by the Jefatura Provincial de Tráfico that matches the owner's registered address. If you are on the padrón in Alicante province, your file is an Alicante file — regardless of where the car is parked. Appointments are booked through 060, the miDGT app or the DGT electronic office.
Check your paperwork before anything starts, handle customs clearance, coordinate the individual homologation with an accredited lab, book the import ITV slot and coordinate the filing with the DGT.
We are not an ITV station, not the homologation laboratory and not the DGT. The station carries out the inspection, an accredited lab certifies the homologation and the DGT issues the plates — we coordinate the process, move the car and answer for the timeline and the paperwork.
Customs duty (0% for US-origin cars, for now), IVA, IEDMT where it applies, the DGT fee and the town hall's IVTM. These are official charges — passed on at cost.
Individual homologation — the longest step
US-market cars have no European type-approval — no contraseña de homologación, no COC — so the only legal way in is an individual homologation under RD 750/2010, through a laboratory accredited by the Ministry of Industry. Count on 3–6 weeks from the physical inspection to the paperwork coming back from the ministry — a timeline the lab sets, not us. Cars typically need some combination of the following fixed before they pass:
Turn signals
US indicators are often red and combined with the brake light. European rules require amber turn signals, separate from the brake light.
Front position lights
Front sidelights need to show white, not amber.
Rear fog light
A rear fog lamp is mandatory in Europe, and most US cars don't have one — it has to be fitted.
Speedometer
The speedometer has to read km/h.
Where your car takes its import inspection
Alicante province has fixed stations in Alcoy, Alicante, Benidorm, Elche, Novelda, Ondara, Orihuela, Pilar de la Horadada, Redován, Torrevieja and Villena, plus mobile units in Benissa, Calpe, Castalla, El Campello and Santa Pola. We pick the station by real availability and by where the car is — not by where our office is.
Dénia and Jávea have no station of their own: the nearest one for the Marina Alta is Ondara. That catches out most people who have just moved here.
We work across the whole province
Coast: Dénia, Jávea, Teulada-Moraira, Benissa, Calpe, Altea, L'Alfàs del Pi, Benidorm, Villajoyosa, El Campello, Alicante, Santa Pola, Guardamar, Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa and Pilar de la Horadada.
Inland: Alcoy, Cocentaina, Ibi, Villena, Elda, Petrer, Novelda, Aspe, Elche, Crevillente, Orihuela, Almoradí and Callosa de Segura.
If your town is not on the list but sits in the province, write anyway: registration does not depend on distance, and we can move the car ourselves.
Where we can't give you a number today
We would rather tell you what we don't know yet than promise a figure we'd have to walk back later.
Cost depends on the model and on what's already fitted from the factory — we quote it once we've inspected the car, not before.
The 3–6 week homologation window is set by the accredited laboratory, not by us — we chase it, we don't control it.
It runs under a measure in force until 31 December 2029, and only for cars of confirmed US origin. We check both against your actual import date.
Tell us what the car is and where it was built
With the US title, the purchase documents and whatever proves the car's origin, we give you the full picture before anything starts. Duty, IVA and IEDMT stay estimates until we've seen the homologation's final technical sheet.
Prefer email? Write to info@itv-costablanca.es
Don't have the car yet?
We search the German market on your instruction and bring the car through to Spanish plates. You buy it from the seller — we are not a dealer and hold no stock.
How it works →Three ways to reach us
We answer during business hours, Monday to Friday, 9:00–18:00.
ITV Costa Blanca · Import Trade Vehicles Costa Blanca · sole trader · C/ Sant Josep, 16, 03700 Dénia (Alicante) · Service terms