Your identification reference
You obtain it
The identification number Spain files your import against. Without it the declaration cannot be lodged, and it is the single item most likely to be the thing everyone is waiting on — so start it first.
London to Spain
Removals from London to Spain
The drive is long and entirely predictable. What is not predictable is a move where somebody left the documentation until the week before — so this page starts with the paperwork and who obtains each piece.
Five documents, and whose job each one is
Proof of the Spanish address
You obtain it
Evidence that the address on the declaration is genuinely where you are going to live. A rental contract, a deed, or the municipal registration, depending on your situation.
Evidence of transfer of residence
You obtain it
The distinction between moving your home and importing goods to sell. It is what the duty relief rests on, and it is a question of paperwork rather than of good faith.
The inventory
We write it
Produced at survey, describing contents rather than counting cartons, and detailed enough that the customs declaration can be built from it directly. This is why the survey is thorough rather than quick.
The customs declaration
We lodge it
Compiled from the inventory and filed before the vehicle travels. It has to describe the same load that is actually on the vehicle, which is the whole argument for building one from the other rather than filling in a form separately.
Three of the five are yours and two are ours. We will tell you exactly what each of your three looks like for your circumstances, and chase them until they are all in — because the vehicle does not leave until they are.
Where in Spain
The Mediterranean coast
Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante, Murcia and the Costa Blanca. Apartment deliveries where a height-restricted underground car park, not the flat itself, is usually the problem — and where a shuttle with a smaller vehicle is a normal solution rather than a failure.
Madrid and the interior
City apartment moves with the same lift and loading questions London throws up, plus the longer approach through western France and in at the Basque border.
Andalusia and the south
Málaga, Marbella, Seville and the Costa del Sol. The furthest mainland destinations, and the ones where shared loads most often make sense on cost.
The north and the Atlantic side
Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country. Straightforward once you are across, and closer than people expect from the border.
London to Spain — common questions
Which border will the vehicle use?
Irun for Madrid, the interior and the Atlantic side; Le Perthus for Catalonia and the Mediterranean coast. You do not have to care, but the quote assumes one of them and we will tell you which.
Do you go to the Balearics or the Canaries?
Mainland Spain by road is what we run. The islands add a sea leg and a different set of arrangements — ask us and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right firm, rather than taking the job and working it out afterwards.
My building has an underground car park with a height limit.
Extremely common on the coast, and it means a full-size vehicle cannot get in. The answer is a shuttle with a smaller van, which is fine — and it is fine because we established it at survey rather than at the barrier.
Can things wait in London first?
Yes. Containerised storage here bridges a gap while a Spanish purchase or rental completes, and the load travels when the date is genuinely firm rather than when it was hoped for.
What cannot come?
Anything flammable or pressurised, most plants, perishable food, and whatever Spain restricts. Fuel drained from garden machinery. Alcohol in quantity attracts duty — a few bottles in a box is not the concern, a collection is.
Moving to Spain?
Send both addresses and a rough inventory. If a lift or a height-restricted car park is involved, say so — it changes the plan.