Hi Tim,

found here: Cars & Motor vehicles in Spain | Spanish-Living.com

"Europeans can avoid paying the 12% special vehicle registration tax as Spain is the only country in Europe that has this tax. When buying your car all you have to do is request that the car be fitted with a tourist license plate, rather than a full Spanish license plate. You will have to renew this every year which will cost you approximately 150€. You can repeat this as many years as you want.

Buying a car on Spanish plates can save a lot of complications and has certain advantages. The rules are that you have to have a residency or own a property or be able to present a Certificado de Empadronamiento (a certificate to show that you are registered as living in the community). An addional benefit of providing this address is that El Trafico will send you the bill by post directly. Although this may not sound much like a benefit initially, you might appreciate it when it comes to selling the car and you need to sell and transfer the car to somebody else, you wont get hit suddenly with 2 years of worth of traffic violations and fines (multas)."

Unfortunately for you, the topic of this thread is not "Europeans" purchasing motor vehicles in Spain, but citizens of the United States purchasing motor vehicles in Spain and you are incorrect. A simple call to any reputable motor vehicle in Spain will forward my point of view. I know it is difficult to let go of the Eurocentric point of view, but Tim, you are wrong and I am right unless you can produce some documentation other than your personal condemnation.

In my post I excluded EU residents from my statements, perhaps you missed that?

Regarding the driving permits: found here: Driving your car & buying a car in Spain. Practical legal information and advice by iAbogado, your English-speaking Spanish lawyers in Madrid | iAbogado

"If you are from outside the EU and wish to drive throughout the Spanish territory for long periods, then your driving license must be translated into Spanish by an official translator. You can also drive on an international license. After 1 year, you must obtain a Spanish driving license as you cannot continue driving under your own license duly translated, nor under an international permit. You should then apply for a Spanish driving license for which you must proof your residency in Spain."

So, a tourist, without documented proof of residence may drive in Spain with a USA driving permit plus international license for up to one year.... but for a citizen of the USA to purchase a motor vehicle in Spain a proof of residence is required. So, once a resident of Spain, a Spanish license is required. This is how an attorney explained this particular point to me. In brief, if you purchase a motor vehicle in Spain, you must have a Spanish driving permit.

tim, I know you will consider this an obscure point of law, but it is the law.

xfiltrate

__________________
Motorcycle Parking Buenos Aires, Argentina
www.xfiltrate.com
Discover how to legally Buy, Tour and Sell a motorcycle in Argentina

Which is what I wrote above (padron is short for empadronamiento). But you still need an NIE as well.

Most USA states have a reciprocal agreement with Spain re driving licences. Non EU nationals living in Spain can use their own licence for six months, EU nationals for two years. If you are then take out Spanish residency you are expected to get a Spanish licence.

You seem to be confusing Spanish residency with having a property that you reside in; the two are completely different.

Anyway, all the guy wants to do is to buy a bike and ride it for a short while and the rules above clearly don't apply to visitors and tourists.

Absolute rubbish. I own a Spanish-registered 4x4 and a Spanish-registered enduro bike. The new driving licence regulations (from Jan 2015) only apply to ex-pats with Spanish residency. And although I own a Spanish property and am on the padron, I am not a registered Spanish resident, I am just an irregular visitor

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Most of the time it is best to cite credible sources as I have done in my previous posts, this thread. Note the "quotes"
Tim, those are quotes from reputable sources, where are your sources?

USA drivers licenses accompanied by an international driving permit or a Spanish translation are legal in Spain for tourists. But, once a tourist from the USA qualifies for purchasing a Spanish registered vehicle, he/she must have a Spanish driving permit as explained below. There is a 6 month grace period allowing the US citizen to use his/her valid USA driving permit if accompanied by a Spanish translation or an international driving permit.

Spain will exchange licenses with many countries including most EU countries, but it is necessary to turn in previous country's license to Spain, Spain will not exchange driving permits with any particular State of the USA, holders of driving permits from the USA must take a course and pass the tests to obtain a Spanish driving permit.

Below is a link that pretty much covers the topic of driving permits/exchanges in Spain.

As explained in my previous post , my Argentine driving permit was accepted in Spain as it does subscribe to the number/letter system described below.

Driving in Spain using a foreign driver’s licence | Moving to Spain | Expatica Spain

Yes, Tim, but a non EU citizen must declare Spanish residency to qualify to purchase.... As I explained in PMs to you, the regulations are different for you as a member of the EU and citizens of the USA. An EU address will allow you as an irregular visitor to Spain, but this is not available to citizens of the USA.

A clue is that EU driving permits have a letter/number system indicating the type/weight of vehicles that may be operated with that particular license. The USA driving permits do not subscribe to the EU system.

Tim, perhaps proclaiming the opinions of others as "rubbish" might be less beneficial than citing sources and letting the others decide. So I suppose your two year grace period has yet to run its' course or do you have a Spanish driving permit?

xfiltrate

__________________
Motorcycle Parking Buenos Aires, Argentina
www.xfiltrate.com
Discover how to legally Buy, Tour and Sell a motorcycle in Argentina

The purpose of this thread is to answer the question posed by the original poster. Like almost every thread you participate in, you have gone way off topic.

I am not at all interested in your links, I didn't access them.

I don't feel the need to indulge you by posting links to verify what I say about Spain. I am living here quite legally, you are in Argentina. QED.

I have already stated that as far as I am concerned, the OP's case is a lost cause unless he can get someone resident in Spain to buy the bike for him and register it in their name at their address.

If you have anything of use to the OP, feel free to give him advice, but I don't have the time or energy to waste in sparring with you.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Because the consensus that what I was attempting is not possible, I called the NY DMV again and talked to a different agent. She verified that I could not do what I wanted, and that the other agent was incorrect.

Thanks, for the help.

It looks like I will try and find a good rental company.

You mentioned trying to buy in Madrid, what's your planned route? Are you intending to stay mainly within Spain?

What's your time schedule? The weather in Spain from now until mid September (at least) is not conducive to bike riding in the middle of the day. Last week it was 40.6ºC here at 1,000m in the mountains.

And unfortunately motorbike hire tends to be more expensive than car rental...

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Update:

I ended up going with a rental from Sidecar32 - Moto & Scooter Rental they are out of Faros Portugal. I'm renting an MT-03 for ~33€ per day.
I didn't find anything in Madrid for nearly as cheap but I did come across quite a few in the 50€-60€ range (larger bikes).


Below are some of the places I recieved quotes from which are worth mentioning:

Trafach Rent | Alquiler de motos
They are out of Girona but they have a 300km/day limit I didn't want to worry about.

AdMo-Tours Motorcycle Rental in Spain - Barcelona, Fuerteventura, Madrid, Malaga, and Seville
AdMo rentals have stations around the world, including Madrid. The best rate I found was out of Cascais Portugal.

Happy Rider Motorcycles | Rent, Buy-Back, Shipping Out of Madrid, They offer buybacks but didn't have any available, decent rates on rentals.

https://www.yamaha-rent.es/ Rent some really nice bikes for decent prices, only for use in Spain so no good for me.

My planned route shifted a little since I will now be starting in Portugal and I was originally planning on riding there at the end. After Portugal, I'll do northern Spain, go through the mountains into France. Ride France along the Mediterranean. Then I'll go down the west coast of Italy, and ferry into Greece. I'm planning on hugging the coast or mountains to keep cool.