Costs involved in moving to Spain
I’m sure we don’t need to tell you that moving from the UK to Spain isn’t cheap. Any house move is expensive, and moving abroad even more so. There are a lot of costs involved in moving to Spain, some you might not have even thought of.
It’s important to budget for your move to Spain, and a good way to do this is to make a list of all the things you’ll need to pay for so that you can make sure you’ve saved enough money.
To help, we’ve put together the below list of costs involved in moving to Spain…
Removal costs
A big cost in moving abroad will be for shipping your belongings. Removal companies will charge you per cubic foot, so you first need to work out what items you’ll be taking with you. Once you have an idea of what you want to take, email the list to various companies to get some quotes. These will vary massively, but it’s important not to go for the cheapest as you want a reputable company shipping your possessions.
As a rough idea, shipping the contents of a 3 bedroom house would cost approximately £3000.
Getting to Spain
Don’t forget to factor in the cost of getting from the UK to Spain. You have the options of driving through the Channel Tunnel, taking your car on the ferry, or flying. If you have a lot of belongings to take you might want to fill the car and drive over.
A couple of days in the car with the family isn’t everyone’s idea of fun though, so flying might be a better (and also cheaper!) option. You’ll most likely need to add on extra suitcases as well for the essential items you’ll need before the removal truck arrives.
Flight prices vary wildly so use a website like SkyScanner to find a good deal.
Pets
I’m sure you’ll want to take your furry friends to Spain with you, but a word of warning – this isn’t cheap!
First you’ll need to arrange how to transport them. You could drive them across, fly with them, or use a pet transportation company. When we looked into how to get our cat to Spain we had quotes ranging from £250 to have a transportation company bring him over, up to £3000 to fly him over.
All animals need a passport to travel from the UK to Spain, this costs anywhere from £20 – £80 from your vet.
They will also need a microchip (around £16) and rabies vaccinations (around £50).
Official paperwork
There are a lot of costs involved with organising your official documentation to become permanent residents. You will need NIE numbers, residency/TIE, driving licence exchange, and more. The costs will depend on the size of your family and whether you hire someone to help you. If you do it all yourself you probably need to budget £100, if you pay someone you could spend £1000s.
Translator
If you don’t speak Spanish you’ll definitely need to hire a translator for appointments such as opening bank accounts and registering for school, as well as to apply for your official documentation. Translator prices will vary but are usually around €15 per hour.
Health insurance
For those who don’t have a job organised, you’ll need to apply for private health insurance in order to get permanent residency for your family. Again costs will vary massively, but a rough ball park for a family is between €50-200 per month. Get a free quote here.
School fees
If you’re sending your children to an international school you’ll need to factor the fees into your budget. These will depend on the school but we were quoted anything from €350-1000 per month. You will usually need to pay upfront for the first month, plus the cost of uniforms.
Cars
From personal experience, it’s not worth taking your car with you unless you have a new car. You have to pay around €2000 to change the number plates to Spanish plates, plus there are extra charges for replacing the headlights to meet EU regulations.
The price of cars in Spain however is a lot more than in the UK. When we were looking at cars it was around €7500 for a 10 year old hatchback!
If you don’t take your car with you, you’ll most likely need to hire a car for a few weeks until you find a new one. This can vary on the location and time of the year so is worth doing a few online searches first, but can be anywhere from €3 to €20 per day.
Accommodation
Will you need to stay in a hotel when you first arrive? Unless you’ve already sorted your rental property you might need to wait for a few days before you can move in.
If you’re renting you will usually need to pay at least one month’s rent, a deposit equivalent to two month’s rent, and a fee to the agency for finding the property for you. If you don’t have an employment contract you might be asked to pay 6 months upfront.
Insurance
As you would in the UK, you’ll need to organise both home and car insurance. We’ve found both to be more expensive than in the UK. There aren’t such thing as comparison sites to help you to get a good deal but you can contact a high street broker to find you the best options – they will also set everything up for you so a good idea if you don’t speak enough Spanish.
Hopefully this list has given you an idea of the costs involved in moving to Spain so that you can start to budget for your relocation. Any questions, feel free to ask.
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