The UK part
I have been driving my VW van up and down to the UK for three years and it has been wonderful for camping and for carrying loads of wine and cheese north and boxes of books and china south.  But it was not possible to get my Catalan partner put onto the insurance (please don’t ask me why or tell me your best friend did this with no problem!  Every British insurance company I rang told me the same – to be insured you need to be resident or have a UK driving licence)  
Many people told me to pretend he is, or he does, but, that’s not the way for me.

This summer we had a problem.  I had tendinitis in my foot after driving 3500 miles from Granollers to Cornwall via Scotland.  We needed to get home to Granollers with our dog so I decided to leave the van in the UK and buy a left hand drive car from one of the specialist dealers in the UK. We could get Spanish insurance and share the driving.

I did a lot of research on the internet and chose a used car company specialising in this area. It had a good reputation and promised expertise so we took the train up country to test drive three cars. After much deliberation we ended up buying a Spanish registered Seat Ibiza.  It was a long day and stressful as these things always are.  But the car almost flew back down to Cornwall, was a dream to drive and it seemed meant to be – the registration plate had, almost, my date of birth as well as the festive letters FST.  It also had a full history and all necessary paperwork (ahem….slight cough)
We insured it with a Spanish company, fixed a little problem with the reverse lights and all was well.

Travel Home
A few weeks later we drove back up to Folkestone and went through the tunnel to Calais.
The best and most comfortable way for a dog to travel!
Down through France and over the border to Catalunya.  It was a great journey and without the camper van we had to stay in hotels – French hotels – oh la la, what a trial!

In Catalunya
Back in Granollers, we made an appointment with the official office for changing ownership of cars. This is called the Jefatura de Trafico and is run by the Spanish Government.
If you are thinking this will be as easy a process as in the UK then put that out of your head now.
This is Spain/Catalunya and there is bureaucracy.
For a start you need to go in person.
You need paperwork and lots of it. 
In our area you must go to either Barcelona or Sabadell and join the queues.

The Bad News
We had already had an inkling of it on the phone when the women at the Trafico drew in breath sharply on hearing the registration number saying  ‘there is a problem with this car‘
I managed to put this to the back of my mind but when we actually arrived at the office the problem turned out to be several problems and here they are:-
1. There was still a debt attached to the car from the original purchase
2. There were two years of Road tax unpaid which would fall to me
3. The Biggie!   The car was registered in the name of a Mallorcan business and not in the name of the previous owner individually.   This meant that more papers were needed and nothing that we had been given by the car dealers was adequate.  We needed papers to show the seller was an appointed representative of the Mallorcan business. We needed papers from the bank to show the original debt had been paid and had been anulled. We needed a proper bill from the Mallorcan business to show they had sold the car to me. 

Lots of papers and some of them seemed hard to imagine being able to find.  Especially as the Mallorcan business had not really sold the car to me. They sold it to a car dealer in the UK. 

Patience. Perseverance. Positive thinking
I am not going to go over all that we had to do in the next two months. There were emails and letters (some going astray of course) and phone calls and sleepless nights.  I couldn’t have done it alone as the bureaucracy overwhelmed me in its complications.  The car dealers in the UK did help to get  the correct papers from the previous owner but we did most of the leg work at our end.  I worried that the dealers were slow to act at the beginning and that they never once apologised or took responsibility for the problem or promised to take the car back if things couldn’t be sorted out.  I also worried that these problems had already put off previous buyers, more savvy than us, perhaps we had been diddled?  Paranoia crept in.
Thanks to the Citizens Advice Service in the UK (reachable by phone and offering excellent advice on their web site as well), I at least knew the law was on my side and I sent off an official letter laying out what I wanted and giving a deadline. 
Time is of the essence was the key phrase.
If the deadline was not met then I would expect them to come and collect the car and return my money. 

That deadline is tomorrow and I am very happy to say today we were successful on our second trip to Sabadell accompanied by a file about three inches thick with paperwork.

The car is now in my name and all that remains is to get the money for the fines and taxes back from the UK car dealers – they have agreed to do so, not offered mind, but agreed.

 In Conclusion
All’s well that ends well and I have learned that paperwork in Spain can be a nightmare to deal with but, given time and patience, and support,  it can be done.

However, I would not recommend buying a LHD car in the UK unless you are very confident and knowledgeable about the law and the rules for buying and selling a car in Spain.  If you are prepared for unforeseen difficulties, are not afraid of standing up for your customer rights and have a strong stomach for stress then perhaps it can be worth it but otherwise, buy a car in Spain and allow the dealers to sort out all the paperwork.

Keypoints if you do decide to buy in the UK

1. Buy from a recommended dealer, a specialist in LHD.  They ought to know what paperwork is necessary and are duty bound to provide it
2. Make sure the car documents are in the name of an individual. You will get photocopies of their identity cards or passports. Make sure they are up to date!
3. Check on the internet if there are any outstanding fines on the car. Don’t just rely on the dealer
4. Get a certificate of compraventa signed by the previous owner. 
5. Don’t (like we did ) accept a car with only a month left on its ITV (like MOT)  If there are problems with changing the ownership of the car then you may be left for a while with a car that you can’t drive around.  At least get a sizeable price reduction if this is unavoidable.
6. Check the Impost de Circulacion (Road Tax) is up to date and if not, get a reduction in price
7. Pay with a credit card to further protect yourself.