Route · Kent to Spain
Removals from Kent to Spain
Spain is the longest overland route of the four, and the one where sharing a vehicle makes the biggest difference. Starting in Kent helps at the beginning and then the distance takes over: a load crosses the whole of France before it reaches the border.
Andalucía and the Costa Blanca take most of the volume. Madrid and Barcelona are usually work moves and behave differently.
Who moves this route from Kent
- Retirements to the Costa Blanca, the Costa del Sol and inland Andalucía — whole households, often with a gap between the UK sale and the Spanish purchase.
- Work relocations to Madrid and Barcelona with a start date set by somebody else.
- Second-property owners in Valencia and Murcia shipping part-loads out and occasionally back.
The route out of the county
M20 to Folkestone for the shuttle, or the A20 to Dover. For Spain the shuttle is almost always right: the vehicle has the whole of France ahead of it and the driver needs the hours intact rather than spent on a deck.
From Calais the A26 and A10 run south past Paris and Tours to Bordeaux, then the A63 to the border at Irún. From there the AP-1 and AP-68 head to Madrid, or the coastal AP-7 continues through Catalonia and down to Valencia, Alicante and Murcia. Andalucía is the A-4 south out of Madrid.
Where we deliver
Customs and paperwork
Spain applies the same principle as France with more paperwork attached. Household goods enter free of duty under transfer of residence relief, but Spanish customs is particular about the inventory and about registration status, and the sequence matters before loading rather than after.
The file, and who builds it
| Document | Obtained by | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Detailed inventory (valued, often in Spanish) | Us | Prepared at survey and translated where the entry point requires it. Vague entries cause most delays. |
| NIE number | You | The Spanish foreigner identification number. Very little proceeds without it, and it takes arranging. |
| Padrón or proof of Spanish address | You | Town hall registration, or deeds or a lease. |
| Proof the UK residence has ended | You | Completion statement or closing council tax bill from the Kent address. |
| Baja consular or equivalent | You | Depending on circumstances — we will tell you whether your case needs it. |
| Export declaration and Spanish import entry | Us | Both raised against the same inventory through our agent in Spain. |
Everything marked You is yours to obtain, and those are the items that hold loads up — start them early. Everything marked Us we prepare and lodge against the inventory written at your property.
What comes up after the move
The surprise is rarely distance; it is the last two hundred metres. Costa urbanisations are built around cars, and a 7.5-tonne vehicle carrying a Kent household does not always reach the door. Where that is true we shuttle. It is a cost and a plan, not a disaster, provided it is known in advance.
Climate is the second. Waxed furniture, vinyl and glued veneers behave differently in a Mediterranean summer than in a Kent winter. Worth deciding at survey what is genuinely worth taking rather than paying to move something that will not survive its first August.
Third, the NIE gates almost everything including the relief, and people consistently start it too late.
Kent to Spain
Questions on this route
- How long does a Kent to Spain move take?
- It depends on the destination, whether the load has its own vehicle or shares one, and how the border and clearance are running. Andalucía is a very different proposition from Catalonia. Your quote gives an estimated window for your actual route rather than a headline number.
- Is a shared load worth it?
- For anything short of a full house, usually. It costs less and departs when the vehicle fills. If your dates are rigid, take a dedicated vehicle.
- Do I need an NIE first?
- You need it for the relief, so effectively yes. We can collect and hold goods while it is arranged — a common sequence — but the import entry requires it.
- Can you deliver to the Balearics?
- Yes, with a ferry leg from the mainland, booked into the plan rather than added at the end. Say so at enquiry.
- What if the Spanish purchase falls through?
- Goods stay here, listed and held, until the next one completes. It happens often enough that we treat holding as part of the normal plan.
- Will you take garden things?
- If you want them, but soil, plant material and some garden chemicals are restricted, and an unwashed pot can hold up a whole load. We flag anything doubtful at survey.
Moving from Kent to Spain?
Tell us the two addresses, what is going, and whether the far end has a date. We will come back with the route, the documents to start, and a written quote.