The reserva de dominio as it is known in Spanish is essentially product financing – meaning when you borrow money from a company in order to purchase something and then pay them back over a series of months or years for example. The product has been reserved for your use, but it is not yet actually yours. 

In this case it specifically refers to vehicles. It’s important to know that if you choose to finance a vehicle, you will not actually legally own it until you have paid it off. 

In other words, you have reserved ownership of the car without actually owning it. It is only yours to do with what you like such as selling it on, once you have paid the agreed amount in full.

When you have paid off the vehicle completely, however, you need to know that there are several steps you have to take in order to remove the reserva de dominio from your vehicle and for it to be legally yours.

Sometimes financial institutions or companies will do this automatically once you’ve finished paying the full amount, but often they can be slow and sometimes they forget to, so it often falls to the customer to complete this step.

If you’re unsure of whether or not your car still has the reserva de dominio placed on it, you can visit the following website and enter your registration number to find out.

To remove the reserva de dominio follow these steps:

1. Request a vehicle report from the General Directorate of Traffic or DGT. This gives you information about the number of previous owners of the car, the history of charges it has on it, any possible incidents, as well as ITV (equivalent of MOT in the UK) reports. You can request it online here. 

2. Next you will need to request what’s known as nota simple or information note from the the Personal Property Registry or El Registro de Bienes Muebles. You can apply for this here. It usually has a small charge, currently €9. This will show you updated information on charges or limitations place on the vehicle. 

3. Take the DGT report and information notice with you to the financial institution or company you borrowed the money from. Ask them for a payment letter, called a carta de pago to show that you have finished paying off all remaining debt.

If you haven’t, you can pay the remaining amount and then ask for one. Once this shows that you have nothing more to pay, you can ask them to remove the reserva de dominio. The carta de pago may take between one and two weeks to arrive.  

4. The final step is to send the carta de pago showing that you have paid in full to the Registro de Bienes Muebles. You can do this online. You will also need to provide the following documents:

• Photocopy of your TIE, EU green residency certificate etc.
• Technical Vehicle Inspection Card (ITV)
• Driving licence
• Registry domain reservation cancellation form.

They will then officially transfer the vehicle into your name to prove that it’s yours. After this you are free to do exactly what you what with your car, whether you want to sell it on or not. 

Be aware, it may take a bit of time for the details to be updated with the DGT.