Hi All

I am planning on moving my business down to Estepona at the end of this year. Having had a read through some of the other posts in this forum, quite a few of the questions I did have, have now been answered - thank you.
I do however have a couple more, which I am hoping can be answered by you guys.

1) To obtain an NIE number (I have the forms) do I need a Spanish address, or can i put down my UK address for the time being? When I take this in, do I just take it to the local police station?

2) Does anyone know any companies that can help with long term rentals of apartments in Estepona, but also office space in either Estepona - or within 20mins drive?

3) When opening a simply prepago mobile account with either of Movistar, Telefonica etc… is it possible to just walk in to a shop and buy a sim card on its own rather than with a phone?

Many Thanks

Hola, I thnk you must put a Spanish address on your NIE application and you will need to take it to a Policia National office not just any police station (ie Policia local cannot process) Yes you can buy just a SIM card for any of the 3 operators. Sorry cant help with Estepona agents check the WWW and take local advice and references from local satisfied (!) clients.

Thedoc, you can also get your NIE taken care of before you leave by taking your application form to the Spanish Embassy in London (if that’s closest).

Thats gonna make life a hell of a lot easier. Just one point, if I go to the Embassy in London, do I still need a Spanish address? Its only because on another thread, I seem to need an NIE number before I can rent anywhere??!!?? - if thats the case it puts me between a rock and a hard place! - or is this me just experiencing the beurocracy before i even put a foot on Spanish soil !

Yeah, it should make life a lot easier. I don’t know if you’ll need a Spanish address in that case, but I would imagine you don’t. If I’m wrong then yes you’re right: welcome to Spanish bureaucracy hell.

Let us know what happens with that!

Just to give you an update -

I have spoken with the consulate in London, and have been advised that a Spanish address must be used, when I asked how I can get a Spanish address without an NIE number, the answer was simple - “you need to get an NIE number 1st” !!! - far too funny!

Think i’m going to have to find a lawyer to enable me to use their address to recieve the NIE certificates.  Also, when on the phone to the consulate they spoke about residency, after the NIE has been approved. any idea what they mean (I was frightened to ask!)

http://www.costaluzlawyers.es/eng/?p=26

Its done!

Here we are now in Estepona. Thank you to all those that helped, and to this site for all of the information it gave.

One other point, does anyone know of any good places to advertise our car rental services to Expats in Spain other than the Sur in English?

Thanks

The Doc

Hi let me know where you advertise your car rental firm would be intrested in useing this live in estepona

I have been watching some of those ‘Brit in the sun’’ type programmes, so claim no personal credit for the following suggestions:-

1. Get some A5 fliers and business cards printed (lots of cheap printers on the web) and see if you can leave some at the information desk at the airport, the tourist information offices, hotels, bars and Brit-owned shops etc.  You can make this work even better if you offer to advertise their services to your customers when they hire one of your cars!

2. Set up a website using one of the many free templates available on the web - try http://freesitetemplates.com/

3. Search the web for Blog-sites, forums and websites offering services in your area and ask the webmaster if you can have a reciprocal link to your site.

4. If your costings allow it, offer a discount for recommendations and repeat business.

5. Speak to other car rental businesses in your area and see if you can get them to send customers to you that they can’t accommodate themselves (like if they run out of cars) and offer to do the same for them.

6. Look at what the competition is offering, and try to offer something unique - some car rental companies offer free collection and delivery, road maps, sat-nav, child seats etc.

7. If you can write a story about your experiences in moving to Spain and setting up your business, you might be able to get some free publicity in lifestyle magazines, local or UK newspapers, or even regional or national TV.

Your website looks pretty-well organised, so maybe this will help others!
Alan.

Wow Trogg, that’s a good little list you got going there… I might have to re-use that one!