Buying or opening a petrol station in Spain: prices, margins and permits

An existing petrol station in Spain sold with its land asks about €700,000 on average: half of 45 listings in 2026 ranged from €265,000 to €1.25m.

Volume sets the price — roughly €0.50 per litre of annual sales.

A station let to an oil operator yields 6–8% a year; running one yourself returns about 14% in our illustrative example.

Looking at a petrol station for sale in Spain?

Below: what stations cost with their land, as a traspaso and when let to an operator, what building one from scratch costs, how an independent station differs from one branded Repsol, Moeve or BP, which permits and inspections apply, when an electric vehicle charger is mandatory, what a station earns per litre and in the shop, how it is taxed and what to check before buying. The page includes a payback calculator with an illustrative station.

What an existing petrol station costs

We reviewed 63 listings for petrol stations (Milanuncios, where most brokers advertise, BusinessesForSale and thinkSPAIN, October 2026).

Of these, 45 are stations sold with their land: the median is €700,000, the average about €1m, and half fall between €265,000 and €1,250,000.

Many listings stay up for years; counting only those first posted in 2024–2026, the median is €525,000.

These are asking prices: they come down in a deal, and brokers usually charge the buyer 2–5%.

Region explains price less well than sales volume.

In the 12 listings that state litres, the median is about €0.50 per litre of annual sales: a station selling 1.5 million litres a year asks €750,000–800,000.

The spread is wide — from €0.09 for a station with a diesel depot near Ciudad Real to €1.16 for one near Huesca — because the price also covers the plot, shop, car wash and the condition of the tanks.

Examples from the sample: a station on an industrial estate in Valladolid selling 1.5 million litres with one employee — €950,000; an unbranded town station in Valencia province selling 1.5 million litres — €825,000; a station in Lleida selling 800,000 litres at an 18-cent margin per litre — €425,000; a small working station in Huelva province — €125,000; a station in Madrid selling 7 million litres — €2m.

Traspaso, operator-let stations and service areas

Besides stations with land, three other kinds of property come up.

• Traspaso. The land belongs to someone else; you buy the lease and the equipment: 7 listings, median €400,000. For example, a low-cost station near Granada selling 425,000 litres, on land leased to 2045 — €320,000; a station in Tarancón — €1.3m with rent of €4,000 a month.
• A station let to an operator. This is a rental asset rather than a business: the buyer gets the land, the building and a lease with a network. Four listings state a yield of 6–8% a year: a station in Verín (Ourense) at €2.6m with rent of €170,000 a year, and one in Murcia at €1.65m with rent of €8,500 a month and an operator committed for eight years.
• A motorway service area — a station with a restaurant, sometimes a hotel: 7 listings from €400,000 to €12.5m, median €3m.

Independent or branded

Spain had 12,746 petrol stations at the end of 2025, 44.3% of them independent, without a major operator’s brand; 15.7% operate fully or partly unattended; the average station sells 2.59 million litres a year.

The regulator, the CNMC, distinguishes four models of tie to an operator (Repsol, Moeve — formerly Cepsa — BP, Galp and others):

• COCO — owned and run by the operator; DOCO — privately owned, with management handed to the operator; CODO — owned by the operator, with management leased to a third party under exclusive supply; DODO — privately owned, tied to the operator by an exclusive supply contract under its brand.

For a buyer this means that a “branded” station sold by a private owner is usually a DODO, and the key document is the supply contract.

An exclusive supply contract may run for no more than one year and renews automatically for one year at most twice, unless the station owner gives a month’s notice; clauses that fix, recommend or otherwise influence the retail price are void (art. 43 bis Ley 34/1998).

The owner may require supply on a firm-sale basis (venta en firme), taking title to the fuel, rather than on commission (art. 43.3).

A CODO station is in effect a traspaso of a lease from the operator itself: the land and building are not for sale.

A brand brings traffic and loyalty cards, but also higher prices: according to the CNMC, in 2025 Cepsa-Moeve, BP and Repsol stations had the highest prices and margins, the Ballenoil network the lowest, and among independents Bonàrea, GMoil, Plenergy, Petroprix and Family Energy were cheaper. “Sin abanderar” or “libre de abanderamiento” in a listing means there is no supply contract and you choose your own supplier.

What it costs to build a petrol station from scratch

According to benchmarks published by Qonto, a standard station including the plot costs €875,000–1,495,000, and a low-cost station €581,000–960,000. The main items:

• Plot — from €200,000–300,000. Low-cost sites are also leased: buyers’ listings mention plots of 1,500–2,000 m² at €1,500–2,500 a month.
• Construction and equipment — €250,000–800,000: tanks, pumps, canopy, shop, payment systems.
• Project and permits — €23,000–75,000; start-up and the first fuel purchase — €80,000–200,000.
• An EV charger — mandatory for a new station, see below.
• A reserve for the first months: how to size it is covered in Cash gap.

The median of 2024–2026 listings (€525,000) is below the bottom of the low-cost build range.

An existing station is usually cheaper than a new one and already has permits and a sales record; the downside is old tanks and soil, which are checked before any deposit.

Which permits a petrol station needs

Any individual or company may sell fuel at retail.

The region must bring all controls on a new installation into a single procedure with a decision within eight months, and silence counts as approval.

A station is compatible with commercial and industrial land use, shopping centres and vehicle inspection stations — no separate “suitable for a petrol station” zoning is required (art. 43.2 Ley 34/1998).

• Registering the installation. Before it starts operating, documents are filed with the region’s industry department; underground tanks always require a project (para. 14.1 ITC MI-IP04, RD 706/2017). An installation with a project is inspected every five years by an accredited control body (para. 15.2), and tanks and pipework undergo reviews and tightness tests on a schedule (para. 15.1). Listings call this “IP04 al día”.
• Unattended stations. The region must be notified in advance of unattended operation; the station needs two-way communication with a control centre, recorded CCTV, a 24-hour emergency phone line and an emergency stop (chapter XIII ITC MI-IP04). Regional rules on staffing have changed over time, so the operating regime of a given station is checked against its region.
• Andalusia. Since 20 June 2026 the new environmental control law, Ley 2/2026, has replaced Ley 7/2007 (GICA); under the old law, stations went through the town hall’s environmental assessment (category 13.54). For an existing station, check which law its licence was issued under and whether an extension would trigger the new procedure.
• Valencian Community. Ley 6/2014 distinguishes an environmental licence, an environmental declaration and notification of harmless activities; the regime of a given station is shown by its licence at the town hall.

EV charging. Stations that sold 10 million litres or more of petrol and diesel in 2019 must provide a charger of at least 150 kW, and those selling 5–10 million litres one of at least 50 kW.

Stations at 10 million litres or more on 2025 sales need a charging hub of at least 400 kW, rising to 600 kW from 2027.

A new station, or one whose refit requires a revised permit, must install a charger of at least 50 kW regardless of volume (art. 15 Ley 7/2021).

Most stations for sale are below these thresholds, but a refit makes a charger a cost item.

Soil. Retail fuel sales with storage tanks are a potentially soil-contaminating activity: the operator files a soil situation report with the region and updates it, including on extension and closure (art. 3 RD 9/2005).

When the plot is sold, the deed must state that such an activity took place there, and this is noted in the Property Registry (art. 98.3 Ley 7/2022).

What a petrol station earns

In 2025, petrol 95 averaged €1.504 a litre and diesel €1.434.

The gross distribution margin — the difference between the pre-tax price and the international quotation — was 29.1 cents a litre for petrol and 28.9 cents for diesel.

That margin covers the whole chain — wholesale, logistics and retail; the owner of an independent station buying from a wholesaler keeps less.

One listing in our sample states an 18-cent margin; our calculation uses 15 cents.

Hence the defining feature of a petrol station: huge turnover on a thin margin.

The shop, café and car wash bring in less revenue but more profit per euro — at many stations they are what separates a profitable site from a break-even one.

Staff are paid under the national service station collective agreement.

In 2026 a forecourt attendant (expendedor-vendedor) earns €1,201.21 a month and a shift supervisor €1,269.32, in 15 payments a year; the annual working time is 1,752 hours.

An attendant costs €18,018 a year gross.

Opening from 7:00 to 23:00 every day takes about four full-time posts, and with employer social security (about 32%) that comes to roughly €95,000 a year.

Petrol station payback calculator

The calculator uses an illustrative independent station with its land in a small town: 1.8 million litres a year (below the national average), a price of €900,000 — about €0.50 per litre of annual sales, as in the sample — plus €60,000 for tests, pump repairs and start-up.

Revenue is €192,000 a month excluding VAT: fuel at the 2025 average price, a shop at €8,000 and a car wash at €2,000.

Cost of sales is 86% (fuel at a 15-cent margin per litre, shop stock).

Staff cost €8,000 a month (four attendants; the owner manages without a salary), there is no rent, and other costs are €4,500 a month: electricity, card fees, insurance, inspections, pump maintenance, CCTV, the gestor and IBI property tax.

Pre-tax profit is €172,560 a year, about €132,900 after tax, and the €960,000 investment pays back in roughly 7.2 years, a 13.8% annual return.

Three caveats. First, everything turns on the margin per litre.

If it falls by 3 cents, pre-tax profit drops to €118,560 and payback stretches to 10.5 years; by 5 cents, to €82,560 and 15 years.

Second, at these costs the station breaks even at about 660,000 litres a year, which is why the small stations in the sample selling 400,000–450,000 litres run automatically with one or two people.

Third, a seven-year payback is normal when you buy the land as well — compare the 13.8% return with the 6–8% the same station would earn let to an operator.

The gap is the price of the owner’s work and the margin risk. How to read a payback period and what to compare it with is covered in Payback period.

Take the litres from fuel supplier invoices and pump readings by month for 2–3 years, and shop revenue from bank statements and VAT returns, not from the seller’s word.

How a seller justifies the price is covered in How to value a business for sale.

Taxes: VAT, modules and corporate tax

• VAT. Fuel is taxed at the standard 21% rate; from 22 March to 30 June 2026 the rate was temporarily cut to 10% (RDL 7/2026). Shop goods carry their own rates.
• Modules. Retail fuel sales are not covered by the module system, while car washing (heading 751.5) is, up to 5 employees (Orden HAC/1425/2025). A station with a car wash accounts for fuel under actual profit.
• SL. Fuel inflates turnover: a station selling 1.8 million litres has €2.3m of revenue excluding VAT on a gross profit of about €320,000. The reduced corporate tax scale (19% on the first €50,000 and 21% above) applies only to turnover under €1m; with turnover under €10m the rate in 2026 is 23%. How to take profit out of the company is covered in Salary or dividends from a Spanish SL.
• The deal. The sale of a whole business is not subject to VAT (art. 7.1 Ley 37/1992), but land and buildings included in it are subject to transfer tax, ITP (art. 7.5 RDLeg 1/1993), at the region’s rate, or 6% where none is set. How to structure the deal is decided with a tax lawyer.

What to check before buying a petrol station

1. The brand contract. Whether there is an exclusive supply contract, when it ends, whether there are debts or loans owed to the operator, and what happens to the signage and loyalty cards. For CODO and traspaso deals — the lease: a business tenant may assign it without the landlord’s consent, but the landlord may raise the rent by 20%, and the lease may prohibit assignment (arts. 32 and 4.3 LAU).
2. Litres and margin. Monthly sales for 2–3 years from supplier invoices and pump readings; margin per litre from purchase invoices and the till; shop and car wash income separately.
3. Soil and tanks. Soil reports filed with the region, soil and groundwater sampling before the deposit, tank age, single or double wall, tightness test certificates. Contamination is a petrol station’s most expensive hidden risk.
4. Permits and inspections. Registration of the installation with the region, the review logbook, the latest five-year inspection report, the town hall licence; for an unattended station, the notification and the chapter XIII systems.
5. EV charging. Sales volume against the climate law thresholds and any refit plans: a revised permit means a charger of 50 kW or more.
6. Debts and staff. The buyer of a going concern is liable for the seller’s tax debts unless a Tax Agency certificate is obtained before the deal (arts. 42.1.c and 175.2 LGT), and for social security debts (art. 168.2 LGSS); employees transfer to the buyer with all their rights (art. 44 ET). Ask for a list of staff with contracts and shift patterns.

How an existing business is checked before a deposit is described on the traspaso audit page; if you are buying the company that owns the station, you need full due diligence.

If you are also considering a workshop next to the forecourt, see Car repair garage in Spain.

If you are moving to Spain for this business

A non-resident can buy a petrol station, but a non-EU citizen can live in Spain and run it personally only with a residence permit — usually a self-employment residence permit, initially for one year.

The golden visa has been abolished, and the startup visa does not suit an ordinary business of this kind.

Relotus explains how the self-employment permit works and how it differs from employment in “Cuenta propia in Spain“.

The sensible order is to establish first whether the permit suits you, and only then pay a deposit.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a petrol station cost in Spain?

In a sample of 45 listings from 2026, a station with its land asks €700,000 on average, with half between €265,000 and €1.25m; in listings first posted in 2024–2026 the median is €525,000. Galicia and Castilla-La Mancha are cheapest, Catalonia and Madrid most expensive. A rule of thumb is about €0.50 per litre of annual sales.

How much does it cost to build a petrol station from scratch?

On market benchmarks, a standard station with its plot costs €875,000–1,495,000 and a low-cost one €581,000–960,000. The main items are the plot, tanks and pumps, the project and permits, the first fuel purchase and the EV charger a new station must install.

Can I buy a Repsol or BP branded station and drop the brand?

By law an exclusive supply contract lasts at most one year and renews at most twice, so up to three years, and the owner can opt out of renewal with a month’s notice. What matters is when the contract ends and whether anything is owed to the operator. If the station belongs to the operator itself, you are only buying the lease.

How much does a petrol station make per litre?

The gross margin for the whole distribution chain in 2025 was about 29 cents a litre. An independent station keeps less: 15 cents in our illustrative example. With 1.8 million litres a year, a shop and a car wash, that is about €133,000 of profit after tax.

Does a petrol station need an EV charger?

It is mandatory for stations selling 5 million litres a year or more (on 2019 data), for all new stations and for those whose refit requires a revised permit — at least 50 kW. The average station sells 2.59 million litres, so when buying an existing one a charger is usually needed only on a refit.

Can a petrol station run unattended?

Yes, 15.7% of stations do. The region must be notified, and the station needs a link to a control centre, CCTV and a 24-hour emergency line. Regional staffing rules have changed over time, so the regime is checked region by region.

Can a petrol station pay tax under the module system?

No: retail fuel sales are outside the module system, which covers only the car wash. Because of its large turnover, a station run through an SL usually also misses the reduced corporate tax scale for turnover under €1m.

Key points about buying a petrol station in Spain

• A station with its land asks €700,000 on average, €525,000 in recent listings; litres set the price, about €0.50 per litre of annual sales.
• A traspaso of a station on someone else’s land costs about €400,000; a station let to an operator yields 6–8% a year.
• An independent station chooses its own supplier; a brand contract by law lasts no more than three years.
• Permits mean registering the installation with the region, an inspection every five years and an environmental licence; the soil is checked before the deposit.
• Profit turns on the margin per litre: in the example 15 cents gives a 7.2-year payback, 3 cents less gives 10.5 years.

Sources

• Ley 34/1998 on the hydrocarbons sector, arts. 43, 43 bis, 44 — BOE; ITC MI-IP04 (RD 706/2017) — BOE.
• Ley 7/2021 on climate change, art. 15 — BOE; RD 9/2005 on contaminated soil — BOE; Ley 7/2022 on waste and contaminated soil, art. 98 — BOE.
• CNMC, fuel distribution at service stations bulletin, December 2025 (IS/DE/010/25) — PDF.
• National service station collective agreement 2025–2027 — BOE 09.10.2026; Orden PJC/297/2026 (contributions) — BOE.
• Ley 37/1992 (VAT) — BOE; RDL 7/2026 — BOE, AEAT; Orden HAC/1425/2025 (modules) — BOE; RDLeg 1/1993 (ITP), arts. 7 and 11 — BOE.
• LAU, arts. 4 and 32 — BOE; LGT, arts. 42 and 175 — BOE; Workers’ Statute, art. 44 — BOE.
• Build cost benchmarks — Qonto; petrol station sale listings — Milanuncios, BusinessesForSale, thinkSPAIN, October 2026.