Low-Cost Funeral in Spain: 1,700 Euros for Cremation

Low-Cost Funeral in Spain: 1,700 Euros for Cremation

After two decades working for others in the funeral sector, an Asturian entrepreneur decided to start his own business in 2017 with an uncomfortable promise: to be the cheapest in Asturias. The first figure he reveals — 1,700 euros plus VAT for cremation including a coffin, paperwork, and a basic urn — surprises anyone who has handled a funeral in Spain. The initial criticism came even before opening the shutters: "Don't you feel ashamed profiting from a first-need service?"

The owner's response is as dry as the business itself: "I'm not profiting yet; eating is also a necessity, and Carrefour charges me." There is no entrepreneurial epic. There is paperwork, 24-hour shifts, and a confession that sums up the trade: "We have no holidays or fixed hours, 365 days a year, 24 hours."

The real cost of burial or cremation

The breakdown in the conversation shatters the myth that the coffin accounts for the majority of the cost. The manager debunks this: the price of the coffin includes items that should be billed separately, and the real cost lies in labor and associated services. Spanish law requires wooden coffins, ruling out cardboard or recycled pine options. "Even if it were made of another material, the final price wouldn't change," he states.

The 21% VAT is another burden. A request to lower VAT for funeral services was denied, according to the conversation. Being buried still counts as a luxury.

Hearse, ovens, and the invisible business

Transport numbers are no joke. A new hearse costs between 60,000 and 90,000 euros; an adapted van is around 50,000. Used ones range from 1,000 to 30,000 euros. Spanish regulations only require the corpse compartment to be watertight and independent from the driver. Refrigeration, mandatory in France, is not required here.

In the cremation oven, there is a safety rule few know: pacemakers and battery-operated devices cannot enter. Batteries explode from the heat, becoming projectiles capable of piercing refractory brick and causing fires. They are always removed if their existence is known.

Civil funerals, religious rites, and repeat clients

The business is not just about cremation. The question arises whether custom civil funerals are offered — a wake in a football field, the Real Madrid anthem, a bullfighting pasodoble — and the answer does not close the door. Muslim rites are also addressed: they are respected but clash with Spanish legislation in some points. The clientele, insists the owner, comes by word of mouth: families who return because they were treated honestly.

Insurers, nursing homes, and a silent war

One of the toughest fronts is that of insurers and nursing homes. For years, nursing homes called the funeral home that suited them, and the family did not choose. The law states that the family chooses, just as one chooses a garage after an accident. Practice went another way. "That was, and remains, a war," he admits.

The pandemic and the strain of the front line

In 2020, the business intersected with Elbichito. The manager acknowledges two personal cases and a workload slightly higher than the previous year, within the normality of a growing company. His diagnosis is not one of concealment: "inefficiency at all levels." And a bitter reproach: "No one applauds us, nor do people come out to balconies to applaud us, yet we are on the front line against the bicho."

What is needed to work in a funeral home

There are no job offers. Entry is through contacts. A driver's license, good appearance, education, seriousness, punctuality, and empathy are required. Courses in mortuary science and aesthetics are increasingly valued. The owner estimates that a funeral home takes one year to take off.

The business of the end of life has guaranteed clientele, but not an easy life. How many entrepreneurs could endure 365 days without holidays knowing their billing depends on someone dying?