POINTS BASED DRIVING LICENCE

VALID DRIVING LICENCE

You can legally drive in Spain with your existing driving licence for the first 2 years of residence, but after 6 months you must register your details with the provincial traffic authorities. After 2 years, you must obtain a Spanish driving licence or face a €200 fine. At the time of publishing this article, UK nationals can exchange their UK driving licence for a Spanish driving licence. However, with the Brexit process, we recommend you stay up to date via the gov.uk website. Driving licences need to be renewed every 10 years up to the age of 65, and then every 5 years..

POINTS BASED SYSTEM

Spain has a driving licence points system. Drivers start with 12 points and can lose points for fines depending on the severity of the offence. Once you lose all 12 points, you lose your licence for 6 months. A traffic offence can be between 2 – 6 points, with a maximum of 8 points in one day. If an offence is severe, it may result in the temporary loss of licence. Keeping all your points will help reduce your vehicle insurance premiums. Some of the offences where points are lost; driving while using a mobile phone or over the legal alcohol limit is 6 points. Whilst driving without a seatbelt is 3 points..

FULL LOSS OF POINTS

IIf you lose all your points, you will need to complete a road awareness course of a total of 24 hours that can be attended over your 6-12 month ban period. And sit a driving theory test. You can check how many points you have by going to the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) website, and create a password.

If you would like some further assistance on this matter, please call our English speaking customer service on 902 325 325.