Before you take to the road in Spain, here is all you need to know about driving licences and importing your car.

General information
Driving licences
Importing your car

General information

It is mandatory to keep the following equipment in your vehicle:

• Set of bulbs and tools necessary to replace them
• Two red warning triangles officially approved by the Internal Ministry (Ministerio de Interior)
• Spare tyre and tools necessary to replace it

You may be fined if you do not carry these.

Children aged under 12 must travel in the back seats of cars unless the front seat is fitted with an approved child seat.

The minimum driving age in Spain is 18.

You may bring into Spain your EU registered car without further formality but you may not use it in Spain for more than six months in a calendar year. If you spend more than six months in any year in Spain, you will be considered resident and consequently you must obtain full national plates and pay the special vehicle registration tax (impuesto municipal sobre circulación de vehículos).

You may also matriculate your foreign car with Spanish plates, and must do it within two months from the time of entry. You should present all original documents because it is a complicated procedure.

The auto insurance you need is the coverage by your insurance company in your country of origin, extended to cover travel in Spain.

Driving licences

EU licences
 
All EU driving licences are recognised. If you are European Union citizen, you may drive in Spain until your licence expires, then you must apply for a Spanish driving licence.

Non-EU licences

If you are from outside the EU and wish to drive throughout the Spanish territory for long periods, then your driving licence must be translated. You can also drive on an international licence.

After one year, you must obtain a Spanish driving licence, as you cannot continue on the official translation of your foreign permit, nor even a new international permit. To apply for a Spanish driving licence you need your residence permit. When you get your Spanish driving licence, your foreign licence is returned to the issuing office in your country of origin.

Importing you car

The procedures relating to imports of cars into Spain are complex.

If you are Spanish resident importing a vehicle into Spain, you must register it with the local provincial traffic department (Jefatura Provincial de Tráfico) in the Spanish province in which you are resident. This will grant you permission to drive your foreign-plated car through the Spanish territory.

EU citizens moving to Spain to take up official residence may bring their own car with them exempted from import duties.   

If you are from outside European Union, you may get the exemption from Spain's 10 percent import duties, under the following conditions:

• You must have owned your car for at least six months prior to the import into Spain
• You must have paid VAT in your country of origin, otherwise this tax shall be paid in Spain
• A special registration tax (impuesto municipal sobre circulación de vehículos) must be paid in Spain. This tax is calculated on the vehicle's current value (based on the original market price in Spain). The imported car that EU residents had owned for at least six months in Spain is not subject to this tax
• You must obtain a certificate of non-residence from your home country

Once the importation procedure is completed, you will be issued a temporary registration plate, which enables you to drive your imported car in Spain.

Any concession on the duty-free import of cars applies only to people who take out an official residence permit in Spain.

These are only general guidelines and not definitive statements of the law. All questions about the law's applications to individual cases shall be directed to a Spanish lawyer.

Article by iAbogado Servicios Jurídicos SL (Madrid, Spain). Visit www.SpainLawyer.com for more original content like this.