If you own a car in Spain sooner or later you will receive in the mail a notice stating it is time for you to tootle on down to your local Inspecion Tecnica de Vehiculos facility, better known as the ITV, to have your vehicle inspected. The purpose of this check is to see if your auto is gassing the world with excessive amounts of funky smelling emissions. And while the ITV is at it they will eyeball it to see if your car meets current safety regulations.
So, the first question that comes to mind is when will you need to have your car inspected? That depends on how old it is.
- first inspection after it is four years old
- every two years after fourth year until its 10 years old
- once a year when it is more than 10 years old
The notice you receive will have the location of nearby ITV inspection stations. It will also have a number you can call to make an appointment.
Before leaving for the ITV make sure you have the following:
- Permiso de circulación/permís de circulació
- Tarjeta inspección técnica de vehículos
- 38.49 € to pay for the inspection
When you arrive, park your car and go into the office. Here they will confirm you have the proper documentation and give you an additional form. You will then hop in your car and get queued up with the others who are waiting to be tested.
When it is your turn in line an inspector will take your paperwork and begin asking you to turn on your turn signals, brake lights, headlights (low and high beams) hazard lights and parking lights.
The inspector will next check to see if your windshield wipers are in good condition and that they operate properly. He will look at your tires and pop the hood to briefly give it a once over. At some point he will also check to see if all the original seatbelts are still in place and that they operate as designed.
Next the inspector will instruct you to enter the garage and drive your car onto a parallel set of long steel rollers. He will ask you to accelerate the engine of your car at one point and later have you apply your brakes.
You will then be asked to pull your car ahead where they will stick a tube up your car’s tailpipe to check the emissions.
Moving along, you will be instructed to pull around to another bay of the garage containing a long narrow pit. A mechanic will be in it and instruct you when to apply the brakes during tests of the suspension.
Finally, the test will be over and you will be told to pull your car outside, park it and wait for an inspector to come and see you. If your buggy passes the test, he will return your paperwork, scrape off your old window sticker inspection tag and slap on a new one.
In the event that you do not pass, the tester will explain the reasons why. You will then need to have the correction made and return to prove that the cause of the failure has been rectified.
So that wraps it up for today’s lecture on going to the ITV.
If you would like an expanded version of this discussion with more detail on how to avoid problems visit the ITV vehicle inspection page under the moving to Spain tips section at Spain Calls Me. www.spaincallsme.com/spainsitewbook/pages/tips/itv.htm