Spanish driving licence.

 My wife has been told from a friend who heard from her friend, so its at least third party, that if you are living in Spain you now require a full Spainish driving licence to allow  you to drive a car legally.Apparently some person was stopped by the Guardia who told her that this was the case. Does anyone have any information, preferably true on this.

No , you can drive on a plastic  licence from any other EU country as long as you are holding a medical certificate to go with it. This is to comply with the spanish licence where you have a medical every time it's renewed.

Highly unlikely as apart from anything else it would kill the hire car business completely....

Imagine turning up at the airport with your UK drivers licence clutched in your tiny mitt only to be told by the agency, "Sorry Spanish licence holders only...."

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Hi Guslopez,

just to let you know Ive just got my Spanish Driving licence from Trafico Cartagena, I didnt need a medical Im 54 and my licence is valid for 10 years and I only need a medical from the age of 70 years.

cheers

Dave

Hi

Traffico Cartagena?

Where is that please.

Regards

Here...

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My understanding is that it is a little more complicated than the OP states. If you live in Spain as a resident (have a green sheet), you own a Spanish registered car at that address and you drive it in Spain then you must have a Spanish Driving Licence.

Any EU photo card style licence is valid to drive in Spain, resident or not. It's possible that the OP's story from a friend of a friend of some bloke down the pub was about an old paper licence with no photo. Guslopez is correct in saying residents must nevertheless comply with the same conditions as if they had a Spanish licence.

Foxbat - I think exceptions have always applied to rental cars anyway, but it's not really relevant since the OP was talking about residents rather than tourists.

Laird Dave - I think you will need a medical at 64 when you come to renew your licence. It's a strange quirk, but you probably didn't need the medical to exchange your licence because they assume you already had one to get the licence you're exchanging.

JohnKath - a photo licence issued in any EU state is perfectly valid for residents driving a Spanish reg car in Spain. My advice as always, however, is to exchange your licence if you are going to be resident in Spain; it's not too complicated to do, and could save a lot of hassle and / or roadside arguments with ill-informed Guardia etc. etc.

Roberto

Thanks you may be right about medical at 64, but when I went to Traffico to ask what paperwork I needed they said I dont need a medical until Im 70, however knowing what Spain can be like Ill await with baited breath and see what happens when I renew in 10 years time.

Fully agree with having a Spanish license as a resident, it has made road blocks so much easy to deal with.

Cheers

Dave

Generally as long as you have a valid  licence that can be swapped under a reciprical agreement then you will have no problem because all they ever tell you is to deal with if that is what you should have done?

But if you drive on a licence which does not enjoy reciprical rights or "international licence" based on say a Nigerian bought licence then you will get into trouble and in the UK they give you points!!

This applies very much to UK where this is regularly enforced against black/asian youths and there is a limit as to how long you can use these international licences if resident etc.

In any of these road blocks the police know exactly the type of driver they want. It's usaully the mongolito type driver and you can bet the car is without ITV , road tax and insurance and they usually end up searching the car for drugs!

Whether Spain/UK/US the police can spot these types which is why they always wave people like me through.

Faro can you better explain your first paragraph and what is a mongolito type?

It is not a polite word and used as an insult in school playgrounds etc and has similar meaning to the word mongol.

What is a mongolito driver?

an example would be a young driver that weaves through traffic on the A-7 or cuts in in front of you on roundabouts etc. The car will usually be some little hatchback, the front seats will be back almost as far as the back seats and almost in recline. You will just about see the head of the driver although the head will never move left or right. Music can also be quite loud and a smell of drugs from the car is not unusual. The car usually has some bodystyling kit but will tend to be tatty. Also not always insured for the young driver and could just be insured for parent (ie 25+), quite normal to be without ITV sticker, paid up road tax etc. These types keep the police busy which is why they are not that interested in your driving licence!

Hence why the police stop these drivers but they do cause a lot of accidents. They are the ones you see on television when they are counting up the dead at the weekend.

So basically you are saying that you are racist, Faro. 

"a smell of drugs from the car is not unusual" -  What a load of racist huevos!

One good thing about Spain is they have not got caught up in all this political correctness and you can say what you think//feel.

Fuengirola is full of these type of drivers.

I live near Torrevieja, where do I get a medical certificate to go with my eu driving licence?

Mutu...according to Spanish Yellow pages...

RECONOCIMIENTO MEDICO: PERMISOS CONDUCIR Y ARMAS

Ramón Gallud, 11 , 03181 , TORREVIEJA (ALICANTE)

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if you are resident in spain any eu licence such as uk is ilegal ... your licence must be registerd to your home address failing to do this in the uk brings a large fine !! how can fines points  etc be sent to you if you have a bogus address , a family address in the uk is not legal .

john

DVLA would not agree with what you say tommkatt!

tommkat : "

"if you are resident in spain any eu licence such as uk is ilegal ... your licence must be registerd to your home address failing to do this in the uk brings a large fine !! how can fines points  etc be sent to you if you have a bogus address , a family address in the uk is not legal ."

john

Unfortunately not true in the case of non-residents. The law requires you to notify a change of UK address on penalty of a fine / imprisonment but  when you move out of the UK you can't legally do that & therefore are not breaking the law. The DVLA tell people , with no UK home to use a family members address . Friends of mine who have motorhomes only , no property anywhere, have to do this.

Non UK  resident who have no UK address cannot register an address elsewhere in the EU with DVLA but may keep the UK driving licence. It was required that you inform the Spanish authorities and register it here in Spain and have your Spanish address associated with your UK licence but this is no longer the case.