To what extent is Spain a police state?

Incidentally, on the website of the company we used it states that all cars are under two years old; which clearly wasn't the case.

Ads   Would the age of the car be shown on the documents…..

Yes, on the Technical info of the vehicle (a green sheet) equivalent to the log book, the insurance certificate and the permission de circulación (equivalent to Vehicles Excise Licence, often erroneously referred to as ’road tax cert’

After making several phone calls we appear to have this sorted now. We have it in writing from hire company and agent we booked through that we will not have to pay the fine; also they have offered a small amount of compensation which should just about cover cost of calls. Fingers crossed it actually happens.

I think having done my best to translate ticket that the issue was failure to display ITV sticker rather than having no ITV at all.

On the subject of monkeys and peanuts, the hire company is on airport and part of a large hire co well known worldwide so why would we expect anything less than good service?

As for knowing all the details  of Spanish motoring law, from the standard of their driving and parking and state of their cars a VERY large number of Spaniards don't know them so how are we as visitors supposed to? All we can do is rely on hire company to ensure we comply. At least I now know to check for ITV sticker!

Good answer, just be alert.

Bren

The UK European Consumer Centre (part of the Trading Standards Institute) are always worth contacting in this sort of situation. We found them really helpful when a company took 1,000€ deposit from us for furniture, the shop closed down, we had no goods and we couldn't trace them. The UK office contacted the Madrid office and eventually they found the company and we got every cent back. Also, the threat of contacting the UK ECC was enough to get a refund when a well known car hire company in Spain took 3 payments from our credit card for a cracked windscreen that wasn't cracked when we left it. Until we threatened to contact the ECC they had been ignoring requests for the money to be refunded. 

If these car hire companies were reported to the UK European Consumer Centre then it may put enough pressure on them to make sure their cars are legal/roadworthy. Also if they refuse to pay the fine or are not in any hurry to pay the fine I'm sure being contacted by the European Trading Standards might make them a bit more compliant. Surely they wouldn't like to end up on a Trading Standards bad boy list in the UK and/or Spain! 

Mande

Thanks mande for an excellent piece of advice that looks to be widely applicable. I'll try and remember it for future use.