What Documents and other items must I have in the car

Just watched the Antonio video, he talked about the Guarda Civil on the spot fines, My question is What documents must you carry in the car, and what items besides a warning triangle do you have to have in the car.

Is the Drink Drive Law the same as UK or is it Zero tolerance? 

Fines.  Is it a basic fixed penalty, or is there a menu of offences and different fines that you can be charged

Thanks

Items you need to carry:

a spare tyre and toolkit to change the tyre; two red warning triangles; a reflective vest and a set of bulbs and tools to change them. If you don’t carry these items, you may be hit with a hefty fine.

• If you have a breakdown and need to get out of your car, you MUST wear your reflective vest
• Children under 12 must have a restraint.  The rules have been posted before so do a search on child seats.

Documents to carry:

Carry your passport, national driving licence, registration documents and insurance with you, as spot checks are quite common abroad. Whilst it is not compulsory to carry your passport if you have the new photo driving licence, you are advised to do so as some of the police may not be clued up on the new rules.

If you wear glasses for driving you must carry a spare pair with you.

There is a menu of fixed penalties.  Depending on speed or where you have parked, etc will depend on the fine..  Paying the fine on the spot will attract a 30% discount, believe it or not.  If you are on holiday, the police may demant you pay there and then unless you have a permanent address in the area. 

Spain has stricter drunk driving laws than many other countries. The legal limit is 0.05% and 0.01% for new drivers. They are serious about drunk driving and have strict penalties, such as heavy fines, loss of license and imprisonment.

Also remember that you must not use a mobile phone in the car.  If you breakdown, you must get out of the car (wearing your refelective vest) to use the phone.

Remember also that the refelective vest must be in the car - not in the boot.

And you should also keep a copy of the payment receipt for your insurance in the car.

Roberto,

I don't think I have as many things as you have mentioned in the car. Driking and driving in Spain is stricter cos there are many more accidents in Spain than in the UK. No offence but I still belive that British people are much better drivers than Spaniards. Even though driking and driving law in Spain is stricter there are still loads of people that don't seem to know how to get rid of the habit of driking and driving!

Ana

Ana, no puedes ofenderme, porque no soy español, soy inglés. ¡Estoy de acuerdo, somos mejores conductores!

Vale Roberto. Me quedo mas tranquila aunque tambien lo decia por los espannoles que hay en el foro, no quiero que se me ofenda nadie por aqui.

Ana

Hi

"a spare tyre and toolkit to change the tyre; two red warning triangles; a reflective vest and a set of bulbs and tools to change them".

Are Car Hire companies legally obligated to provide these as I have never seen all of these when I have hired with various firms.

Presumably, you cannot have a defence of "it's a hire car" ?.

Dave

Dave,

we hired a car for 2 months and most of these things were not in the car!

Ana

No, you cannot use the defence that it is a "hire car".  You are legally obliged to carry these.  You will find that most car hire companies now (but not all) provide these but you may find there is only one hi-vis vest.  They only cost 2 euros in the markets and take up very little room so we take ours back and fore with us.  Warning triangles and jack etc should already be in the car when you hire it.  The hire documents will have the details of the insurance so keep them with you all the time.  The spare bulbs?  God knows as I've never found them yet but there are spare fuses in the fuse box (unless they've already used them and not replaced them).

When I had my one and only accident in Spain, the cops who turned up never said anything because I'd forgotten to put my hi-vis on (I was more concerned with the dumb moped driver who came out of a side turning and hit me, wheeeeeeee he went, right over the bonnet - and the nun on the school bus that went past making the sign of the cross didn't cheer my missus up much, either).  However, I was a bit more concerned when the cop took off his helmet, sniffed the fumes coming out of the moped's tank and promptly lit up a cigarette!! 

Fair do's, though, the cop did get my paperwork out of the glove compartment and helped me fill in the accident report, even down to drawing a picture for me.

Back to the "hire car" defence, I think someone wrote earlier that when they asked a hire company for these things they were told they didn't provide them as people nicked them.  They also said that if they were stopped, bring the receipt for the fine back to the hire company and they would pay it if it was for something that wasn't in the car.  Not that I'd like to try that, mind.  Although with the amount they charge for a full tank of petrol and get them back over a quarter full they could probably afford it.

You are legally obliged to have a hi vis vest for each person travelling in the car &, as we often take two friends with us, we carry four in the glove compartment.

Hi vis vests were 3€ in markets Christmas & March, Bob. We bought ours when they were 2€   but the market sellers obviously read our forum & have put the price up as we flock to buy some.

All very confusing when last week Solmar told me that hired cars do not need by law to have vests etc. They could rent them out and refund given when returned to them.

As the hire was 5 days they gave us a full tank to return half full and that worked out very well.

I am writng a post on everything you need to bring in with your car while driving in Spain, by the time in between, you can start with this other one:

http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/costaluz/1277/legal-tip-48-alcohol-and-jail-in-spain.aspx

Hi Lifeline

Dont believe them!

The law is the law, no matter whether you hire or own.

Have we got different  local laws in the UK  for owners versus. lease holders/hirers?

 NO!

You will get fined, so make sure you have the legal requirements in the car for the country you are travelling in.

You're going to the wrong markets, More.  2 euros at El Zoco in Feb cos I bought another 2 to keep in the house for when my daughter and son-in-law visit.  Going over in a fortnight for a month and Econorent (who have put their prices up quite a bit) still work out better than the others.  They do provide a vest in the car (just one) plus the other items but still hunting for the spare bulbs.

Talking of El Zoco (which we weren't) anyone got an update on how the sooper dooper shopping centre nearby is progressing?  Last time we saw it there was tons of building materials stacked up but no-one working there.  And since you pointed out that there were lots of girlies on the roundabouts (whom I had never seen before) I noticed loads of them on virtually every slip road and roundabout between El Zoco and San Miguel.  Sign of the economy slowing down? (both the girls and lack of work on the shopping complex). 

For Bob   Enough for you ?

Re the shopping centre on the Masa concrete works site & area around that, I see nothing, but Georgia will know if anything is happening & it will be in the Algorfa News  too if anything of great interest happens.

"the cop did get my paperwork out of the glove compartment and helped me fill in the accident report, even down to drawing a picture for me".

Was it a picture of the girlies on the roundabout?

As for vests in hire cars, since the vests are for people not cars, I suppose this exonerates the hire company from providing them? Hence as Solmar told lifeline, the law doesn't require hire cars to have vests - only the people in said hire car. QED.

Yes! i will not fall for that one again but take everything we need ourselves. I think the triangles are standard in the hired cars.

Now, I wrote the blog post... Made in London:

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Legal tip 63. Things to bring with me in my car.

 

I am in London at the business center of a hotel, people around me are obviously writing about the G20 news and events… and  I am looking very interesting with all these  international journalists around, writing for my EOS people… here you got today.. to drive safe in Spain.

• Driver's license
• Registration certificate of the vehicle
• Vehicle data sheet
• Certificate of the last ITV ( Inspeccion tecnica de vehiculos: technical vehicle inspection)
• ITV sticker in place.
• Spare pair of glasses or contact lenses (obligatory)
• Spare set of bulbs and tools for its replacement.
• Spare wheel, under the required revision and correct inflation pressure
• Emergency triangles: in case of emergency they need to be placed in front and behind the car at a 50 meters distance.
• Reflective Vest in the interior of the car: you need to use it if you have to get out of the car between sunset and sunrise
  
  

Palmar beach ( Vejer de la Frontera, Cadiz) by Jacobo Portillo at Flickr.com

Lifeline, we have NEVER had the required TWO triangles in the hire car, just ONE ! 

We carry two of our own, bought from a UK poundshop.