Spain's ITV: appointment, test, windscreen sticker

ITV stands for Inspección Técnica de Vehículos. It is carried out at dedicated test stations, the estaciones ITV, not in workshops. The autonomous communities are responsible: depending on the region, the administration runs the stations itself or hands them to companies holding a concession or authorisation. That is why prices and booking methods vary from region to region; the station or the regional authority gives the current tariff.

In many regions the ITV works by appointment, the cita previa, booked online or by phone. Some stations also take cars without one, with a wait to match. You are not tied to one station and can present the car outside your own region too, which is worth knowing when local appointments are scarce.

When a car has to go for its ITV depends on its type and age and is set nationally; the traffic authority, the DGT (Dirección General de Tráfico), publishes the periods. Not every region sends a reminder, so keeping track is the keeper's job. The station tells you when you book which papers it wants to see. Usually that is the registration document, the permiso de circulación, and the inspection card, the tarjeta ITV.

The routine is similar at every station. You usually drive through the test lane yourself while the inspector tells you when to brake, steer or switch on the lights, and then examines the car from below over the pit.

One point where buyers from further north often trip up is modifications, the reformas. A retrofitted tow bar, a gas system or altered suspension must be registered where registration is required; if not, the ITV will flag it. Registration is a procedure of its own, with paperwork from a workshop or an engineer, and it comes before the test, not after.

The test is based on an inspection manual that applies throughout Spain and follows the catalogue of the EU directive 2014/45/EU. In essence it covers these areas:

The ITV places every finding in one of three levels, and the most serious one sets the result. What matters most is what you may do afterwards. Carry on driving after an unfavourable result without seeing to the repair and you are driving without a valid ITV, with everything that means at a police check.

The three levels and what follows from them:

After a pass you receive a sticker, the distintivo, which goes on the inside of the windscreen, usually at the top right. It shows the month and year of the next test, and its colour depends on the year, so the police can read it from a distance. It must be displayed; if it is missing, a roadside check can end in a fine even when the ITV is valid.

The inspection card, the tarjeta de inspección técnica, often just called the tarjeta ITV or ficha técnica, is the car's technical document. It holds the technical data and any registered modifications; in the past, every ITV was stamped on the back. Today the data are kept electronically, and the station sends results straight to the DGT's vehicle register.

Besides the sticker and the card, the station gives you a report, the informe de inspección, listing every finding and its level. Keep it. It is the paper that shows what was noted at the test, including the minor faults on a favorable.

The sticker tells you at a glance how long the ITV is valid. If the next test is close, factor it in, together with the repairs it may trigger. An expired sticker on a car supposedly driven every day is worth a question.

The last report says more than the sticker. Ask to see it and read the minor faults: the car passed with them, but that does not mean they were fixed. A desfavorable in the car's history is no stain if it was repaired and passed afterwards; you just want to know what caused it.

The DGT's vehicle report, the informe de vehículo, does not depend on the seller. You request it from the traffic authority using the plate, online or at a counter. The full version lists, among other things, past ITV inspections with their findings, the mileages reported at them, and registered charges such as a retention of title from financing, the reserva de dominio. You run this check yourself, before any money changes hands.

If a Carvexia listing shows a test date, it comes from the seller and has not been checked. If the test is about to run out or already has, you can add the question of whether it will be renewed before handover to your enquiry. The answer appears on the vehicle page as the seller's statement; whether and when the seller replies is up to them.

Book early. In some regions appointments are scarce, and leaving it until just before expiry can mean driving for a few days without a valid ITV, or hunting for a workshop under pressure after a desfavorable.

In hot, dry regions the ITV often catches rubber and plastic: gaiters on axle joints and steering that crack in the heat, and headlamp lenses that yellow and scatter the beam. Both are cheap to fix if you spot them in advance.

The other common findings are unremarkable, and nearly all of them can be found before the appointment: