Starting my life in Spain as a non-EU national came with its own set of complications and bureaucracy that EU nationals are fortunate enough to not usually experience.
With many official processes, I’ve learned that if your home country doesn’t have an “agreement” with Spain on certain matters, it means you have to start from scratch with it.
This is often the case with driving licences. Except for a handful of non-EU countries, most non-EU nationals cannot simply exchange their driver’s licence for a Spanish one but rather need to resit their theory and practical driving exams.
READ ALSO: Who can exchange their licence and who has to resit the exam?
As a South African licence holder, my driver’s licence needed to be changed for a Spanish one after six months of residency in Spain.
It’s frustrating knowing that no matter how much experience you have driving (I got my licence when I was 18 and have driven regularly ever since), your licence won’t be valid here after a certain period of residency.
But it’s just one of those things in life where you have to bite the bullet and get on with it.
After a few months of studying and practical classes, I can now proudly say that I’m a Spanish licence holder. Fortunately, I managed to pass the theory and practical exam the first time round.
I know there are plenty more foreigners in Spain who are in the same boat as I was, not least the UK licence holders who are now not sure whether they will have to resit their driving exams.
So I’d like to share some tips for foreign drivers who have to get their licences again in Spain, as well as give a breakdown of some of the conclusions I’ve drawn from my experience of doing it and passing.
The positives
You familiarise yourself with the road rules and signs of Spain
This may seem unnecessary since a lot of road signs are internationally understood, but there seems to be a few that are different and come with their own sets of rules.
You get to better understand the roads in the place where you live in Spain
It may seem silly, but each country and city even has its own eccentricities in terms of road structures and rules.
Here in Tenerife, there are certain areas where the roads seem put together randomly and then sprinkled with road signs and warnings. It doesn’t always make sense as to why they chose to do it that way, and as a foreign driver you may misunderstand them (because who wouldn’t?).
You improve your Spanish
I chose to do the theory test in Spanish (you can also do it in English) and felt it helped my Spanish improve to a certain extent.
As a result, I also understood my driving instructor better during practicals as I knew the names of the manoeuvres and actions in Spanish already.
As you probably know, you have to do your practical driving exam in Spanish, and I felt that thanks to that linguistic prep, I could understand the examiner far better during the exam, even though he was sitting behind me and his voice was slightly muffled as he was wearing a mask.
READ ALSO: The essential Spanish you need to pass your practical test
The negatives
You spend a lot of money
Based on my experiences, getting a licence in Spain requires a fairly big financial investment, even if you’re a seasoned driver.
When you work with a Spanish driving school (which you sort of have to if you want to understand the DGT’s complicated MO), it comes with some extra expenses but the process of getting a driving licence in itself is already expensive.
There’s the matrícula (the registration) which is €50, the tasas de tráfico - €93,12 and the processing fee - €35 which you pay all before taking your first theory test.
You can use the DGT website to do practice exams, but that login expires after 30 days and from there you have to pay €5 every time to use it for another 30 days.
You have two opportunities to pass the theory exam. If you don’t pass it on the third, you have to pay your tasas again.
When you pass your theory exam, you can start thinking about your practical lessons. On average a driving class costs around €25,50 for 45 minutes.
Unfortunately, you are forced to book double sessions because the areas where the exams take place are usually on the outskirts of the city, so driving there and back already costs you half an hour of your precious 45 minutes.
All in all, I spent €459 on classes. Admittedly, I probably did more classes than necessary because I didn’t have the correct strategy from the start (I have a tip on how to do fewer classes further down).
That brought me to a total of €647, which did feel like an unnecessarily high expense for something that I already had.
READ MORE: How much does it cost to get your driving licence in Spain?
Driving schools want you to do as many classes as possible
How many driving lessons you do is up to you and your instructor but you may they discourage you from taking too few classes.
They seem to always say that the roads are tricky, that you have to be ready for the exam, that you have to do at least a certain number of classes, even though you already know how to drive.
There is no minimum amount of classes that you have to do. And ultimately you can decide on how many classes you want and ask to do your exam.
You have to put the L square in your car
Your driving school will tell you after you pass your practical exam that you have to put the “L” sign in the back window of your car for a year to indicate that you are a new driver. This doesn’t seem fair or to make sense considering your driving experience, but there you have it.
My tips for passing your Spanish driving test
- Instead of studying the DGT rule book, start practising exams directly on the DGT website. You can look up doubts in the book from there, but ultimately it is a big waste of time to study the theory first, and the theory exam is based on the questions in the practice exams anyway.
- If your Spanish is reasonably good, do the theory in Spanish. It will help you understand your instructor and examiner better and overall give you more confidence in the practical test. I’ve also read that the translation into English of the theory exam isn’t always clear.
- Don’t make the same mistake that I did and take a few classes a month in an unorganised fashion. Take one or two classes to familiarise yourself with your instructor and the roads. Then, ask for an exam date a month in advance. From there you can plan to have some intensive classes in the weeks right before the exam to learn the exact routes and areas where the exam takes place. It will also be fresher in your mind right before the practical exam.
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