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Tema 5: vehicle registration, ITV and insurance in the DGT exam

Four vehicle procedures: authorise it, inspect it, insure it and de-register it. Each has a figure the exam asks about.

Reviewed on 6 October 2026 · sources: BOE and DGT

This tema covers four vehicle procedures: authorise it, inspect it, insure it and de-register it. Each has a figure.

  • Every vehicle needs prior administrative authorisation to be driven, and without it it is immobilised.
  • Car (turismo): first ITV at 4 years, every 2 years from 4 to 10, every year from 10.
  • Moped (ciclomotor): first ITV at 3 years; then every 2 years.
  • Every owner of a vehicle habitually kept in Spain must insure each vehicle.
  • No insurance: driving is banned and the vehicle is impounded or sealed. The seal lasts 1 month; 3 months for a repeat.
  • Voluntary temporary de-registration: 1 year at most.

Watch out: The duty to insure is the owner's, not the habitual driver's.

In DrivingLingo: practise with the road signs, review the plates and documents topic and the points licence and penalties one, and do .

Source: RGV arts. 1, 2, 7, 10.1, 35 and 36; RD 920/2017 art. 6; RDL 8/2004 arts. 2.1 and 3.1.

Key rules of topic 5

Authorisation and register

Every vehicle needs prior administrative authorisation to be driven, and without it it is immobilised.

  • It is entered in the National Vehicle Register of the Jefatura Central de Tráfico, which also checks that insurance is valid.
  • A major modification is regularised with the Industry authority; telling the garage or the ITV is not enough.
  • The Industry authority can set technical exceptions for specific vehicles, equipment or parts.

Source: RGV art. 1; RGV art. 2; RGV art. 7

ITV by age

The ITV checks road safety, the environment, modifications and identification, and its date depends on age.

  • Car: first ITV at 4 years, every 2 years from 4 to 10, every year from 10.
  • Moped: first ITV at 3 years; then every 2 years.

Source: RD 920/2017 art. 6; RGV art. 10.1

Compulsory insurance

Every owner of a vehicle habitually kept in Spain must insure each vehicle.

  • A Spanish plate, definitive or temporary, is enough; being broken down or in a garage does not exempt you.
  • No insurance: driving is banned and the vehicle is impounded or sealed, at the owner's cost.
  • The seal lasts 1 month; 3 months for a repeat.

Source: RDL 8/2004 art. 2.1; RDL 8/2004 art. 3.1

Vehicle de-registration

To take the vehicle off the road for good you ask for permanent de-registration; temporary de-registration is reversible.

  • Voluntary temporary de-registration: 1 year at most; the extension may not be requested more than 2 months ahead; without it, the vehicle goes back to active.
  • For theft: you show the police report to the Jefatura de Tráfico.
  • Tráfico can de-register ex officio after 10 years without ITV or insurance; it can be reinstated.

Source: RGV art. 35; RGV art. 36

Learn the rule, then practise it

Study topic 5 step by step: the rule, its citation and exam-style questions.

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