The ITV test

The ITV is the Spanish equivalent of the MOT test in UK. All cars are tested on a regular basis and even UK plated cars can now be covered. Once a car is over four years old, a test must be undertaken, and, depending on the age of the car the certificate has a validity of up to 2 years.

Claire´s car was tested successfully last week and the procedure is quite impressive.

It all started when a reminder was sent to us by post prior to expiry of the last certificate. I telephoned for an appointment and the earliest date was 19 June..14 days after expiry of the old certificate but that didn´t seem important. The appointment system has been introduced to eliminate the very long queues that used to form outside the testing station previously.

Our local testing centre is in the poligono at Estepona and I arrived just before the appointed hour to register and to pay the fee (39 euros)

I drove the car through the test which started with an under bonnet inspection followed by brakes, tyres, lights, emissions. all in all very thorough.

The Certificate is now valid for two years to 2010.