All drivers must, depending on the type and age of their vehicle, pass the ITV every four, two or one year or even every six months. Upon payment of the corresponding fee, the stations hand out a sticker that, as explained by the Spanish Association of Collaborating Entities of the Administration in the Technical Inspection of Vehicles (AECA-ITV), is too important to keep it in the glove compartment once get back into circulation. Once issued, it is better that you do not drive with the old one: Traffic can tell by the color that it corresponds to an expired inspection.
Your suspicions are true: it is mandatory to carry the ITV sticker in a visible place. This badge is called V-19 in the Traffic Regulations and its purpose is to allow Civil Guard agents and local police officers to identify at a glance that your vehicle is driving with the ITV in force and, therefore, complies with optimal conditions for driving safely. The Badge of the Periodic Technical Inspection of the Vehicle thus acquires the same relevance as the rest of the vehicle documentation, such as the circulation permit or the technical inspection sheet itself.
The ITV sticker contains several significant data such as the month and year in which the inspection expires, the number of the ITV station where it was carried out and the autonomous community in which it is located. That is why it is important for the driver to place it in a visible place. On motorcycles it should be placed somewhere that is easily seen, while on vehicles with windshields, in the upper right corner on the inside. Eye! The ITV stickers are not collectible stamps either: place the new one in the place of the old one and never below it to reduce the driver's visibility as little as possible.
Not wearing the ITV sticker is considered a minor offence. If a vehicle is intercepted without it, the driver faces an administrative sanction that can be settled by paying a fine of 100 euros, without the withdrawal of points from the driving license.
The ITV stickers have specific colors that are repeated cyclically depending on the year the technical inspection expires: first yellow, then red, and then green. In this way the authorities can quickly check if a vehicle is driving with the ITV in force or not.
Yellow stickers correspond to inspections that expire in 2023, 2026, and so on. The red ones are carried by vehicles that will expire in 2024, and the green ones, for those that will expire in 2025.
