Most of the Spaniards choose the car as a means of transport to travel in summer. 57% of our travelers will travel in their private car to reach their destination, according to a study on the habits of national tourists published by the National Observatory of Issuing Tourism (ObservaTUR). Although it is true that most of the trips will be made within our borders, there are also those who prefer to travel by car through other countries.
Traveling by car gives us greater freedom when designing a route to suit us. Apart from being an option from an economic point of view, the automobile gives us the freedom to change our itinerary on the fly or to stop along the way at any time. However, when it comes to driving abroad, it is necessary to have all the documentation required in these cases, and it varies depending on whether we do it within the European Union or through other countries.
To drive through the countries of the European Union (EU), and the European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), we can do it with our Spanish driving license. The only requirement is that the document be in force, so there is no need to carry out any formality.
It should be remembered that if the permit is about to expire, it can be renewed up to three months before the date on which it expires. But the provisional authorization to drive until the final license is received is only valid for driving in Spain. The same happens with the permit in digital format that we can carry downloaded in the miDGT mobile app, which is only valid for driving around our country. To do it abroad it is mandatory to carry the card in physical format.
To drive outside the EU it is necessary to carry the International Permit, a valid document to drive in any country in the world for one year that has the backing of the UN. It is a provisional foreign circulation permit that must be requested in advance and must be accompanied at all times by the current Spanish permit, as it is not valid by itself.
To obtain this permit, you must go to any office of the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) and present your driver's license, ID along with a recent photograph and pay a fee of 10.10 euros. The delivery of the international permit is carried out on the spot, so there is no need to wait for any deadline.
There are a number of countries outside the European Union with which Spain has agreements, so an international permit is not necessary to drive through their territory. Most of these countries belong to South America (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela). The other countries are: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.
Some countries have implemented a pricing system to drive on their roads instead of establishing traditional tolls. It is what is known as a vignette, one of the alternatives that the Government is considering for the future to cover the maintenance costs of the highways. Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland are some of the countries that charge for driving on their roads.
To acquire the vignette, Mapfre explains on its blog that the stickers are sold at gas stations, service areas, rest areas in the country itself or in neighboring countries. In Switzerland, an annual fee of 40 Swiss francs (about 33 euros) is paid, but in other countries, such as Austria, it is possible to buy the sticker for 10 days (8 euros), two months (23.40 euros) and one year ( 77.8 euros).
To drive around the countries of the European Union and the European Economic Area, in addition to carrying a valid driving license for the vehicle you are driving, other documents are required. This is the registration certificate for the car, which contains the technical data of the vehicle and the data of its owner, as well as the ITV card and the corresponding sticker.
If the car has a registration prior to the current allocation system, that is, it has a provincial registration plate, you must place an oval sticker with a white background and an 'E' in black (identifying Spain as the country of origin of your vehicle) in the back of the car. In the European Union, this sticker may be replaced by the equivalent in blue, with a white E and the identifying stars of the EU.
To drive outside the European Union, in addition to all the aforementioned documents, it is necessary to carry the international driving license and the Green Card. This last document certifies that your car is insured and facilitates the transit of the vehicle in the event of an accident. The Green Card also acts as a certificate that you have compulsory civil liability insurance in force that covers bodily or material damage that we can cause to third parties with our vehicle.
Many companies include the Green Card of the insured car when issuing the policy and sending the documentation. If you do not have this document or it has been lost, you can request it from your insurer, who will send it to your home.
