or perhaps frightening?

How do you go about changing your UK licence to a Spanish one?

You can do it yourself, but it involves at least one trip to Santa Cruz. I can't bear the thought of dealing with Trafico when there are professionals who do this all the time ... so I paid someone.

Send goldenmaniac a PM

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Ok I will try to make this as painless as possible
For UK Citizens:

You do not have to change your UK licence for a Spanish one. However the law requires that if you are resident in Spain and driving on a UK licence here that you submit to the Spanish requirements for Medical tests which are:
up to age 50 - a check every 10 years, age 50 to 70 a check evey 5 years and 70 or over every 2 years, unless you have some permanent dissability or ailment which requires checking every year.

So the easiest thing to do in my opinion is to inscript your UK licence, this means that you keep it but that you advise Trafico of your address here in Spain. In that way you are "in the system" and then they write to you to remind you when your medical is due, you can then renew by post - all relatively simple.

As a bonus if you lose your UK licence and you were already inscripted, Spain will issue you with a new licence. If you were not inscripted you get involved with apostilles, the consulate and a lot of grief, unless of course you still have a residence or family member in the UK and can "cheat".
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OR- If you want to, but not compulsorarily, you can apply to exchange "canje" your UK licence for a Spanish one.

This is sometimes desirable if you have an old paper licence and would like a plastic one or if you have lost your UK licence.
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Both inscriptions and exchanges start off the same.
You can not apply until you have been registered as resident for 6 months or more.
You have to take copies in duplicate of your passport, green certificate de registro, driving licence, paper counterpart if you have it and certificado de empadronamiento, to Trafico to start off the procedure. They then apply to DVLA to check if you have points, banns etc. In 45 days or when they telephone you, whichever is sooner, you go again to Trafico with originals of all the copies you have already handed in and if you are going to exchange also 2 carnet size photos. You do not need photos for an inscription. You do not need a medical for this 1st exchange or inscription.
You pay the appropriate fee exchanges are more expensive than inscriptions, around 16 euros and 7 euros but check exact amount at Trafico as they go up slightly each year.

For inscription: you present paid tax form, and originals of all documents and they send you away with a stamped A5 printed sheet with your details on. keep that with your UK licence to show if requested.

For Exchange:you present paid tax form, and originals of all documents together with photographs. They KEEP YOUR UK LICENCE. Then they ask you to sign a signatory paper within a boxed rectangle and they send you away with a temporary cardboard licence valid for 90 days - long within that time your new plastic Spanish licence will arrive by post.
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The information desk at Trafico will try to dissuade you from doing either of these things - saying it is not compulsory - there is a difference of opinion on this between them and the "cops" on the ground. I always favour at the very least inscripting. After all if you live here permanently and you have a UK licence stating your permanent address is in the UK this is actually a fraudulent statement. Plus as I said above, if you lose or have stolen an uninscripted licence then you have a real set of hoops to jump through!!!!!
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If you are bewildered by Trafico my firm can save you the first trip to Santa Cruz by initiating the process on your behalf but you have to attend the second time in person - although we do accompany you on the second trip after the 45 day period

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Now on a lighter note
I got stopped on a routine check by a very nice young guardia civil officer, who looked at my Spanish licence and said "Doña" [I hate that it makes me feel soooo old] "you have to wear glasses for driving, but you do not have them on" - I turned to face him, smiled, opened my eyes wide and said " but officer, I'm wearing contact lenses - if you look closely into my eyes you can see them"
you've never seen anyone move so quick in all your life!!
I bet he went home and told his girfriend about being accosted by this old British lady

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Please don't put it to the test. The UK police can arrest you and put you before the magistrates in the morning. However in practice this would only happen for the most serious offences ie.drink driving. Causing death by....etc. Plus speeding fines may well find there way to your Spanish address. I have read somewhere that the EU are trying to pass a law so that the country you live in can prosecute you for committing an offence in another country. I cannot see it my self but knowing Brussels anything is possible!

Can anyone help? Hubby just got pulled on the way home from work (again) and the usual scratching of heads regarding his insripted license ensued. They let him go in the end, but pointed out that the inscription had run out. I have just seen the above post, and realised that the address on his license is way out of date. Do you think its better to just surrender it for a Spanish license or renew the inscription, and how could he do this anyway with no covering letter. Lived here all this times and we still come up against these niggling problems.

I visited the DGT and was informed that until my UK license expires I was OK to use it.

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This is the problem with inscription for me ... a UK licence cannot actually have a true address on it, by definition, and the DVLA won't record a non-UK address. It simply cannot harm to have a full legal Spanish driving licence ... it's valid everywhere in Europe, and if one should ever return to the UK, it can be surrendered there in order to get the UK one reinstated.

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for anyone living in or moving to Tenerife
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You could update the address on the Trafico computer simply by taking in a copy of a current empadronamiento, your licence and ID, there is no real need for a covering letter you will already be in the computer, you could sign an authority form if you don't want to make the trip yourself but the person transacting the business for you would have to have your original ID for the day.

In my personal opinion if you have made your life here then why not change to a Spanish licence. If you were already inscripted, you can do this very quickly, as they have already checked out your details and any subsequent infringemnts in Spain would have been recorded.

If your address in Trafico's records is current whether you have inscripted OR changed to a Spanish licence you will be advised of when you need to have a medical. I have had a Spanish licence for 16 years and have driven and hired cars in the UK and other places whilst on holiday, never with any problems.

The only time I have heard of people coming up against a problem is when they are hiring from small local "village" hire companies in the UK who are just not geared up for visitors.
That's my 2 pennyworth for what its worth!

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