Driving without insurance in Tenerife

It is no longer necessary to carry the original of your vehicle insurance documents with you while you are driving in it.  As in the UK and elsewhere in the EU,  there is a database in Spain where all motor insurance policies are recorded.  This is accessible by the policeat the side of the road now in Spain, through mini-hand led computers using mobile phone technology, as are the Trafico systems for registered vehicle and driving licence details.

The database in Spain is known as the Ficha Informativo de Vehiculos Asegurados or FIVA in short.  This listing contains all the vehicles and the insured’s names of vehicles in Spain, including the policy certificates that were carried before. No foreign-registered cars are on the Spanish database so all others must still carry their Green Card.  The fines for not being insured are up to:

For Mopeds and 49cc scooters (ciclemotores) €1.050.
For motorcycles generally €1.250.
For turismos: standard passenger vehicles up to 16 seats. €1.500.
All heavier vehicles. €2.600.

These fines for driving without insurance also apply if you do not have a valid driver’s licence with the regular medicals up to date as this automatically means your insurance is invalid,

In addition, you can lose penalty points even if you have a foreign EU DL, for example a UK one, with the new cooperation system between the various EU countries.