How to Check If a Car Is Insured in Spain (FIVA & the DGT Report)
Every insured vehicle in Spain is listed in a central database called FIVA. Here is how to check a car’s insurance — your own, one you’re about to buy, or the one that just hit you — and what happens when a car turns out to be uninsured.
British drivers are used to askMID: type your plate, get an instant answer. Spain has the same information — a central register of every insured vehicle, updated daily by the insurers themselves — but it is organised differently, and knowing which door to knock on saves real time. There are three routes: your own paperwork and the free DGT tools for a car in your name, a paid DGT report for any other plate, and a free Consorcio enquiry reserved for people involved in an accident. This guide walks through each one.
The short version
- Spain’s insured-vehicle register is FIVA, run by the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros. Insurers must update it daily.
- There is no free type-any-plate checker like askMID. For any plate, order the DGT’s informe completo (€8.67) — it shows whether the car appears insured and the insurer’s name, plus ITV history, mileage readings and charges.
- Involved in an accident? The Consorcio’s FIVA enquiry is free: give the plate, the accident date and a copy of the accident statement, and it names the insurer covering that vehicle on that day.
- Police don’t ask for paper — they check FIVA electronically at the roadside, and the DGT cross-checks its own register against FIVA from the desk.
- An uninsured car — even parked on a public road — risks a fine of €601–€3,005 plus immobilisation. Victims of uninsured drivers are compensated by the Consorcio, which then pursues the owner.
FIVA: Spain’s insured-vehicles database
FIVA — the Fichero Informativo de Vehículos Asegurados — is the central file of every insured vehicle in Spain. It is managed by the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros, the public insurance body, under the compulsory motor insurance law (Real Decreto Legislativo 8/2004 and its regulation, Real Decreto 1507/2008).
For each vehicle, FIVA records the plate, the vehicle identification, the insurer, and the start and end dates of cover. Insurers are legally required to report new policies and cancellations every day — though a brand-new policy can still take a few days to show up (more on that below). Its two official purposes: identifying the insurer of any vehicle involved in an accident, and policing the insurance obligation itself.
Checking your own car is insured
Nine times out of ten the question is about your own car — usually after a renewal, a bank switch or a mid-year insurer change. Work through these in order:
- The recibo (premium receipt). The current paid receipt is legal proof of cover if it shows the insurer, the plate and the cover period. If a direct-debit renewal was returned unpaid, cover can lapse without much ceremony — this is the single most common way drivers end up uninsured without knowing.
- Your insurer or agent. A one-minute call confirms the policy is in force and the renewal collected. Our clients can simply ring the office — we see the live policy status on screen.
- The DGT’s free own-vehicle report. Log in to the DGT electronic office or the miDGT app with Cl@ve or a digital certificate: reports on vehicles registered in your own name are free and include the compulsory-insurance section.
Checking any plate: the DGT informe completo
For a car that is not yours — typically one you are thinking of buying — Spain’s only public any-plate check is the DGT’s informe completo de vehículo. It costs €8.67 (DGT fee 4.1) and you can order it online at the DGT electronic office with Cl@ve or a digital certificate, through the miDGT app, or at a traffic office with an appointment.
On insurance it answers two things: whether the vehicle appears insured in FIVA, and the name of the insurer. It will not show the policy number or what level of cover the owner bought — for that you would need the owner’s own documents.
The rest of the report is a used-car buyer’s checklist in one PDF: ITV history and results, recorded mileage readings (a clocking check), cargas y gravámenes — embargoes or finance charges that block a transfer — number of previous owners, technical data, the environmental sticker category and any pending safety recalls. Before handing over money for any second-hand car, the €8.67 is the best-spent money of the whole purchase — see our full guide to registering a car in Spain for the transfer that follows.
After an accident: the free Consorcio enquiry
If you have been in an accident and need to know who insures the other vehicle, you do not need to pay for anything. People involved in an accident (or their accredited representatives) can ask the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros directly: state your details, the other vehicle’s plate, the date of the accident and the type of damage, and attach a copy of the accident statement.
The reply names the insurer covering that vehicle on that date. The service is free; the request goes in via the form on consorseguros.es, by post or by email — it is not a phone service, and it is not open to general curiosity about other people’s cars.
In practice you will rarely need to do even this. If the parte amistoso was filled in at the roadside, the plate and date on it are exactly what your own insurer runs against FIVA to identify the other company and open the claim under the inter-insurer conventions — the system explained in how car insurance claims work in Spain. The Consorcio enquiry matters most when the other driver gave you nothing but a registration number.
Not sure what to do in the minutes after a collision? Start with our step-by-step guide to what to do after a car accident in Spain.
Why nobody carries paper any more
Older residents remember the green windscreen sticker and the folder of papers in the glovebox. That era is over: since the 2008 regulation, the Guardia Civil and local police verify insurance by consulting FIVA electronically at the roadside, and the specific fine that once existed for not carrying the paper receipt was removed from the law back in 2007.
The regulation still formally expects the documentation to travel with the car, and there is one situation where paper genuinely helps: the first days of a brand-new policy, before your insurer’s daily FIVA feed has caught up. A copy of the recibo on your phone costs nothing and answers every question at a checkpoint.
The checks are not only at the roadside. The DGT routinely cross-checks its vehicle register against FIVA from the desk and posts out sanction letters to keepers of vehicles that appear registered but uninsured — no traffic stop involved.
If the car turns out to be uninsured
Compulsory motor insurance in Spain attaches to the vehicle, not the driver, and the legal duty to insure falls on the owner of any vehicle normally based in Spain. The often-missed detail: the duty applies while the vehicle exists on the register — a car parked on a public road with no insurance is sanctionable, even if nobody has driven it for months. Only deregistering it (baja) or keeping it off public roads ends the obligation.
The penalty is a fine of €601 to €3,005, graduated by whether the car was moving or parked, its category and how long it went uninsured, plus prohibition from circulating and immobilisation or deposit at the owner’s cost — a month’s deposit for a first offence, longer for repeats.
If an uninsured driver hits you, you are not left unprotected: the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros compensates victims of uninsured, unknown and stolen vehicles within the compulsory-cover limits, and then pursues the uninsured owner for every euro it paid. Between the fine, the impoundment and the Consorcio’s recovery action, driving uninsured in Spain is spectacularly bad value next to a basic terceros policy from around €180 a year.
Buying a used car: check before you pay
Two insurance questions matter in a private sale. The first is the one this guide answers: is the car insured right now? The €8.67 DGT report settles it, along with the ITV, mileage and any charges against the car.
The second is what happens to the seller’s policy. On paper, Spanish law transfers the policy with the vehicle: the seller must notify the insurer in writing within 15 days of the sale, the insurer can cancel within 15 days of finding out (staying on risk for a month after telling the buyer), and the buyer can also walk away from the inherited contract within 15 days. In practice, treat that as a legal safety net rather than a plan — most insurers re-quote on notification, and the sensible move is to arrange your own policy from the day of purchase. It also protects you on the drive home.
We insure the whole ladder — from basic terceros to todo riesgo — with claims handled in English; see car insurance in Spain or jump straight to comparing cover levels and quotes.
Insuring a car in Spain? Get it right from day one
Tell us the car and the drivers and we’ll confirm what cover it needs, transfer your UK, EU, Canadian or US no-claims bonus, and have you correctly listed in FIVA from the start — with the policy documents in English and a person to call if anything ever happens.
Get a free quote → Car insurance in SpainFrequently asked questions
It depends on whose car it is. For your own car: check the paid premium receipt, ask your insurer or agent, or pull the free DGT report on vehicles in your name via miDGT or the DGT electronic office. For any other plate: order the DGT informe completo (€8.67), which shows whether the car appears in the FIVA insured-vehicles database and names the insurer. If you were involved in an accident with the car, the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros will identify the insurer for free from the plate, the accident date and a copy of the accident statement.
No. Spain has no free public type-any-plate checker. The free routes are limited to vehicles in your own name (via the DGT electronic office or miDGT app) and to people involved in an accident, who can ask the Consorcio for free. For any other vehicle, the paid DGT informe completo at €8.67 is the official route — it covers insurance status, ITV history, mileage readings and charges in one report.
FIVA (Fichero Informativo de Vehículos Asegurados) is Spain’s central database of insured vehicles, managed by the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros. Insurers must report new policies and cancellations daily, and for each vehicle it records the plate, the insurer and the cover dates. Police, the DGT, the courts and insurers query it to verify cover and to identify the insurer of any vehicle involved in an accident. It is the Spanish equivalent of the UK’s Motor Insurance Database.
The paid informe completo (€8.67) shows whether the vehicle appears insured in FIVA and the name of the insurer — but not the policy number or the level of cover. The same report includes the ITV history and results, recorded mileage, embargoes and finance charges, number of previous owners, technical data and the environmental sticker category, which is why it is the standard pre-purchase check on any used car.
Between €601 and €3,005, graduated by vehicle category, whether it was being driven or just parked, and how long it went uninsured — plus immobilisation or deposit of the vehicle at the owner’s cost. A car parked on a public road must be insured even if it is never driven; only deregistration or keeping it off public roads ends the duty. The DGT also detects uninsured vehicles automatically by cross-checking its register against FIVA and posting sanction letters.
Legally the policy passes with the vehicle: the seller must notify the insurer in writing within 15 days, the insurer may cancel within 15 days of learning of the sale (remaining on risk for a month after notifying you), and you may reject the inherited contract within 15 days. In practice most insurers re-quote on notification, so treat the transfer as a safety net and arrange your own policy from the day of purchase — it also covers the drive home.
No. Insurers feed FIVA daily but a new policy typically takes two to four days to appear. During that window the payment receipt (recibo) showing the insurer, the plate and the cover period is valid proof of insurance — keep a copy on your phone. If the DGT ever writes to you as apparently uninsured, ask your insurer to correct its FIVA feed and reply to the letter attaching the receipt.
Sources & references: Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros — FIVA; Real Decreto 1507/2008 (compulsory motor insurance regulation, arts. 14 and 23–28); Real Decreto Legislativo 8/2004 (LRCSCVM, arts. 2–3 and 11); DGT — informe de vehículo; Ley 50/1980 de Contrato de Seguro (arts. 34–36, sale of the insured object).
Fee and fine figures checked July 2026 and can change; always confirm current amounts on the official pages linked above. This guide is general information, not legal advice.