TWO in 10 vehicles fail their ITV test at least once, and inspectors detect up to 23.88 million mechanical faults every year, according to transport authorities.
Lights and indicators are the most common, followed by tyres, wheels and suspension, says the motor inspectors's association AECA-ITV.
A total of 18.77% of cars, vans and lorries failed the first time around in 2016 out of the 19.5 million which went in for inspection – 4% more than in 2015.
This translates to 3.66 million first-time fails in one year, in some cases purely on emissions levels which proved higher than the maximum permitted by Spanish law.
Of the 23.88 million defects found, a total of 6.88 million were classed as 'serious', of which an average of 1.9 was seen per vehicle which failed the test.
Nearly a quarter of these related to headlights, back lights, reverse lights and indicators, whilst more than one in five were wheels, tyres and suspension.
Brakes in defective condition came to 14.7% of the total number of mechanical faults, and 13.3% related to emissions.
Vehicles with the greatest numbers of problems, and the most likely to fail Spain's answer to an MOT test, were lorries, trailers, buses and vans, in that order.
A much smaller number failed their second ITV test, or first retake – 7.08%, or exactly 263,529 – whilst 3.45 million passed on the second attempt.
Test failures rising are attributed to the economic crisis, since job loss, lower wages and higher taxes mean more and more owners are unable to afford repairs and do not have the money to replace their cars when they get older.
Whilst in 2015, the average age of a car on Spain's roads was around 11 or 12 years, this now stands at 14 years.
Given that ITV tests are required annually from 10 years old – as opposed to bi-annually between four and 10 years and not at all for the first four years unless the vehicle has been used as a courtesy or hire car – this means the number of ITV tests carried out is rising rapidly.
Testers warn that the financial crisis has led to more motorists running the risk of not putting their cars through the test – an average of 17.21% of vehicles on the road do not have a valid ITV sticker, including 7.44% of lorries, 52% of vans, 21.2% of buses, 59% of motorbikes and mopeds and 49% of trailers, although the figure for private cars has not been given.
AECA-ITV stresses that the bi-annual or annual tests are crucial to increasing motoring safety, since problems with brakes and wheels have huge potential to cause fatal accidents but can be detected during the test.
Costs vary according to region and vehicle-owners must have their cars, vans, lorries and so on tested in the region they live in.
On average, the price of an ITV test is around €45 or €55 for a car, the test takes around 15 minutes and most centres offer appointments, and the majority are open from early morning until late at night without shutting for lunch.
