Changes to ITV vehicle tests announced from May

EXTRA testing criteria will be included in compulsory vehicle inspections from May 20 this year, although not everyone's cars will be affected.

Private and commercial vehicles are required to undergo a 'technical inspection', or ITV, in Spain – for cars, this becomes mandatory once they are four years old, and takes place every two years.

This is also necessary for those newer than four years old which have been used as hire vehicles or courtesy cars.

Once the car is 10 years old, ITV tests are needed annually.

Driving with an out-of-date ITV, or after the vehicle has failed and not yet been retested, is against the law – as is failing to display a valid ITV sticker (as shown in picture three) on the windscreen.

The ITV procedures handbook is regularly updated, often with new elements to be tested added in – and the latest version comes into effect next month.

Two new criteria are present in the new version 7.7.0., but will not affect all vehicles, and do not require any extra action or cost to the owner.

Only for newer cars

The first of these is the requirement for ITV testing centres to check the eCall system is working properly.

This system was made compulsory for all cars newly registered from 2018 onwards, and is thought to have significantly cut the number of road deaths, since it is designed to send an automatic emergency service alert in the event of a crash.

Owners whose cars have an eCall system are expected to have these checked periodically in any case, so its inclusion in ITV tests now means not having to worry about arranging to do so unless they want to have it examined more than once every two years.

Cars registered in 2017 or earlier do not have an eCall system as standard, so the new rules will not affect them.

The second change relates to the On-Board Fuel Consumption Meter (OBFCM), but is not a 'test' as such.

Instead, ITV stations will be required to collate anonymous data on how much fuel cars use, and covers petrol or diesel vehicles as well as electric, hybrid and hydrogen.

These data are found in the on-board diagnostics system serial port.

They do not affect the outcome of the ITV test, so no car can fail as a result of the reading, and once the information has been logged with the relevant State authority, the data are destroyed.

Only cars registered from January 1, 2021 onwards are checked.

Compulsory testing offers peace of mind and good value for money

For some motorists, their looming ITV date is a source of worry, or at least an obstacle to be overcome – but in reality, it is often the only time many drivers have their vehicles checked professionally, meaning that, by contrast, an ITV should be viewed as an opportunity to gain peace of mind that the car is in a good, safe condition for driving.

Some drivers even admit that, when their cars reach 10 years old and have to be tested annually rather than bi-annually, this comes as a relief rather than a drawback – they know their vehicles are being more regularly monitored for safety.

Even if an ITV failure turns out to be costly in terms of the work needed to restore the vehicle to a fully roadworthy state and ensure it passes the second time around, the actual price of the retest is only 50% of the standard fee.

Varying from region to region, an ITV typically costs around €40 to €55, and a retest fee for a failure is half of this – meaning it is good value for money for the reassurance it offers.