Automatic driving licence

[Manchesteral]

Sorry if this appears to be a dumb question, and I think I know the answer but I would welcome opinions from other posters who may be more savvy on this subject than me.
So my question is, if one moves from UK to Spain and goes through all the correct registration procedures and changes a UK AUTOMATIC driving licence, that is a licence to drive ONLY an automatic car, is the licence, the new Spanish licence for driving both manual and automatics or only for automatics?
The reason I ask this question is because an acquaintence of mine tells me that his wife exchanged her UK automatic licence for a Spanish one and it came back as a licence to drive both automatic and manual cars, anyone know if this is correct?

[dxf]

Hola
From memory - only the UK have an automatic licence - and it's not recognised in any other country - so cannot be exchanged

Davexf

[Paddy Pumpkin]

I don't know the answer to your question. However you don't need to exchange your UK licence when you move to Spain until it is near expiry. Hence I would recommend to renew your licence in the UK before you leave so then you will avoid the hassle of having to change it in Spain for 10 years (i.e. when it expires). Subject to Brexit negotiations of course. Another advantage of continuing to drive on your UK licence is that the Spanish authorities cannot put points on your licence (yet).

[El Cid]

They cannot put UK points on it, but they can put Spanish points on it by creating a "virtual" licence in their database. Lose all your points and you would not be able to use your UK licence in Spain. They can also ban a UK driver, but the ban would not (yet) apply in the UK and of course, if you are seriously over the limit (speed and alcohol) you can get a prison sentence.

Once the UK is out of the EU different rules may apply. There is no guarantee yet that UK licence will be able to be exchanged after Brexit. Worse case scenario is that you might need to take a Spanish driving test. That's all pretty unlikely, but if Theresa May continues throwing her toys out of the pram anything could happen. If in doubt I would change it. As for the question of can you exchange a UK automatic licence, I very much doubt that Trafico would not exchange is as they are probably unaware of the existence of such a licence. It's certainly worth a try as life is so much easier if you can produce a Spanish licence when asked.

Sid

[markwilding]

I don't know the answer to your question. However you don't need to exchange your UK licence when you move to Spain until it is near expiry. Hence I would recommend to renew your licence in the UK before you leave so then you will avoid the hassle of having to change it in Spain for 10 years (i.e. when it expires). Subject to Brexit negotiations of course. Another advantage of continuing to drive on your UK licence is that the Spanish authorities cannot put points on your licence (yet).

Be very careful though, because i know of various cases of people being fined for having a foreign licence even though it had been renewed recently.

http://www.expatica.com/es/moving-to/Re ... 73563.html

[Manchesteral]

I still, after having read numerous posts on this subject don't understand why UK subjects living in Spain are so reluctant to change to a Spanish licence

[elusive]

I don't know the answer to your question. However you don't need to exchange your UK licence when you move to Spain until it is near expiry. Hence I would recommend to renew your licence in the UK before you leave so then you will avoid the hassle of having to change it in Spain for 10 years (i.e. when it expires). Subject to Brexit negotiations of course. Another advantage of continuing to drive on your UK licence is that the Spanish authorities cannot put points on your licence (yet).

Not quite as uncomplicated as that theres the two year resident rule that some guardia like to have their own theory on and it also depends on the cats on your licence.lots of info on citizens advice spain.but their advice amongst others is to change to a spanish licence to save any possible issues if stopped

[elusive]

I still, after having read numerous posts on this subject don't understand why UK subjects living in Spain are so reluctant to change to a Spanish licence

Prob the same ones who are reluctant to pay tax here sign on the padron etc etc etc

[Paddy Pumpkin]

I don't know the answer to your question. However you don't need to exchange your UK licence when you move to Spain until it is near expiry. Hence I would recommend to renew your licence in the UK before you leave so then you will avoid the hassle of having to change it in Spain for 10 years (i.e. when it expires). Subject to Brexit negotiations of course. Another advantage of continuing to drive on your UK licence is that the Spanish authorities cannot put points on your licence (yet).

Not quite as uncomplicated as that theres the two year resident rule that some guardia like to have their own theory on and it also depends on the cats on your licence.lots of info on citizens advice spain.but their advice amongst others is to change to a spanish licence to save any possible issues if stopped

Of course if a Guardia doesn't know the law he can write you an illegal ticket but the EU law on the subject is very clear.

Obligatory exchange

You may be required to exchange your driving licence:

after 2 years of normal residence, if you have a driving licence valid for life (if you have a livence with validity up to 15 years you are not required to exchange it until it expires)

if you commit a traffic offence in the country where you live

[elusive]

https://www.citizensadvice.org.es/must- ... residency/

Lots more "intresting "info on there about the licence "laws" the guardia just follows the DGT directive or doesnt depending on you/they interpretate it!

Only recently the DVLA has changed the rules on having to change your E.U licence to a UK one. Before it was i think after two or three years or when it ran out (photo) which ever came first .