Postby alexander1 » Fri Dec 03, 2010 12:32 am
I took this from another site some time ago - 2006 in fact but apart from the changed booking system, opening times etc etc., this may help some people:
Getting your ITV in Spain Thursday, 09 February 2006
An ITV is the equivalent to an MOT in England and is required by Law, ITV stands for “Inspeccion Tecnica de Vehicles”. A number of checks are carried out on your vehicle to check that it is safe to drive and road worthy. Once your car is 4 years old, you will need an ITV done every two years. Once it is over 10 years old an ITV will be needed annually. For Motorcycles over 5 years old, an ITV is needed every 2 years and for a caravans over 6 years old, an ITV is needed every two years.There are more than 50 ITV Inspection Service Centers around Andalucia alone, so there must be many hundreds throughout Spain. You can just go straight there, no need for an appointment. They are normally based on a Poligono (Industrial Estate). To find an ITV point in your area. If you do not have time to do this yourself, you can take your car to a garage where they will do it for you, but you will obviously be charged extra for this service.
We took our car to ITV Inspection in Estepona which is near Marbella where we live. We handed in all our car documentation at the office in the center and paid 35.54 euros. They only accept cash. We were then given some paperwork to pass onto the ITV Mechanics who were waiting in the building next door. Then we drove our car as directed, through several different checks.
The first check was for the indicators, wipers, lights, hazards, seat belts etc. The second check was for the wheel alignment, third point was for brakes and hand brake, and the fourth point was for omissions, oil etc. We were then be told to park our car and come back to collect our paperwork. As we had passed our ITV, we were given an ITV Certificate and also an ITV sticker which must be placed in the windscreen of your car. If you do not put this sticker in your window and you are stopped by the police you may be fined between 90 and 150 euros, and will be given 10 days to produce proof of passing the ITV.
If for any reason your car fails an ITV then you will be given 2 months to make any repairs needed and return to the ITV Centre. If you make the necessary repairs and return to the ITV Centre within 15 days you may receive a 70% discount on the second ITV fee.
It is important that you do return to the ITV Centre if you fail, otherwise the ITV Centre will send a copy of your paperwork which they retained, to the Department of Traffic and inform them that this car is on the road without an ITV.
When we arrived at the ITV Centre there was no queue and all in all the whole procedure took about 15 mins. As with many official procedures in Spain, we usually dread doing these kind of chores, however, it was very organized, quick and efficient. The people were quite friendly and when we were stuck with some of the vocabulary, they helped us out either speaking very slowly or in English with no problem.
Useful Vocabulary
Headlights – Los Faros
Las Luces Traseras- Back Lights
Las Luces de los Frenos – Break lights
Izquerda – Left
Derecha – Right
El Freno de Mano – Hand Brake
El Volante – Steering Wheel
Las Escobillas –Windscreen Wipers
MALAGA-ESTEPONA (95-2803550): P.I. DE ESTEPONA; GRAHAM BELL, 15
What to expect: You arrive at the ITV station and put your vehicle in the queue. You enter the building with your car registration and ITV document, pay the fee in cash ( no credit cards accepted) and go back and wait in your vehicle. When it is your turn they will ask you to honk your horn, turn on your windscreen blades, clean the windshield. They will ask you to put on your seat belt, turn on your indicators, use your brake lights and will gauge your emissions by placing a tube in the escape pipe and they will ask you to accelerate. They check the quality of your oil.
Next you will be told to drive onto a platform where they will check to brakes and the alignment of the tyres. If your vehicle does not pass the test, they will tell you what you need to have remedied in order to successfully pass the test. When your vehicle passes the test you will be given a sticker to place on your windscreen and the ITV documentation will be returned to you with the date of the next inspection noted on the document.
Ask your mechanic to give your vehicle the once over before going to ITV- it can save you a second trip!
As not everybody has the time nor the inclination to go through the ITV inspection process, many mechanics offer this service (usually at a cost of 50-75 euros).
The ITV Centre hours are 0700 - 2145 Mon to Fri
and 0800 - 1300 on Saturday.
I managed to get the appointment OK - even though I could not get it done on line so had to use the phone, got there on time on the right day with the right documents. 
I even managed to get into the right line at the right time - then I discovered that so much for speaking reasonable spanish I had absolutley NO idea what things like indicators, reversing lights, brakes etc were! 
Hazard warning lights were an absolute mystery too - I knew how to work them but not what they were called, and the helpful description of all 4 didn't really help. Then came the bit where I had to wiggle the steering wheel when instucted to do so by the tester over a wlkie talkie - I eventually got that through the tester miming the action, and telling me it was the first of 4 tasks! 
What I really want to know is why don't thee words appear in every day converstion? I had more success understanding and talking about a forensic autopsy!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh well back to the books again! 
Yep, can be a nightmare even though you think you can speak the lingo, reminds me of my first test...........I delagate the task now as me holidays are short enough over there without that stress 
