Spanish Driving licence - Vehicle groups

[marcusplacido]

Hi,
I’m after some clarification on Spanish driving licence groups and their period of validity for driving licence renewal.

I exchanged a full UK licence for a Spanish licence in November 2020.

Aged 60, so I fall into this age group: From the ages of 45 to 70, you must renew every 5 years

The following groups were issued on the Spanish licence:
AM
B
C1
BE
C1E

I’d expected the validity of the licence to be 5 years, but it was only 2 years, until 11/2022. Questioning the gestor who helped with the exchange got just a shrug of the shoulders.

Querying Spanish friends the suggestion was that possibly Groups (C, C1E) only had a validity of 2 years. It was also suggested that groups can be put in cold storage. i.e. on renewal, only renew the groups needed (AM, B, BE) and not others (C, C1E) If required in the future, these groups (C, C1E) can just be added back onto the licence.

Anyone know if this is the case or know where I can find out the length of validity for groups. As renewal is coming up I'd like to maximise the validity before the next renewal.

Thanks in advance

[dxf]

Hola

I have held a Spanish driving licence since 2004 and had lorries on it and as i drove a Luton transit, i had to renew the licence every two years - or not drive the transit.

The expiry dates for motorcycles and cars should be five years and you can ignore C1 lorries until such time as you want to drive one whereupon your medical must be for that group - the medical tests are more thorough in my experience

Davexf

[elusive]

It says on the back of your licence the expiry of each group

[marcusplacido]

It says on the back of your licence the expiry of each group

I know. My primary question was why validity was only 2 years.

[marcusplacido]

Thanks @dxf I'd expected that motorcycle AM, car B and possibly car & trailer BE would be 5 years, so does DGT just apply the shortest validity across all groups?

[dxf]

Thanks @dxf I'd expected that motorcycle AM, car B and possibly car & trailer BE would be 5 years, so does DGT just apply the shortest validity across all groups?

Hola,

As far as I know, Spain follows the EU guidelines. that said, lorry drivers' renewals (needing a medical) are more frequent and always have been - all 28 EU countries aligned on basic principles on 19 March 2013 although the UK wanted more frequent confirmations from those over 70

Davexf