How to check a Spanish car's history: the DGT vehicle report, and how to read Spanish number plates

The DGT vehicle reports and what each one shows

The DGT's informe de un vehículo service is the Spanish equivalent of an HPI check, except that it comes from the register itself. Several versions exist:

Anyone can request most of them — you don't have to be the keeper. The exception is "vehículos a mi nombre", which is limited to the keeper or their authorised representative.

How to get a report from the UK

• Online at sede.dgt.gob.es, identifying yourself with Cl@ve, a digital certificate or DNI electrónico. Enter the plate, choose the report, pay the fee (or enter a pre-paid fee number) and download the PDF.
• By phone on 060 (from abroad +34 902 887 060), with verification questions; the reduced report and the "a mi nombre" report aren't available this way.
• In person at any Jefatura by appointment, with ID.
• Through a representative — a gestoría, friend or family member in Spain, registered in the DGT's Registro de Apoderamientos or carrying your signed Mod. 24.

If you left Spain without Cl@ve, the representative route is usually the quickest. When we buy a car, our Gestoría runs the check as part of the process — so if you're selling to us, you don't need to do this yourself.

What to look for on the report

If you're selling

• The keeper is you. If it isn't, you'll need the signed contract from when you bought the car — see documents you need to sell.
• No cargas. An embargo (from an unpaid fine or debt) or a precinto blocks any transfer or baja until it's lifted. Better to know before a buyer's gestoría finds it.
• No finance. A reserva de dominio means the lender still has a claim; it has to be cancelled before sale.
• ITV history and mileage that match the car. Buyers use this to verify the odometer.
• Baja status. If the car is in baja temporal it can still be sold, but the buyer needs to know.

If you're buying a Spanish-registered car in the UK

• Run the cargas report before money changes hands. A car with an embargo can't be transferred to you.
• Check the number of previous keepers and that the seller is the current one.
• Compare the ITV mileage readings against the odometer, and check the last ITV result — an expired or failed ITV changes what you can do with the car; see the ITV guide.
• Remember the car can't be used by a UK resident without importing and registering it, and what that costs.

How to read a Spanish number plate

Since September 2000, Spanish plates have the format four digits followed by three letters — 1234 BBB — with a blue EU band and the letter E on the left. The letters are consonants only: vowels, Ñ and Q are not used. The numbers run from 0000 to 9999 and then the letter block advances, so the letters work as a rough date stamp.

These are approximate — the series roll over mid-year and are issued nationally rather than by province — but they're reliable enough to spot a car that's older than the seller says. The exact first-registration date is on the free DGT report.

Older plates (before 2000) started with a one- or two-letter provincial code, then four digits, then one or two letters — M 1234 AB for Madrid, MA for Málaga, A for Alicante, B for Barcelona, and so on. A car on provincial plates is at least 26 years old. Green plates with a P prefix are temporary — used for vehicles awaiting registration or being exported — and red plates with an S or V prefix are temporary or dealer plates. A car being sold on green or red plates is not normally registered and needs extra care.

The VIN and the Ficha Técnica

The chassis number on the Ficha Técnica, the Permiso de Circulación and the report should all match the one stamped on the car (usually visible at the base of the windscreen and on a plate in the engine bay or door shut). The Ficha Técnica also records any approved modifications — tow bars, LPG conversions, wheel changes — which must be stamped to be legal in Spain and will be checked at the ITV.