Exchanging my Uk drivers license for a Spanish one

Hello. I have been driving since I was 12 on private land. I have even raced several times at Le-Mans in the 1970's. I passed my driving test many years ago. I exchanged my UK driving licence for a Spanish licence at the start of this year. I had everything on it from steam engines/Road Rollers,  to 7500 kg vehicles to HGV1, (after paying in the UK for the heavy goods test)  inc of Motorbikes. I asked for "like for Like" in an exchange. My licence came back stripped. In Spain I am allowed to drive a car with a braked trailer,  A van  up to 3,500 kg so a transit, up to a 125cc moped. Also one of those vehicles classed as a car with no licence, ie, an Axiam. That's it. You will not get around the situation, I tried paying out nearly 3,000 euros in legal fees.  I suppose after all the illegal driving including myself these past couple of years I am grateful to have something legal. If your camper is over 3500 kg sell it. Mind you at my age should I really still be driving. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. The Axiam springs to mind. Spain and the Spanish people are lovely. My advice Enjoy. My Regards, R. 

When I exchanged my uk license in September 2020 l lost all my categories on receiving my new Spanish license which only covered the basics. I was in disbelief that this had happened and why, l contacted the company that had helped me with the exchange and they informed me Spain did not recognise my uk categories and as at the time of the medical and exchange process I had not mentioned that I wanted to keep my uk categories it was my fault. But if I wanted to reapply then I could and l would have to go through a more rigorous process and explain why l wanted to keep my uk categories, this would involve extra medical tests and even the possibility of taking road tests driving larger vehicles over 3.5T including mini buses over 9 seats and this may be required every two years with explanation of why l was driving these types of vehicles. If you are receiving help perhaps they could per-sue this at or before your license exchange appointment. I did not per-sue any more and just kept the new Spanish license because I was really stressed out with this and just gaining my residency and all the other stuff that came with the bureaucracy here in Spain at that time in my life.good luck and hope it works out for you.

Unless things have changed with the new post Brexit agreement it may depend on who you use for the process. Not sure  HGV1 has ever been directly exchangeable has it but I think you should have got group A. I know people who have although strictly speaking I think Spain only goes up to A2 with a limit of 700cc.

When I exchanged mine in 2020 I had groups up to D1E and I was asked if I wanted all those on my Spanish licence, I said yes and sure enough it came with those albeit duration limited in line with the recurring medical requirements for the heavier groups which are 2 or 3 years.

I used Psicotecnico in Catral and from memory cost me €120.

How on earth anybody spends €3000 beggars belief!

Have you tried ordering a 'Letter of Entitlement' from DVLA, that will tabulate your entitlements and should be a mirror of what DGT obtained in order to validate an exchange, any mistakes or ommissions in that can result in a loss of entitlements. If there is a discrepancy that would give grounds to argue the point with DGT.

I'm assuming that DVLA are still issuing these letters which are, or were, only available over the phone and cost £5 payable by card.

BTW so called 'no licence cars' like the Axiam (if can you legitimately call them cars!) are actually no such thing as they are classed as light quadricycles and require a group AM licence.

In reply to Peter3473 I fully agree with him regarding his statements made. I myself am not a young man anymore. Years ago I would have handled the situation personally myself. I also had an awful lot happening in my life at that moment in time hence putting my driving licence in the hands of my solicitor. In reply to Darro. Many replies on here give advice re; mostly the British hoping to cut corners in paying out monies, winging things in general, Health Insurance being one. I do not work that way, never have. If one needs something doing then just get on with it. I did that and in this instance failed. Such is life.  My Solicitor charges 175 plus IVA per letter. 7 letters of correspondence were used to try to resolve my driving licence issues, also various telephone calls to the UK which all ran up my Solicitors bill, plus the cost of medical examinations. I also paid a company when my paperwork was ready to submit to collect it  and personally drive to Alicante to submit everything for me which all adds up. I was grateful to have something in the end that stated I am legal to drive in Spain. Yes I know the Axiam vehicles are as you have stated in your reply basically a "go cart", I did state "Classed as a car".  My wife who is far younger than myself decided she wanted to take her Spanish driving test (THE HARD WAY) as one also has to speak reasonable Spanish. The only place we could find to take the theory text in English was a company called Alonso in La Zenia. As I had "sneaked" around to the shops in our vehicle the past couple of years I decided not to drive to  La Zenia being a round trip of over 100km from our Finca I decided I was pushing the cart a bit too far, would get caught in time driving with no licence. I then paid the Alonso fees/package which were over 350 euros I think from memory, my wife failed the first test by 4 questions, we then paid another lot of fees, I also paid a person ten euros per hour to drive my wife from Benferri 03316 where we live to La Zenia and sit from 9am till the finish at 1 or 2 pm, then drive my wife home. I also paid for the drivers lunch each day. Thus fuel, travel time, monies paid racked up around 100 euros per day. My wife passed her Spanish test the 2nd time over a 7 month period. I won't state how much it cost me for my wife's driving licence however to see the smile on her face when she passed was worth every penny spent. Why do I mention this Darro, Your words "How on earth anyone spends 3,000 euros beggars belief". No lies have been told.  It is very easy for monies to just "run away with itself". At the present moment Jose and Carly from Expat services along with a specialist in Land are solving a dispute for me, also property we own in Santa Pola this is also racking up a 15,000 euro bill in legal fees so there you are more stupidity in Spain. So much for a peaceful retirement. On saying that we love our area Benferri 03316, the Spanish people are simply lovely. R. 

This shoudn't be a problem as long as you have some input in the driving licence exchange procedure. Do make sure your gestor, if using one, fully understands he importance of transferring "ALL" the categories from your UK licence.

You may find that some catagories will date expire before others and this is sometimes due to your age. You may need to exchange your licence more frequently if using some categories, C1, D1 etc.

I take your point about tight ar*ed Brits trying to do everything on the cheap but I do think that if you had come here for advice rather than continually shelling out money, and ultimately for nothing, things might have turned out differently.

I'm curious as to what UK licence you had as your comments suggest that you are over 70 and in that case normally you wouldn't have had all the groups you say you had.

To get back to the OP, are you over 70?

Yes I’m over 70  

So there is the problem.

When DGT validate your UK licence with DVLA they will say your entitlement is for group B only which is standard for over 70s.

Were you still in UK then you could have C1 restored on production of a medical report but obviously you cannot do that as a Spanish resident.

There will be a way to get C1 added to a Spanish licence but it will almost certainly require a test.

A commercial site but it outlines the situation.

www.d4drivers.uk/motorhome-medicals