Posted by I am a 70 year old, two and a half year retired resident of Spain from the United States, been driving since I was 16 years old. One of the problems with being from the US is that there is no arrangement with Spain for an exchange of driving license so you are forced by Spanish law within 6 months of getting your residency to go through the entire process of testing for a driving license that a young new Spanish driver must go through. I find driving easy in Spain and I am clearly one of the better and more defensive drivers on the road. The process is complicated here because in order to secure a Spanish driving license, you must do it through a local driving school. You must get a physical exam which is no big deal. Sight, hearing, basic motor skills. The easy part. Then you must take a written theoretical exam which took me 6 months by itself to study for to where I was passing the very tough test with less than 3 errors. That test you can take in your native language. I passed on my first try.
Then the horror story began. You must then go to a DGT testing center and pass a practical test. You cannot take this test in your native language. All of the examiners will only speak Spanish and you may not have an interpreter with you. I am learning Spanish but it is taking a very long time and there seems to be a nationalistic pride in the examiners to where they speak rapid complicated sentences and seem to delight in flunking non Spanish speaking applicants. You have to take this exam in a vehicle provided by a driving school with your instructor at the dual controls and the examiner in the back seat. I now have spent over $1000 on exam fees and driving instructions which consist mostly of lessons designed to teach you how not to fail the test, not to drive safely. I have failed now 7 times all for ridiculous reasons, one time where the clutch on my instructor's car failed in the down position and the exam did not end. I managed to get the car to limp through the busy Alicante streets only to miss a hidden red light on a roundabout as I was trying to get the clutch back up. As soon as I failed, the instructor was able to speak English and told me to hook my foot under it to pull it back up. He knew it stuck.
What this all points to is this giant money pit where the DGT continually sends applicants back to the driving schools only to have them delivered back for failure. Nobody on Spanish streets drives like they require you to drive for the exams. A slight cut over a line in the road as you make a turn, going a tiny bit too fast, going too slow, failure to stop twice at any stop sign in spite of being able to see both ways, not stopping for some pedestrian that makes some last second move into a crosswalk you already are committed to crossing, all can be an instant failure. The only testing centers are in major crowded Spanish cities taking you onto narrow streets where visibility is terrible, right of way is not certain and pedestrians abound, streets you'd normally avoid like the plague. In my last failed test the examiner told me I didn't go fast enough on those streets.
How have others dealt with this nightmare? Is there some place where the examiners are not cruel and corrupt and might actually speak your language? I know that most expats are from EU (or former EU) countries and the process is basically just trading your driving license for a Spanish one. I know a few people that have just given up and intend to just continue to drive illegally. Some Spanish friends joked I need to pay a bribe. I live in a rural home and have to drive. It's getting to the desperation point.
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