CAR INSURANCE

Car insurance in Spain protects you against financial losses in case of an accident. There is an agreement to be made between you and the insurance company so that you pay the premium and the insurance company pays the costs as defined in your policy. In case of car property the insurance pays for damage caused to your own car or theft of your car. The liability covers your legal responsibility to others in case of bodily injury or property damage. The medical coverage makes sure that the insurance company pays for the costs of medical attention and rehabilitation. Sometimes it covers also lost wages and funeral expenses.

In Spain there are 2 types of car insurance. The first type is the third party liability insurance ( seguro de terceros o de responsabilidad civil obligatoria ).

This insurance is the minimum insurance required in Spain to drive a car. It protects you from any claim made against you by anyone who could suffer a personal injury or damage in an accident that you are responsible for. This includes driver and passengers in another car involved in the accident as well as passengers in your own car not remaining to your family, pedestrians and so on.

This type of car insurance does not cover you and your car but it is possible to add extra insurance to cover your own car, passengers of your family and of course yourself ( seguro de ocupantes ).

The maximum indemnity that is covered by this category of insurance is € 336,566.78 per victim in case of personal injury and € 96,161.94 per victim in case of property damage.

In case of personal injury, the responsible party for the accident will not be forced to pay indemnity if he is able to prove that the injuries resulted from the injured party negligent operation or from major forces.

This category of insurance will not pay in the case that the driver was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, if the car is driven by a person not authorized by the owner or a person without driving license.

In these cases, the insurance company will only pay the indemnity to the injured party, which may be claimed against the insurance taker.

The second type of Spanish car insurance is the all-risk insurance coverage ( seguro a todo riesgo ).

This insurance covers the injuries and damages non-covered in the third party liability insurance, which are:

1. injuries to the insurance taker, the car owner, driver and the spouse, ascendants, descendants, relatives and the car passengers
2. damages to the vehicle regardless of how it was caused and who was responsible for it. It is also including fire and broken windows while the car was parked on the street
3. damages of the car contents
4. theft of the vehicle
5. legal costs involved in court process against you

In case the insured missed to pay the policy, it has to be paid within the following 5 months. If this happened, the coverage will be recovered in 24 hours.

If you want to insure your car in Spain it would help you to bring proof of no claims from your previous insurance company. This will help you to reduce the insurance premium. In case you moved from another European Country to Spain, check if your old insurance company also works in Spain. That makes it easier to get a better rate because they can check your claims history easier and faster.

If you are living in Spain for a long period and wish to take your own car with you, you can keep it with the foreign plates, but the law requires the owner to insure his car in the country of registration. It is no longer possible to insure the cars with Spanish companies as it was in the past.

If you choose an international insurance company with a Spanish branch, your car will be insured once it has passed the Vehicle Safety Inspection ( ITV ) that is obligatory in Spain.

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