If you are looking for car insurance Spain has plenty of options for you to take a look at. Much of it should be pretty straightforward with cover from third-party only, through fire and theft, and up to fully comprehensive with a variety of excess options.
In addition, you can tailor your car insurance in Spain to include accident and breakdown coverage and insurance for injuries to passengers in your car. There are options for a courtesy car in the event your car is off the road. You may also want to consider a small stand-alone product that will send you an email and/or SMS if your vehicle appears in the Boletin as being caught causing a traffic infraction such as speeding.
Car insurance in Spain is available in various languages depending on the company you decide to go with some specifically focused and with competitive pricing for the Expatriate client.
Contents:
- Third-party/third-party fire and theft
- Fully comprehensive
- Insurance for EU cars being imported to Spain
- Temporary insurance for Non-EU cars
- Accident and breakdown recovery
- Any driver cover
- Classic car insurance
- Courtesy car
- Excess
- No claims bonus
- Quote
- Temporary car insurance
- Windscreen protection
- Young drivers in Spain
Car Insurance Spain
Third party / third party fire and theft car insurance in Spain
The cheapest cover available in Spain is third-party only insurance. This is a minimum legal requirement. This fulfills your obligation to other road users if you cause an accident. Where you are responsible for the accident then the insurance company covers your obligation to the other party(ies). However, the cost of the repairs to your vehicle, when the accident is your fault, is down to you.
You can add fire and theft cover to a third-party policy which is the minimum cover most of our clients opt for. This will mean that you receive a payout if someone steals the car and it is not recovered or if a fire destroys the vehicle.
Total loss is an option that you can add to a third-party policy as well. Total loss will pay out, as the name suggests, in the event, the insurance company writes off the car. Unlike fully comprehensive cover which covers own damage, total loss only pays out in the event the car is not worth repairing.
Fully comprehensive car insurance in Spain
For a new car or one that is in good condition, you might want to take out fully comprehensive car insurance in Spain. Fully comprehensive includes the cover of a third-party fire and theft policy but with the addition of own damage included. You select the excess you are willing to pay if the accident is your fault. That is the limit of your contribution to the costs of repairing the vehicle if the incident.
The excess is also payable if you want your car repaired after someone has vandalised it. This is also the case when there is no other party to pursue for the losses. This could be when someone hits it whilst parked and does not leave you their contact details.
The higher the excess you agree to then the lower the insurance premium.
Once your car is over fifteen years old there is a reduced number of insurance companies willing to offer fully comprehensive coverage.
Accident and breakdown recovery
Most insurers now include accident and breakdown recovery as standard in Spanish car insurance products. Some have various levels of breakdown cover depending on what you are willing to pay. Cutting the cost of your insurance and accepting inferior breakdown and accident recovery can be a false economy. Make sure the policy covers your needs. If you drive abroad, you need cover outside Spain. If you use the car for holidays only then breakdown recovery in Spain from zero kilometres would be sensible. You can also include home start. If you arrive at your home and you have a flat battery you can call the breakdown service.
Any driver
Your car insurance in Spain is tied to the vehicle and not the policyholder. It is the car that is insured. Unlike in some other countries where the insurance is on the driver. This means that if you want to drive another person’s car then you have to check the cover they have on that vehicle. It will be the policy on that vehicle that states whether another person can drive the vehicle. You will not be able to rely on your own car insurance in Spain to cover you.
As said above, Spanish car insurance is linked to the vehicle. So whilst you cannot carry your cover to a friend’s vehicle you are looking to borrow (check their policy) it does mean that in most policies there is cover for other drivers to use your car built in. Most of our products will allow anyone who is over 25 years of age to drive the policyholder’s vehicle.
See the section below on young drivers.
Classic car insurance
If you have a Spanish historical vehicle, then it will probably have a registration plate starting with H. This type of insurance policy is often available for vehicles in Spain more than twenty years old. It is also possible to obtain insurance on UK classic cars in Spain.
It is relatively easy to get third-party cover but what if your vehicle is of significant value? You might want a fully comprehensive cover for a historical car in Spain. This is possible. You will need to provide the ownership documents and some recent photos. The insurance company may also request an invoice for the purchase or a letter from a car club confirming the value of the car.
Courtesy car
If your car in Spain is important to you and you need to use it regularly then car insurance in Spain with a courtesy car option is important. Whether it is to get to work or drop the children off at school or do the big weekly shop. The novelty of being carless after an accident will quickly wear off.
Again check the cover your car policy in Spain provides. Some companies provide a courtesy car if they know the vehicle will be in the garage for more than 24 hours after an accident. Others wait until the loss adjuster has confirmed it will be in the garage. This may be longer by the time they have drawn up their report and sent it to the insurer.
The length of time that you have a courtesy car in Spain varies from insurance company to insurance company. If you have a courtesy car option it might be from just 5 days up to 35 days.
If your car is at the garage as a result of a breakdown many companies do not provide a courtesy car option. Some provide a courtesy car after around a week of the car being out of action. However, if it is vital you have a car then choose a company that offers cover after 24 hours.
Excess
If you purchase fully comprehensive car insurance in Spain you can reduce the cost of your premium by accepting a higher excess.
The excess is the part you agree to pay if you make a claim when the accident is your fault. It is also the amount you will have to contribute if someone has damaged your car and not left any details and there are no witnesses so no one to pursue your losses.
The lower the excess the higher the premium. For a brand-new car, it is possible to contract a fully comprehensive policy with zero excess but most people opt for an excess of 200 to 300 euros for their car insurance in Spain.
No claims bonus in Spain
You accrue a no-claims bonus annually in Spain. When calculating the price of your car insurance in Spain several insurance companies will automatically allow for full no claims without the need to prove the bonus with a letter from your foreign company. Your no-claims bonus reduces in the event of an accident. The amount you lose will depend on the insurance company and how large the claim is.
Quote
To obtain a quotation in Spain it is necessary to provide information about the main driver, the owner of the car if different, and the car itself. Whilst providing the registration number car can help narrow down the search in the database, it is not often specific enough so it is helpful if you can provide the exact version of your car. Often there is a small badge on the back or perhaps on the wheel arch or in the manual or purchase papers that helps to clarify the car.
To find out more about the information needed to get a quotation or to obtain a quotation for car insurance in Spain then visit our quotation page.
Temporary car insurance
If you are importing an EU registered or non-EU registered car then temporary insurance cover is available in many cases. We are not able to offer temporary insurance for cars with a Spanish registration plate.
EU-registered cars being imported to Spain
If you are importing a car from Germany, The Netherlands, or most other EU countries then we can offer three-month temporary car insurance in Spain to enable you to use the car whilst still on the foreign registration plate. Whilst the cover is basic you will still have movement, be able to organise the ITV, etc. This insurance is only available if you are starting the process of re-registration to Spanish plates and a letter will be required from your Gestoria.
Non-EU registered cars
If you want to bring your car from the US or the UAE and wish to enjoy the vehicle whilst in Spain you can. We have third-party car insurance in Spain which will enable you to drive legally for up to 6 months. This could be whilst you decide to switch the vehicle on to Spanish plates or just for the summer before you ship the car back to your home country.
Windscreen Protection
As standard, we include windscreen protection in Spain in all our car insurance policies in Spain. The only exceptions are for temporary third-party contracts on foreign vehicles. It can be removed from our standard products if you really need to try and reduce the premium but we do not recommend it.
Insurance for young drivers in Spain
It is not easy for young drivers in Spain to obtain car insurance, especially in their own right. Often the insurance is taken by one of the parents with the young person added as a named driver. Lack of experience can also rule out many companies with the main providers of car insurance in Spain looking for people with a minimum of two years of experience.
Insurance companies are more inclined to assist if the parent already holds a policy with them. A client who already has car and home insurance with the same company could get a more sympathetic hearing than a completely new client.
