A Spanish traffic fine usually arrives as a notificación de denuncia: a notice that you — or the owner of the car — have been reported for an offence such as speeding, running a red light or using a mobile phone at the wheel. It is sent by the DGT (the national traffic authority), by the local police of a town hall, or by the traffic authority of Catalonia or the Basque Country. It is not yet the final penalty: it opens a short period in which you choose what to do.
How to read the notice
- Número de expediente — the case number; you need it to pay or to write.
- Hecho denunciado — what happened, where and when, and the article of the law broken.
- Importe — the full amount, and the reduced amount if paid in time.
- Puntos — the points the offence carries on a Spanish driving licence.
Your options within 20 calendar days
- Pay with 50% off (procedimiento abreviado) — the case ends there, but you give up the right to object.
- Object (alegaciones) — explain in writing why the fine is wrong and send any evidence.
- Name the driver — if someone else was driving, the owner must identify them in the same period; not doing so is a separate, higher fine.
The 20 days are calendar days, counted from the day after the notice reaches you. A notice in the DGT's electronic mailbox (DEV) counts as delivered when you open it, or 10 days after it arrives if you do not; when the post cannot deliver it, it is published in the BOE and counts as delivered 20 days later.
If you do nothing
After the 20 days the notice becomes the final penalty decision, without the discount. If it is still not paid, it goes to enforcement (a providencia de apremio) with a surcharge, and in the end the authority can seize money from a Spanish bank account.
Rental cars
When the car was hired, the notice goes first to the rental company, which gives your name and address to the authority — the fine then reaches you at home, sometimes months later, and the company may charge its own administration fee separately — see a fine for a rental car. The 20 days run from the day the notice reaches you. For a fine posted to your home outside Spain, see a Spanish speeding fine sent abroad.
A lawyer for speeding and traffic fines can check whether the notice was properly served and whether an objection is worth making.
Prepared by Legal Help Tool. Last updated . General information, not legal advice.
