The Spanish Driving Licence Points System: How to Earn, Lose and Recover Points (2026)

A Spanish licence is a permit plus a balance. The permit lets you drive, the balance decides for how long, and the two systems, the money fine and the points, run side by side on every ticket. This page sets out how the balance starts, how offences drain it, and the two very different ways it comes back.

Information last verified on 23 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

Starting credit and how it grows

Every licence begins with a 12-point credit. Two groups start lower, at 8 points: drivers with no more than three years' experience, and drivers who lost all their points before and have since obtained a new licence (art. 63.1 y 63.2 TRLTSV).

The balance can climb above its starting point. Three full years without a firm sanction add 2 points, and further clean years add 1 point each after that, up to a ceiling of 15 points (art. 63.4 TRLTSV). Separately, completing a voluntary safe-driving course (curso de conducción segura, CCSE) adds 2 points on its own, also capped at 15 and usable once per course type every two years (art. 63.5 TRLTSV).

How points get lost

Specific graves and muy graves carry a point deduction on top of the money fine. Speeding is the one offence group with a fully published table: depending on how far over the limit a driver was measured, the deduction runs 2, 4 or 6 points, while the smallest grave speeding band, fined at 100 €, costs no points at all. The full breakdown is on the speeding fines page.

Other point-losing offences, using a mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt or helmet, running a red light and similar graves and muy graves, are set by their own regulatory schedule. The deduction always sits alongside the fine, not instead of it.

Recovering points without a course

The simplest path is patience. Two years without being sanctioned in firm administrative resolution for a point-losing infraction restores the full initial credit, 12 points, regardless of how many were actually lost, as long as no new sanction resets the clock (art. 65.1 TRLTSV).

The recovery course, in practice

A driver who does not want to wait can take a curso de sensibilización y reeducación vial. Here the statute and the regulation that implements it work in two layers, and only one of them describes what a course restores today.

TRLTSV art. 65.4 sets the outer ceiling: recovery of up to six points, in a course lasting at most fifteen hours, delegated in its detail to a ministerial Order. That Order is currently Orden INT/914/2024, in force since September 2024, and it sets a lower, more specific figure: the course restores up to four points, with a minimum duration of ten hours (seven hours of a common module, three of a specific one), never exceeding the points actually lost (arts. 3.a y 4).

DGT's own guidance matches the Order exactly. The course can be repeated once every two years, or once a year for professional drivers.

In short: 4 points in a minimum of 10 hours is what the course restores today; the statute's 6-point, 15-hour figure is the legal ceiling the current course design does not use in full.

Losing every point

A licence that reaches zero points loses its validity outright. Getting a new one requires waiting 6 months, or 3 months for professional drivers (art. 71.1 TRLTSV). Lose everything again within three years of that new licence and the wait doubles, to 12 months, or 6 months for professionals.

Reinstatement is not automatic once the wait ends. It requires completing a curso de sensibilización y reeducación vial of at least 20 hours (Orden INT/914/2024, art. 5), within the 30-hour maximum the statute sets for this course (art. 71.3 TRLTSV), and passing the driving tests again (art. 71.2). The new licence restarts at 8 points, the novel-driver credit, not the standard 12.

Losing every point is itself a firm sanction, and firm sanctions can be challenged the same way any other DGT resolution can, through the ladder covered on the appeals page. The rest of the driving-law map is on the driving section, and the money side of a points-carrying fine is on the multas page.

This page is general legal information about Spanish law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case. The controlling texts are the current versions in the BOE and the DGT's official pages.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many points does a new driver start with in Spain?

8 points for drivers with three years' experience or less, and for drivers who regained a licence after losing all their points. Everyone else starts with 12 (art. 63 TRLTSV).

How many points can the recovery course actually restore?

Currently 4 points, in a course of at least 10 hours, under Orden INT/914/2024. The parent statute allows for a course of up to 6 points and 15 hours, but that is an outer ceiling, not what the course design currently uses.

Do points come back automatically if I stop committing infractions?

Yes. Two years without a firm point-losing sanction restores the full initial 12-point credit on its own, no course required (art. 65.1 TRLTSV). This is separate from, and faster than, the course route for a driver who can simply wait.

What happens when a driver loses all 12 points?

The licence loses validity. The driver must wait 6 months (3 for professionals, longer on a repeat loss within 3 years), complete a reinstatement course of at least 20 hours, and pass the driving tests again. The new licence restarts at 8 points, not 12.