Spanish notifications

DGT traffic fines in Spain: notices, the 50% discount, deadlines

How Spanish DGT traffic fines reach you, paying at 50% within 20 days, identifying the driver of a hire or company car, appeals and what happens if unpaid.

By Hola Post · Updated 1 October 2026 · 6 min read

A Spanish traffic fine can be paid at half price if you pay within 20 calendar days of being notified, but that clock starts whether or not you have actually opened the letter. Fines from the DGT (Dirección General de Tráfico, the national traffic authority) and from town councils follow the same national traffic law, so the rules below apply to most fines you are likely to get. For owners who live abroad, the practical problem is usually the notice arriving at an empty Spanish address, or never arriving at all.

How Spanish traffic fines are notified

Speed cameras and parking enforcement do not stop the car, so the fine (denuncia, the formal notice of the offence) is sent afterwards to the registered keeper of the vehicle. Under the Spanish traffic law there are three routes.

DEV (Dirección Electrónica Vial). This is the DGT's electronic mailbox. It is compulsory for companies and other legal entities, and the DGT stopped sending paper notices to them in November 2022. For individuals it is voluntary, but once you sign up, all notices from authorities that use DEV come only by that route. If a notice sits in your DEV for 10 calendar days without being opened, it is treated as rejected and the case carries on as if you had received it. Our guide to the ten-day rule explains this in more detail.

Paper notice to your address. If you do not have a DEV, the notice goes to the address you gave for the case or, failing that, the address held on the DGT's vehicle and driver registers. If nobody is in, the postal service tries again within three days.

Publication in the BOE. If neither works, the notice is published in the Tablón Edictal Único (single edict board) of the BOE, the official gazette. It counts as served 20 calendar days after publication. The law also allows a prior, optional publication on the DGT's own edict board, TESTRA (Tablón Edictal de Sanciones de Tráfico). You can search the edict board online by NIE, DNI, passport number or registration plate.

In other words, a holiday home with nobody collecting the post can end up with fines that are legally notified without the owner ever seeing them.

The 50% discount: procedimiento abreviado

Once a fine is notified, you have 20 calendar days, counted from the day after notification, to either pay with a 50% reduction or submit allegations (alegaciones, your written objections and evidence). You cannot do both.

Paying at 50% puts the case into the procedimiento abreviado (shortened procedure). The law sets out what that means:

the fine is halved
you give up the right to make allegations, and any you send are treated as not submitted
the case ends on the day you pay, without a formal decision
the administrative route is closed, so the only remaining challenge is an appeal to the administrative courts, with the time limit running from the day after payment
for serious offences that do not carry penalty points, the fine is not recorded on your driver history

Points are still deducted where the offence carries them. The discount is available for most offences, but not for a short list of very serious ones, including failing to identify the driver. The DGT does not allow fines to be paid in instalments.

Allegations and the ordinary procedure

If you do not pay at 50%, the case follows the procedimiento ordinario (ordinary procedure). You have the same 20 calendar days from notification to send allegations and evidence. If the allegations raise new facts, the officer who reported the offence may be asked to comment. If you lose, you pay the full amount.

For many offences, if you neither pay nor make allegations within the 20 days, the notice itself becomes the final decision without anything further being sent. This applies to all minor offences and to many serious ones. The fine can then be enforced 30 calendar days after notification.

Allegations about DGT fines can be filed online through the DGT's electronic office, by post or at a Jefatura de Tráfico (traffic office). Fines from councils are challenged with the council that issued them.

Identifying the driver: hire cars, company cars and family drivers

When the car was not stopped, the registered keeper has 20 calendar days to identify who was driving. If the notice came through DEV, the identification must be made online.

For minor offences, and for serious offences without points, identification is optional, and if you simply pay, you are treated as the driver. For serious offences with points, and for very serious offences, identification is compulsory, even if the driver was the keeper. The details required are the driver's name, identity document number and driving licence number, or a copy of the licence if it is not on the Spanish register.

Failing to identify the driver without good reason is itself a very serious offence. The fine is double the original if that was a minor offence, and triple if it was serious or very serious, and it cannot be paid at 50%.

Hire cars. The hire company is the registered keeper. It identifies the customer, and the law lets it provide a copy of the rental contract instead of the licence. Expect the hire company to charge you an administration fee. A new notice is then issued in your name, with a fresh 20-day discount window, and sent to the address on your contract.

Company and leased cars. A company that owns vehicles receives every notice through DEV and must identify drivers online. Companies can register a conductor habitual (usual driver) for each vehicle with the DGT, which moves the identification duty to that person. For long-term leases recorded with the DGT, the duty falls on the lessee.

What happens if a fine is not paid

Once the fine is final, you have a further 15 calendar days to pay it. After that it moves to enforced collection (vía de apremio). For DGT fines, this is handled by the Agencia Tributaria, and the DGT states it is collected with a 20% surcharge. Under the general tax rules, the surcharge is lower (5% or 10%) if you pay quickly once the enforcement period starts, so act promptly on any demand. The tax agency can recover the debt from Spanish bank accounts or tax refunds. Where the driver does not pay, the registered keeper can be made secondarily liable, with some exceptions, including hire companies.

Fines from councils compared with DGT fines

The DGT deals with offences on interurban roads in most of Spain. Town halls deal with offences on urban streets, such as parking, low-emission zones and urban speed cameras, usually through the local police. Catalonia and the Basque Country have their own traffic authorities for interurban roads.

The same national rules on the 50% discount, the 20-day periods and driver identification apply to council fines, but payment, allegations and enforcement are handled by the council or its collection body, not the DGT. The DGT's online services only work for DGT fines, so always check which body issued the notice. Some councils send notices to DEV; others still use post.

This guide is general information, not legal advice; for a specific fine, check with a gestor or traffic lawyer.

How Hola Post helps

Hola Post collects Spanish electronic notifications, including DGT notices, every working day as your authorised representative through the REA, and scans paper post to our Almería address on the day it arrives. Each fine appears in your online inbox with an English summary and the 20-day deadline. See Spanish notifications, Hola Post for businesses with company vehicles, or get started.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to pay a Spanish traffic fine at 50%?

20 calendar days, counted from the day after the fine is notified to you. Weekends and holidays count. After that you can only pay the full amount.

What do I give up by paying a DGT fine at the reduced rate?

Paying at 50% ends the case. You give up the right to make allegations, the fine becomes final on the day you pay, and the only remaining challenge is a court appeal. Any points deduction still applies.

My hire car got a speeding fine in Spain. Who pays?

The DGT writes to the registered keeper, which is the hire company. The company identifies you as the driver using your rental contract, and a new notice is then sent to you in your name with its own 20-day discount period.

What happens if I ignore a Spanish traffic fine?

The notice usually becomes the final decision automatically. You then have 15 calendar days to pay, after which the fine moves to enforced collection with a surcharge. For DGT fines this is handled by the Spanish tax agency, which can recover it from Spanish bank accounts or tax refunds.

Do I have to identify the driver if I was driving myself?

For serious offences that carry penalty points, and for very serious offences, identification is compulsory even if the driver was you. Failing to identify the driver is itself a very serious offence, fined at two or three times the original fine with no 50% discount.

Sources

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change, so check your own situation with a gestor, accountant or lawyer.