Driving licence points in Spain: balance, losses and recovery

The first thing to do

Before worrying about how many points you have left, check. The Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) lets you view your points balance and licence history online, provided your licence is valid. With that information you will know whether to wait for automatic recovery or sign up for a course.

In short, the logical order is:

1. Check your current balance and history on the DGT online portal.
2. See whether any recent final penalty has cost you points.
3. Decide whether waiting 2 years without penalties is enough or whether you need a course to recover points sooner.

This guide focuses on the points system of the Spanish driving licence, governed by the Law on Traffic, Motor Vehicle Circulation and Road Safety and applied by the DGT.

How many points you start with

According to the DGT, drivers generally start with a balance of 12 points. The figure is not fixed: it can rise or fall depending on the offences you commit and how you drive.

The traffic law provides for an initial credit of 8 points in 2 exceptional cases:

• Holders of a licence or permit no more than 3 years old, unless they already held another licence of that age. In other words, new drivers.
• Holders who, after losing all their points, have obtained the licence or permit again.

In both cases, if 2 years pass without a final administrative penalty for offences involving a loss of points, the driver moves up to 12 points.

An important detail: the points credit is single for all the authorisations you hold. You do not have one balance for the motorbike and another for the car: losing or recovering points affects the licence whatever its class. In addition, seniority is kept on licences you obtain after losing all your points.

The maximum number of points

The maximum is 15 points. There are 2 ways to reach it.

Good conduct bonus. Those who keep all their points because they have received no final penalties get 2 points during the first 3 years and 1 point for the following 3, up to a maximum of 15 points instead of the initial 12.

Safe and efficient driving courses. Since 21 March 2022, the effective date of the amendment introduced by Law 18/2021, passing these courses adds 2 extra points up to a maximum of 15. We cover them in detail below.

How to check your licence points

You check on the DGT online portal. According to the DGT itself, you can see your current balance and history provided your licence is valid, and download that information as 2 certificates.

With Cl@ve

If you are already registered with the Cl@ve system, go to the DGT website and choose the points balance and record check with Cl@ve. A screen appears with the available identification systems: click access on the method you prefer and enter your details. You will see your balance and your points licence record.

With an access code by email

The DGT magazine explains the procedure without a digital certificate, which is the most common case:

1. Go to the DGT online portal and open the points balance check.
2. Choose the option without a certificate.
3. If it is your first time, request the access code for the points balance check.
4. Enter your full name, NIF or NIE, the issue date of your first licence (not the renewal date) and an email address.
5. Within a few minutes you will receive the code at that address.
6. Return to the portal and enter your NIF and the code. The first time, for security, you must change it to one of your choice.
7. Keep the final code safe: you will need it every time you check. If you forget it, you can ask for a new one to be sent to the email address you give.

There is also an indirect route: under the law, when the authorities notify a penalty involving a loss of points, they must state how many points are deducted and how you can find out your balance.

Which offences cost points

Not every fine costs points. The traffic law states that the balance falls with each final administrative penalty for serious or very serious offences carrying a loss of points, according to the scale in annexes II and IV of the law. Minor offences do not feature in this mechanism.

These are the rules worth knowing:

• Only at the wheel of a vehicle requiring a licence. Points are lost only when the offence occurs while driving a vehicle for which a driving licence or permit is required.
• Only with a final penalty. Points are deducted automatically when the offence is entered in the Register of Drivers and Offenders of the Central Traffic Headquarters, which records the total balance.
• Recording deadline. If 1 year passes after the penalty becomes final without the offence being recorded, the points can no longer be deducted. This rule appears in the section amended with effect from 21 March 2022.
• Daily limit. According to the text of the reform published in the BOE, no more than 8 points are lost for accumulated offences in a single day, unless one of the very serious offences in article 65, section 5, letters a) to h) is committed. In that case all the points that apply are lost.

The exact number of points each offence costs is set out in the scale in the annexes of the law. If you receive a notification, it will state the number of points deducted.

Recovering points while you still have a balance

The DGT distinguishes between those who still have points and those who have reached 0. Its page on recovering points shows as updated on 30 October 2025.

Automatic recovery after 2 years

If 2 years pass without a final penalty for offences involving a loss of points, you regain the initial balance of 12 points. No paperwork is needed.

Road safety awareness and re-education course

If you do not want to risk your licence ceasing to be valid, you can take a partial points recovery course. According to the DGT:

• It lets you recover up to a maximum of 4 points, never exceeding your starting balance.
• You can take it once every 2 years, or once a year if you are a professional driver.
• The order published in the BOE in 2024 specifies that, to count these periods, the course completion date is used when the result is a pass.

Cost, dates and centres vary: the DGT has a search tool where you choose province, town, dates and the type of partial points recovery course, and it shows the available centres, dates and timetables with their cost.

Safe and efficient driving courses

These are practical courses, separate from the re-education ones. According to the DGT and the 2025 BOE order:

• They add 2 extra points up to a limit of 15.
• You can take at most one course of each type (motorcycles and cars) every 2 years.
• You need a valid licence for the vehicle category of the course and a positive balance.
• The course organiser sends the DGT the list of participants who passed within a maximum of 24 hours of the end of each session. If the course is run by a regional body, the deadline differs.

The car programme includes exercises such as slalom, ABS braking in a straight line and with evasive manoeuvres, on wet and dry surfaces, an exercise on safe following distance and a demonstration of the distance covered after braking at 30 km/h and at 50 km/h. The part on open roads lasts at least 2 hours and 15 minutes.

If you have lost all your points

When the balance reaches 0, the licence ceases to be valid. Under the law, to obtain a licence of the same class again you must wait the set periods, pass a road safety awareness and re-education course and then pass the required tests. This is the licence recovery course, distinct from the partial points recovery course.

On regaining your licence you will start with 8 points, rising to 12 points after 2 years without final penalties involving a loss of points. The DGT adds that it is also possible to drive again, subject to a number of requirements, if you lost your licence through a court ruling.

Where official texts disagree

Reviewing the official texts reveals some differences worth knowing:

• Points from the partial recovery course. The DGT and the 2024 BOE order refer to up to 4 points. However, one section of the consolidated text of the law published in the BOE mentions up to 6 points. Before signing up, confirm with the DGT or the centre how many points the course restores.
• Recovery period with very serious offences. The text of the 2005 reform published in the BOE set 3 years to recover the full credit if any points were lost for very serious offences. The current consolidated text and the DGT mention only the general period of 2 years without final penalties.

Checklist before you get behind the wheel

• Check your balance on the DGT online portal with Cl@ve or your access code.
• Keep the issue date of your first licence to hand in case you need a new code.
• If you are a new driver, remember you start with 8 points and move up to 12 after 2 years without final penalties.
• Remember the balance is single: a penalty on the motorbike also affects the car.
• If you have few points left, find a partial recovery course via the DGT and check its cost and dates.
• If you have a positive balance and want to climb to 15 points, consider a safe and efficient driving course.
• Read every penalty notification: it must state how many points are deducted.