Have you been involved in a car accident in Spain?

Accidents happen! Pellicer & Heredia have put together some points below, as guidance and prevention of further damage, on what steps you should follow when involved in a car accident in Spain

The pro­ced­ure in the event of a road traffic ac­ci­dent depends on the sever­ity of it, whether there are in­jur­ies, and if it is ne­ces­sary for the po­lice to be in­volved.

Immediate actions to be taken at the scene of the accident:

• Stop the car.
• Put on the re­flect­ive jacket be­fore you leave the car. In Spain, this is obligatory. If it’s safe, it is advis­able for passen­gers to stay in the car, but should they have to get out, it is advisable to wear a reflective jacket.
• Switch on the hazard warning lights, and place one warning triangle 50 metres in front, and the other 50 metres behind the vehicle.
• Un­less the vehicles can’t be moved or there are people with ser­i­ous in­jur­ies, vehicles must be pulled off the road as far as pos­sible. If you can, move the vehicle after taking some photographic evidence to avoid any potential fines for obstructing traffic.
• The drivers in­volved are obliged to ex­change information such as re­gis­tra­tion num­ber, full name, address and details of the insurance company.
• Note down the li­cense plate num­ber of all vehicles and wit­nesses in­volved, as this could be vital if the case goes to court.
• Never sign any pa­per­work un­less you fully un­der­stand and agree.
• If dam­age has been caused and the owner is not there, for example, a crash with a stationary car or into a property, report it at all times.

In the case of in­jur­ies or fatal­it­ies, call the po­lice and am­bu­lance: Guardia Civil 112 or Policia Local 092 from a mo­bile or land­line (calls are free), or use one of the SOS tele­phones loc­ated on the mo­tor­way.

If the po­lice at­tend the scene of an ac­ci­dent, a re­port will be written up. Additionally, both drivers are required to carry out a breath­alyser test, and occasionally a drug test.

If no injuries have been caused and there is only a minor dam­age, there is no need for the police to be called.

The accident report

In the event of a small ac­ci­dent with no in­jur­ies, the parties in­volved ought to ex­change de­tails and make a de­clar­a­tion of events. This ac­ci­dent re­port has to be sub­mit­ted to the in­sur­ance com­pan­y. If the parties in­volved do not agree on a ver­sion of events, do not sign any document­a­tion and con­tact the po­lice for as­sist­ance.

The accident re­port includes the fol­low­ing de­tails:

• Date and place of the ac­ci­dent (full ad­dress)
• Vehicle in­form­a­tion: Make, model and vehicle re­gis­tra­tion num­bers
• Drivers’ in­form­a­tion: Full name, ad­dress, li­cence de­tails (num­ber, cat­egory, date and place of is­sue), NIE/DNI or pass­port num­ber
• De­tails of in­sur­ance com­pan­y and policy of drivers involved
• Wit­nesses: Name and Ad­dress
• In­jur­ies (yes/no)
• Vehicle dam­age (yes/​no)
• A sketch and ex­plan­a­tion of the ac­ci­dent, in­clud­ing de­tails of the dam­age caused
• Cir­cum­stances at time of ac­ci­dent, in­clud­ing: Weather con­di­tions, speed and anything that might prove useful