Bail Bonds

Originally required because driving offences attracted automatic detention. Now no longer a legal requirement for Spain and many insurance companies stopped issuing them around 2000 same as in United States - check out orange county bail bonds for more detailed information and contacts.

What documentation to carry

Always carry your driving licence, vehicle registration document (V5), and certificate of motor insurance. If the vehicle is not registered in your name, it’s a good idea to carry a letter from the registered owner giving you permission to drive.

Always carry Form E111. See this site ‘Insurance’ for details.

Driving licences: minimum age at which UK licence holder may drive temporarily imported car and/or motorcycle (over 75cc) is 18 years. All valid UK driving licences should be accepted in Spain. This includes the older all-green style UK licences, although the Spanish authorities may find these more difficult to understand so drivers may wish to voluntarily update them to the new plastic style before travelling abroad. Application form D750 is available from most post offices to obtain a new style (cleaner?) license.

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Manuel Chaves says the recession in Spain has hit bottom

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Territorial Policy, Manuel Chaves, has said in an interview with the El Mundo newspaper that the recession in Spain has ‘practically reached bottom’.
Chaves said the Government would take the steps needed to restart social dialogue with the unions and the employers, and said despite reaching bottom there were hard months ahead, especially in the increase of unemployment from the month of September.
Meanwhile the Occupancy Index compiled by the Ministry for Employment and Immigration has shown that 40% of the unemployed have little chance of finding work. Of the 3.5 million out of a job, 1.4 million have few options of finding new employment. Women and immigrants are among those facing greatest difficulty.

Tourist arrivals in Spain for the year to July were down 10% on last year at the same time at 30 million visitors.
The Canaries, Valencia region and Cataluña were the regions to see the greatest falls in foreign tourist numbers which also show a 16% reduction in the number of British tourists compared to last year at 7.7 million. There were 10% fewer Germans at 5.2 million.
During the month of July there were 6.6 million visiting Spain, 6.1% less than a year ago, according to the data from the Survey of Tourist Movements, FRONTUR, published by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade.
The only region of Spain to see an increase in foreign tourist numbers compared to last year was Madrid, up 2.5% at 2.8 million.
El País has meanwhile reported a reduction in the amount being left by both domestic and foreign tourists in tips, and notes that workers in bars and terraces say that their general takings are well down, even in Madrid where there is reported to be more tourists. It seems the ever-growing percentage of low cost travellers are spending less when here.

Shares rallied by more than 13% in the Prisa media group on Friday after it announced that IBN,the In-store Broadcasting Network, had purchased 4.5% of the group’s shares. Both companies say they want to develop a business in the distribution of communications media in shops, warehouses and supermarkets in Spain and Latin America.

And finally,
The Construction industry in Spain is forecast to shrink by between 8 and 11% this year according to data from the employers and unions in the sector. They note that the latest falls are more moderate, but that jobs continue to be lost as the residential building sector remains hard hit, down between 20% and 25%.

* Up until recently, if you travelled in Spain, the police may have impounded a car, or detained the driver, following a motor accident. They might have required the customer to lodge an amount of money as bail before they would release the driver or the car. Customers travelling to Spain with an insured car were advised to contact Customer Services before they departed, to obtain the document called a Spanish Bail Bond same as with orange county bail bonds . This document served as a letter of credit, and the bail money would be provided by the Spanish Motor Insurance Bureau. If the customer was innocent the bail money would be refunded. Any fine imposed by the Spanish authorities and deducted from the bail money had to be refunded by the customer

* With the merging of EC protocols the ABI issued a communication confirming that Spanish Bail Bonds are no longer required.