With average waiting lists of up to six months in some regions, driving school groups and Spain’s traffic authority are pointing to different reasons (and each other) to explain why learner drivers and hauliers must wait so long to take their practical test.
Learner drivers in Spain have for years faced long waiting lists before they can start their lessons and sit their practical test.
In Madrid, the waiting time has reached an average of six months in some areas, and in Barcelona the waiting list has grown to 63,000 people waiting to take their test.
At the regional level, there’s some 85,000 people waiting across Catalonia. Murcia and Cadiz are usually among the other regions with notable backlogs.
The average waiting time in Spain to take a practical test and obtain a driving licence is now between four and six months, experts say. This is according to motoring journalist Alfonso García, who on Spanish radio recently outlined a combination of factors that are affecting both learner drivers and professionals.
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Reports in the Spanish media, however, suggest that problems with driving schools in Spain aren’t only impacting young learner drivers, but also professional hauliers and other professional drivers.
As reported by the Spanish Confederation of Freight Transport (CETM) in a statement: “in some provinces, candidates have to wait up to nine months to take the practical test”.
Faced with this collapse of the system, the CETM has demanded that the DGT provide “an immediate solution” to resolve a problem affecting all Spanish driving schools.
The reason given by most driving schools for long waiting lists is a shortage of examiners at DGT centres.
The growing waiting lists, they say, are caused by a shortage of examiners at Spain’s Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) and has meant that what were previously one or two month waits have turned into six, eight and even twelve months of uncertainty in some parts of the country.
The backlogs are despite efforts by the authorities, notably Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spain’s Interior Minister, in which he promised he would increase the number of places available by the end of 2025.
A lack of driving instructors plays a big role, García says. One of the main problems is that “nobody wants to be a driving instructor” anymore and that many companies “are complaining that they are running out of instructors, which is forcing them to accept fewer students applying for a driving licence or, indeed, to simply close their premises”, he said.
The result is that over the last decade, nearly 1,500 driving schools have closed in our country.
However, some driving schools also complain that a new computer system could also be partly to blame.
In 2021, the DGT announced that it would use a new system, known as ‘CAPA’, which used an algorithm capable of allocating and adjusting places based on the number of staff available, the number of students on the waiting list who have passed their theory test, and the pass rate at each centre.
Under this system, driving schools with the highest number of failures receive a penalty and a reduced number of slots. But even centres with a high pass rate have been affected, something that suggests the algorithm isn’t allocating exam places properly.
The problems with waiting lists have also caused conflict between the various bodies, with the DGT and driving school groups locked in a war of words.
When appearing at the Spanish Congress’ Road Safety Committee, the DGT Director General, Pere Navarro, claimed that “only 8 percent of the pool of learners are ready to take their test”, seemingly blaming learner drivers (and, presumably, their instructors) for the backlog.
The National Confederation of Driving Schools (CNAE) responded soon after with a strong statement, calling Navarro’s comments “unacceptable” and displaying a “lack of understanding of how the training process works”.
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