VTC and taxi fleets in Spain: what the authorities require (authorisations, endorsements, service register, inspection) and how daily operations are organised
A VTC or taxi fleet is, for the Spanish authorities, a set of authorisations, each tied to a vehicle and a holder, periodically endorsed and lapsing if not maintained. On each vehicle rest the reinforced technical inspection for passenger vehicles, the liability and compulsory passenger insurance and the badge; on each VTC service, the prior communication to the national register proving pre-booking; on each driver, the licence, the accreditation where required and a compliant employment relationship. Daily operations are, at bottom, not letting any of that lapse while allocating services, controlling expenses and maintenance and settling with drivers. A system keeping expiries, services and figures in one place is what solves it.
Written by Ridelta - Taxi y VTC · reviewed on 27 October 2026
What is a fleet authorisation and how is it maintained?
There is no "fleet" authorisation: there are as many authorisations as vehicles, each issued to a holder — person or company — and referring to a vehicle registered in their name or under finance lease. The VTC authorisation is endorsed every two years before the region, proving the holder still meets the requirements — good standing, financial capacity, compliant vehicle —, and lapses if not endorsed or if the holder ceases to have a vehicle attached; replacing the vehicle with another is a procedure with deadlines which, if missed, cost the authorisation. For taxis, the licence is municipal, with its own rules on transfer, rest and vehicle, and the interurban authorisation is issued by the region.
That is why the first thing a fleet keeps current is the calendar of its authorisations: endorsement date of each, attached vehicle, deadline to replace it if deregistered, and the holder's requirements the authorities review. Losing an authorisation over a forgotten endorsement is losing an asset that, in many areas, can no longer be obtained new. The Ministry's register of transport companies and activities is the official source showing each authorisation's status, and it is worth cross-checking.
What duties attach to each vehicle and each service?
Each vehicle: the technical inspection at the periodicity for passenger transport vehicles, more frequent than a private car's; the liability insurance with the activity's cover and the compulsory passenger insurance; the VTC or taxi badge of its region or municipality; the characteristics the regional rule requires of the vehicle (age, dimensions, in some regions the environmental label); and, in vehicles with more than nine seats or in certain services, the tachograph and the driving and rest time rules, which do not apply to cars of up to nine seats but which a mixed fleet must know.
Each VTC service: prior communication to the Register of Chauffeured Vehicle Hire Service Communications, electronically and before starting, with the contract, vehicle and route details; it is the route sheet the piece on pre-booking discusses, and the inspectorate asks for it on the road. A fleet with dozens of services a day cannot make that communication by hand service by service: it needs the system that allocates the service to the driver to report it to the register in the same act, and to keep the receipt. Taxis do not have that duty for street work, but they do need the contracted service documentation when working by booking outside their municipality.
What must be kept current for each driver?
A valid driving licence with enough points, whose total loss disqualifies from driving even if the contract continues; the VTC driver accreditation or registration where the region requires it, with its renewal; the municipal taxi driver permit for taxis; the clean sexual offences certificate for anyone doing services with minors; and the employment relationship: contract and social security registration for employees, under the sector agreement and the rest periods it sets, or self-employed status with their own authorisation for those driving on their own account. Bogus self-employment — a driver without their own authorisation working for a fleet as a freelancer — is what the labour inspectorate pursues in this sector.
A fleet therefore keeps a file per driver with their documents and expiries, just like a file per vehicle, and a roster that does not allocate services to anyone who cannot do them that day: no valid licence, no accreditation, outside their working hours. Sharing income with drivers — through payroll with its variables, or by settlement to the self-employed — is calculated on services performed, and it should come from the same system that allocated the services, so each driver sees what they did and what they are paid.
How are daily operations organised?
Around three flows. Services: what comes in by booking — from the fleet's own website or phone, from platforms it works with, from business customers with recurring services — is allocated to an available vehicle and driver, reported to the register when it is a VTC, carried out and closed with its payment and invoice. Expiries: endorsements, inspections, insurance, licences, accreditations, each with its date and a warning early enough to process it. And costs: fuel or charging, maintenance and tyres by kilometres, repairs, finance instalments, insurance, taxes, per vehicle and per month, to know which vehicle makes money and which does not.
What sets a growing fleet apart from a surviving one is having those three flows in one place, talking to each other: the allocated service generates the mileage that triggers maintenance, the vehicle's cost is compared with what it invoices, the insurance expiry blocks that car's allocation until renewed. Spreadsheets cope with three vehicles; beyond that a system is needed. This platform offers a fleet management tool to any taxi or VTC fleet, whether or not it works with it on services; its page explains what it covers and what it costs. And fleets that also want to receive pre-booked services have their own onboarding page.
What does an inspection check and what does non-compliance cost?
The regional transport inspectorate, on the road or at the company's premises, checks the vehicle's authorisation, the communication of the service under way, insurance, technical inspection, the driver's documents and, in services that require it, driving times; the labour inspectorate, the drivers' employment status; the tax agency, the invoicing of services. Offences under the transport act range from minor to very serious, with fines for the very serious — providing service without authorisation, for instance — reaching thousands of euros and possibly entailing loss of the authorisation.
The good news for an orderly fleet is that almost everything the inspectorate asks for is what it must already have to operate: the system keeping expiries, services and drivers is the folder shown to the inspector. And for a fleet wanting to work with a pre-booking platform, it is also what that platform will ask for at onboarding, document by document, because the passenger who books trusts that the car arriving is compliant. This platform's fleets page lists those documents; the piece on passenger safety explains why they matter.
Frequently asked questions
How often is a VTC authorisation endorsed?
Every two years before the region, proving the holder still meets the requirements and the attached vehicle is compliant; without endorsement, the authorisation lapses.
Must every VTC service be reported to a register?
Yes, to the Register of Chauffeured Vehicle Hire Service Communications, electronically and before the service starts; the inspectorate asks for it on the road.
Do driving time rules and the tachograph apply to a VTC?
Not to vehicles of up to nine seats including the driver; yes to larger vehicles and certain services, so a mixed fleet must know both rules. Employed drivers' rest periods are set by their collective agreement.
Can a driver without their own authorisation work as a freelancer for my fleet?
That is the arrangement the labour inspectorate pursues as bogus self-employment: whoever drives the fleet's vehicles under the fleet's authorisation must be employed by it. A freelancer works under their own authorisation.
What tool does this platform offer fleets?
A fleet management tool for taxis and VTCs — expiries, services, expenses, maintenance and driver settlements — that any fleet can use, whether or not it works with the platform on services; its page explains what it covers and its price.
Sources
- Ley 16/1987, de Ordenación de los Transportes Terrestres: autorizaciones, visado, inspección y régimen sancionador (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Real Decreto 1057/2015 y Real Decreto 1076/2017: régimen de las autorizaciones VTC y Registro de Comunicaciones de los Servicios de Arrendamiento de Vehículos con Conductor (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Reglamento (CE) 561/2006, tiempos de conducción y descanso: ámbito de aplicación (vehículos de más de nueve plazas) (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Real Decreto 920/2017, inspección técnica de vehículos: periodicidad para vehículos de transporte de viajeros (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible · Registro de Empresas y Actividades de Transporte (consulted on 27 October 2026)
How we write, where the figures come from and how we correct an error: editorial policy.
Specific duties depend on the region and the municipality, and the sector's rules change often; this piece describes the general framework and does not replace a fleet's legal, employment or tax advice. Penalty amounts are those set by the law in force at any time.