Safety in a transfer with a driver: which insurance covers the passenger, what documents the vehicle must carry and what a traveller can check
Anyone travelling in a taxi or a chauffeured hire vehicle in Spain is covered by two separate insurances: the vehicle's compulsory third-party liability cover, and the compulsory passenger insurance, specific to public passenger transport, which compensates the passenger for injuries regardless of who was at fault. The vehicle must also carry the transport authorisation in force — the VTC card or the municipal taxi licence —, the technical inspection up to date, the visible badge identifying it as a VTC or taxi and, for a VTC, the documentation of the contracted service. The passenger checks plate, badge and driver against what the platform confirmed; and if something happens, the recorded service is what allows a claim with date, vehicle and company identified.
Written by Ridelta - Taxi y VTC · reviewed on 27 October 2026
Which insurance covers the passenger?
The first is the compulsory third-party liability insurance any motor vehicle must have, which in public passenger transport vehicles is taken out with cover specific to the activity: it answers for personal injury and property damage caused to third parties, and the vehicle's occupants are third parties for these purposes. The second is the compulsory passenger insurance, governed by its own regulation, which every vehicle performing public collective or discretionary passenger transport must hold, taxis and VTCs included: it covers the traveller's injuries during transport — death, disability, temporary incapacity and medical care — with fixed compensation, and does so regardless of fault, that is, also if the accident was caused by another vehicle or nobody was at fault.
The two insurances are compatible and add up: the passenger insurance pays its fixed compensation quickly and without arguing fault, and the liability cover pays the rest of the damage when the driver was responsible. Serious companies add voluntary cover — extended liability, luggage, assistance — which is not compulsory but is usual in professional fleets. What a passenger does not need to do is take out anything: the cover comes with the ticket, or the booking, and it is the transport company that pays for and proves it.
What documents must the vehicle carry?
The transport authorisation: for a VTC, the transport card of the relevant series, issued by the region, periodically endorsed and tied to that specific vehicle; for a taxi, the municipal licence and, to leave the municipality, the interurban transport authorisation. The vehicle's technical inspection up to date, which for vehicles dedicated to passenger transport is annual from the first year and six-monthly from a certain age, stricter than for a private car. The registration certificate and technical sheet, insurance in force and, for a VTC, the official badge on the glass identifying it as such, whose design each region sets.
And the service documentation: for a VTC, the service communication to the national register, proving the trip was contracted before it began, as the piece on pre-booking explains; for a taxi with a booking, the booking confirmation. The driver, for their part, carries a valid driving licence and, where the region or council requires it, the VTC driver accreditation or the municipal taxi driver permit. The transport inspectorate may ask for all of this on the road, and a vehicle without authorisation or with an expired inspection should not be providing service.
What can the passenger check before getting in?
First, that the car is the one expected: a pre-booking platform confirms before the service the vehicle's model and registration and the driver's name, and it is enough to check the plate as the car arrives. Second, the badge: the VTC carries its region's official sticker on the glass, with the authorisation number, and the taxi its licence number and its municipality's colours or badge. Third, the visible state of the vehicle: seat belts in every seat, which must be worn in the back too, and child restraints if they were requested for children.
What is not necessary is to ask the driver for the papers, though you may: a VTC's authorisation can be checked in the Ministry's public register of transport companies and authorisations, and many regions publish the list of current VTC authorisations; the taxi licence, at the city council. For the average passenger the practical check is the first one: car, plate and driver match what the platform said. If they do not match, you do not get in and you alert the platform.
What happens in an accident or an incident?
In an accident with injuries, medical care comes first and is covered by the compulsory passenger insurance, which the passenger triggers by reporting the claim to the transport company or its insurer; the driver's accident report and, if they attend, the police report identify the vehicle and the service. The passenger insurance compensation is handled with the company's insurer, and the liability one, if the driver or a third party was at fault, through the usual road-accident channel. For all of that, the pre-booked, recorded service is the best evidence: date, time, vehicle, driver and company are on record before anything happened.
For incidents without an accident — a forgotten item, inappropriate conduct, a complaint about the service —, the route is the platform or the company, with the service identifier, and if there is no satisfactory answer, the region's complaint forms, which public passenger transport must have available to users, and the transport arbitration boards, a free system for resolving small claims in land transport. A forgotten item is recovered more easily in a recorded service, because it is known which car it was and who was driving.
What does a pre-booking platform add to safety?
Three things that street-hired service does not provide. Prior identification: the passenger knows before getting in which car, which plate and which driver are theirs, and the driver knows who they are collecting. The record: each service exists with its details before it happens, and full traceability remains. And driver vetting: a serious platform checks, when onboarding a driver or a fleet, that the authorisation is in force, that passenger insurance and liability cover are paid up, that the technical inspection is current and that the driver holds their licence, and repeats those checks as they expire.
That document check of drivers and vehicles does not replace the insurance or the official inspection, but it is what ensures a booking made in a platform's name is carried out by an authorised, insured vehicle, whether under a VTC card or a taxi licence. This platform's drivers page explains what documents it asks for at onboarding and why; this piece explains what protects whoever sits in the back.
Frequently asked questions
Am I insured when travelling in a VTC?
Yes, by two insurances: the vehicle's compulsory liability cover and the compulsory passenger insurance, which compensates the passenger's injuries regardless of fault. The transport company pays for them.
How do I know the car that arrives is authorised?
By the official VTC or taxi badge on the glass, with its authorisation or licence number, and because the model, plate and driver match those the platform confirmed. VTC authorisations can be checked in the Ministry's public register.
How often does a taxi or VTC pass its technical inspection?
More often than a private car: annually from the first year and every six months from the age the technical inspection regulation sets for passenger transport vehicles.
What do I do if I leave something in the car?
Alert the platform with the service identifier: the recorded service says which vehicle it was and who was driving, and the item is traced and returned more easily than in a taxi hailed in the street.
Where do I complain if the service was not right?
First to the platform or the company, with the service identifier; then through the region's complaint forms and the transport arbitration boards, which resolve small claims free of charge.
Sources
- Real Decreto 1575/1989, Reglamento del Seguro Obligatorio de Viajeros (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Real Decreto Legislativo 8/2004, Ley sobre responsabilidad civil y seguro en la circulación de vehículos a motor (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: consulta pública de autorizaciones (consulted on 27 October 2026)
- Ley 16/1987, de Ordenación de los Transportes Terrestres: juntas arbitrales del transporte (consulted on 27 October 2026)
How we write, where the figures come from and how we correct an error: editorial policy.
Specific cover, badges and driver requirements are set by national, regional and municipal rules and change; this piece explains the general framework and does not replace the policy terms or legal advice in a specific claim.