Spain mandates insurance for heavy electric scooters
DGT requires registration and insurance for scooters over 25 kg, exempting 99% of vehicles. Critics question if it is safety or revenue.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Electric scooters: mandatory insurance that isn't really
The DGT (Spain's traffic authority) has approved a mandatory registry and civil liability insurance for electric scooters. But the devil is in the details: the regulation only affects vehicles weighing more than 25 kilos, excluding the vast majority of light scooters circulating in cities. The measure, presented as a road safety advance, faces skepticism from those who point out its minimal real application and argue the true goal is revenue collection.
A rule full of loopholes
According to the classification of Personal Mobility Vehicles (VMP), scooters under 25 kg with speeds between 6 and 25 km/h are exempt from registration and mandatory insurance. This means, according to circulating estimates, that barely 1% of the scooter fleet will be subject to the new obligation. Regular users, who use scooters for short urban trips, wonder how weight will be controlled on the street: are agents going to install scales? The general answer is no, and that the measure is more smoke than substance.
The registration fee is around 8-9 euros, and insurance can be purchased for about 20 euros annually, often as an add-on to home insurance. But even for those who want to comply, the procedures promise to be cumbersome: from registry enrollment to deregistration when the scooter is discarded, all with corresponding fees.
Safety or revenue?
Positions are clearly opposed. On one hand, defenders of the measure argue that accidents involving scooters are increasing — maxillofacial surgeons report several serious interventions per week — and that insurance is necessary to cover damages to third parties. Additionally, they note that personal civil liability insurance already covers these vehicles in many cases, but it is not mandatory. On the other hand, critics see an excuse to tax a transport medium that has become popular without the State collecting anything until now. The recurring argument is that the government takes advantage of any novelty to reach into citizens' pockets, and that the scooter is just the beginning: tomorrow it will be bicycles.
The debate heats up when mentioning the difficulty of applying the rule to the user profile causing the most accidents: young people riding on sidewalks, without helmets, and often on scooters without warranties. For many, the solution would involve traffic courses and real sanctions, not a registry that barely affects a few.
The future of personal mobility
The lingering question is whether this regulation is the first step towards stricter rules or a simple patch for revenue purposes. What is clear is that, for now, anyone using a light scooter — the majority — can continue circulating without insurance or registration. But the threat that the weight limit could drop to 10 kg remains, and then yes, even the most modest scooter will have to pay up. As an old saying adapted to current times goes: eventually, the government will charge you for breathing, with metered inhalations.
Related forum discussions
The DGT (Spain's traffic authority) has approved a mandatory registry and civil liability insurance for electric scooters. But the devil is in the details: the regulation only affects vehicles weighing more than 25 kilos, excluding the vast majority of light scooters circulating in cities. The measure, presented as a road safety advance, faces skepticism from those who point out its minimal real application and argue the true goal is revenue collection.
A rule full of loopholes
According to the classification of Personal Mobility Vehicles (VMP), scooters under 25 kg with speeds between 6 and 25 km/h are exempt from registration and mandatory insurance. This means, according to circulating estimates, that barely 1% of the scooter fleet will be subject to the new obligation. Regular users, who use scooters for short urban trips, wonder how weight will be controlled on the street: are agents going to install scales? The general answer is no, and that the measure is more smoke than substance.
The registration fee is around 8-9 euros, and insurance can be purchased for about 20 euros annually, often as an add-on to home insurance. But even for those who want to comply, the procedures promise to be cumbersome: from registry enrollment to deregistration when the scooter is discarded, all with corresponding fees.
Safety or revenue?
Positions are clearly opposed. On one hand, defenders of the measure argue that accidents involving scooters are increasing — maxillofacial surgeons report several serious interventions per week — and that insurance is necessary to cover damages to third parties. Additionally, they note that personal civil liability insurance already covers these vehicles in many cases, but it is not mandatory. On the other hand, critics see an excuse to tax a transport medium that has become popular without the State collecting anything until now. The recurring argument is that the government takes advantage of any novelty to reach into citizens' pockets, and that the scooter is just the beginning: tomorrow it will be bicycles.
The debate heats up when mentioning the difficulty of applying the rule to the user profile causing the most accidents: young people riding on sidewalks, without helmets, and often on scooters without warranties. For many, the solution would involve traffic courses and real sanctions, not a registry that barely affects a few.
The future of personal mobility
The lingering question is whether this regulation is the first step towards stricter rules or a simple patch for revenue purposes. What is clear is that, for now, anyone using a light scooter — the majority — can continue circulating without insurance or registration. But the threat that the weight limit could drop to 10 kg remains, and then yes, even the most modest scooter will have to pay up. As an old saying adapted to current times goes: eventually, the government will charge you for breathing, with metered inhalations.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (126 replies).
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