Up to 1,220 euros fine for riding a scooter without insurance or registration
The OCU warns of the risks involved in violating the rules with these personal mobility vehicles
Electric scooters have become another element of traffic in urban areas, but unfortunately there is still a significant number of people who ride them illegally. The Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) has issued a serious warning about the risks involved in riding an electric scooter without having previously registered the vehicle with the DGT or having taken out insurance that covers at least potential damages caused to third parties in the event of an accident.
The OCU warns that the sum of the two infractions reaches 1,220 euros, resulting from the sum of the 610 euros for which each sanction is typified. In addition, the police force or the relevant authority may seize the personal mobility vehicle and take it to a municipal vehicle pound until it is in a valid administrative situation to be ridden.
The current regulations established in Royal Decree 56/2026, which modifies part of the General Vehicle Regulations, expressly sets the obligation to take out insurance and to electronically register personal mobility vehicles in order to ride legally on public roads. Older models, purchased before the approval of the royal decree, have a one-year moratorium that expires on January 1, 2027.
The cost of the fine, however, is negligible if we take into account the risk associated with riding without insurance in the event of an accident. Repairing damages to third parties in the event of an accident can easily exceed 150,000 euros, and rise to half a million if the injuries caused are serious. These repairs in the form of civil liability to third parties must be met by the scooter rider and, if they are an insolvent minor, by their parents or legal guardians.
To these regulatory obligations, it is convenient to add the prohibition on minors under 15 years of age from riding these types of vehicles and a fine of up to 100 euros for riding with a passenger or for doing so on the sidewalk. From October 1st, personal mobility vehicle riders will be required to ride with a helmet, and from October 2027 they will also have to use a duly approved lighting system.
97.5% of scooters are ridden illegally
The DGT states that it has registered some 140,000 personal mobility vehicles, but that there are more than four million electric scooters in circulation throughout the country, which means that only 3.5% of all electric scooters are circulating with the documentation in order.
The administrative procedure to register an electric scooter is not complicated (it can be done telematically) and has a cost of 8.67 euros for new scooters and 20 euros more for the issuance of the duly approved identification label. The cost of insurance, for its part, ranges between 60 and 160 euros, according to an OCU study, depending on the age of the driver, the model, and the type of coverage.