Hi Mll22 and Stacylimones,
I thought I would open a new thread to post my message since the question is of general interest to everyone coming to Spain and not just the North American Auxiliares.
Regarding DL in Spain. If you are here on a student visa, I think the International Drivers' license that Stacey previously mentioned is sufficient.
For those of us who are permanent residents, the ruling is that you have 6 months once residency is granted to obtain your Spanish driving license. There is no covalidation or swapping of licenses as the agreement between Spain and the USA was abolished about 15 years ago.
To get your Spanish driving license, the easiest way to do so is to register with an autoescuela, get the driving manuals and register for as few of the classes as possible. Then, do as many free practice tests as you can on
www.todotest.com as well as the Dirección General de Tráfico site
www.dgt.es. Take an on the road class or two to brush up your skills ... if you are like me, you have been driving for many years and have probably acquired bad habits that would have you fail the exam without an instructor pointing them out to you.
Driving schools are expensive here as well as the exam costs. Nothing compared the to USA. The deal could set you back 300-600€ depending on the kind of deal you can get with the driving school.
The harder, but more economical, way to do it is to do it on your own, without the backing of an autoecuela (por libre). The hard part is finding a car that is equipped with brakes on the passenger side as that is a requirement for the exam. I am not really sure how to go about finding such a car as I went through an autoescuela as did everyone else I know.
If anyone finds out more specifics on how to do the exam "por libre" please post it here as it will be useful for many people to know!
Thanks,
-R
