Valencian ITV Service Returns to the Public Management

After 25 years of privatisation, the operation of the mandatory Inspección Técnica de Vehículos (ITV), the Spanish equivalent of the MOT inspection for vehicles, will return to public management in the Valencia region, and whereas it is hoped the move will not be as disastrous as the reversal was for Torrevieja hospital, the Government hoping it will be a smooth transition, the sector itself is warning of “chaos”.

The reversal comes after months of confrontations and accusations by the concessionary companies. The Asociación de Entidades Concesionarias de la Comunitat Valenciana para la Inspección Técnica de Vehículos (Aecova-ITV) has insisted on multiple occasions that the administration is not “trained” to assume the service yet and has warned of “chaos and collapse”, demanding a new extension that would guarantee a “calm” transition.

However, the Ministry of Sustainable Economy rejected this point. The Minister, Rafa Climent, this Thursday has assured that “there should not be any problem” and “all the steps have been done properly.” He also explained that on Saturday they will visit the Gandia station to check that everything is ready for the start-up of the service from Monday. Likewise, the regional police will accompany them to take note if there is an incident or if they have to file a report because facility is not found in adequate conditions.

At the beginning of this month, the minister recognised that if there was a problem, in any case, it would be “due to the little collaboration that (the concessionaire companies) have had with the administration.”

The reversal of the ITV was part of the Botànic II agreement: to recover the service that was privatized in 1997 under the government of former Partido Popular president, Eduardo Zaplana, a Minister who, coincidentally, is facing corruption charges in an unrelated case.

After announcing the reversal, the Generalitat commissioned a report from the consulting firm Nuve Consulting which concluded that, with the direct management of the service, the net profits for the Generalitat’s coffers, once all expenses were paid, would be 39.3 million of euro per year.

Climent announced a reversion plan in three phases until 2026. The first, ‘preparation’, was scheduled until December 2022, the date on which the concessions expired, but finally the Generalitat had to extend the concessions to compensate the ITV companies for the closure of the service during the pandemic.

The second phase would be that of ‘consolidation’ in 2023, and from 2024 to 2026 the ‘expansion’ phase will take place with the construction of new ITV stations and the hiring of the new personnel necessary for the provision of services.

Now, as the first batch of Covid extended contracts expire on Friday, the doors will close on the privatised operation, and open on Monday morning under the umbrella of the new public company, Sociedad Valenciana de ITV SA.

Specifically, this Friday the contracts end for the ITV stations in Alcoy, Benidorm, Gandia, Ondara, Ontinyent, Orihuela-San Bartolomé, Redován, Torrevieja, Utiel, Villena, Vinaròs and Xàtiva. On March 3 it will be the turn of Alicante, Alzira, Castelló, Catarroja, Elche, Llíria, Massalfassar, Riba-roja de Túria, San Antonio de Benagéber, Valencia-Campanario, Valencia-Vara de Quart and Vila-real.

Negotiations were carried out independently in the case of ITV Vega Baja and the ITV Orihuela, as they are different from that of the rest of the concessions in the entire Community because they are the only ones whose activity concession is granted directly by the Ministry. This circumstance gave rise to a legal battle that does not end with this agreement, since the company will continue to defend in court its right to continue with the Vehicle Technical Inspection service outside the public company promoted by the Ministry.

On Thursday, the public company officially launched the new prior appointment website for the ITV inspection, which unifies in a single tool the online appointment service that until now was available through different portals.

The new platform is adapted to all mobile devices and available at www.sitval.com. The website does translate to English, though not entirely. In an initial phase, it will coexist with the circuititv.com and itebasa.com websites, which will continue to be operational and provide the appointment service until the end of March.

According to the Ministry of Sustainable Economy, the objective of the reversion is to improve the efficiency, competitiveness and quality of the service, in addition to reducing rates and expanding the service with new stations. In this sense, the construction of a new one in Torrent is planned and others will go from being mobile centres to fixed. The ITV centre at Pilar de la Horadada for example is classed as a mobile unit, dependant on the ITV Orihuela-San Bartolomé centre.

In terms of competitiveness, the Ministry already abolished the sound level test in inspections on January 1, which meant a reduction of 11.25 euro for users of the ITV rate (with the exception of motorcycles).

It should be noted however that under national legislation, you are free to have your vehicle inspected at any ITV test centre around the country, and so you are able to choose a cheaper option if it is better for you, although you will of course have to travel to that centre.

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