Historic, Classic, or Old: Understanding the Differences -

Defining what makes a car classic is challenging, as the boundary is blurred and subjective characteristics come into play, such as design or presence in audiovisual media. However, one determining factor seems to be age, as all classics are old, but not all old cars are classics.

Most municipalities establish the age of 25 years for a vehicle to be considered classic and thus be eligible for tax exemption. However, this must be determined by each administration, and some claim that classics are only those that were 25 years old when the regulation was approved.

For a vehicle to be considered historic, certain requirements must be met that would make the car part of Spain's Historical Heritage. Among them is that it must be completely original or, if modified, in line with period preparations.

To classify a vehicle as historic, it must have been manufactured or registered for the first time 30 years ago, according to the new Historic Vehicle Regulations, which will come into effect on October 1.

The advantages of registering a car as historic include exemption from the ITV (vehicle inspection); the ability to drive in Low Emission Zones; and a simplification of bureaucratic processes compared to the previous regulations, such as the elimination of the cataloging phase.

Now, historic cars are classified into Groups A and B: Group A includes vehicles that can be declared historic automatically without substantial modifications that question their originality, while Group B includes imported vehicles, those with modifications, or those decommissioned from circulation.

Additionally, being classified as historic practically guarantees their resale value since the vehicle is in original condition.

The new regulation sets a circulation limit of 96 days per year, "in no case as a daily means of transport." There is a mistaken belief that historic vehicles are limited to 5,000 kilometers per year; however, this is due to insurance company campaigns offering economical policies for these cars as long as they do not exceed this limit.

For this reason, it is assumed that historic cars are cheaper to insure, but this is not true and their policies have much more restricted coverage than conventional cars.

To register a car as historic, an official laboratory report is required to classify it as such; these laboratories are present in each autonomous community. The fees for this service range between 150 and 400 euros.

Additionally, it must be demonstrated that the car has historical interest either by the manufacturer or by a classic car club. With these two steps completed, an application can be made to the regional Industry delegation – usually handled by the laboratory itself.

Once this is done, an ITV for historic vehicles must be carried out to determine if the car can circulate normally or with limitations. Finally, after all previous steps are approved, one must go to the Provincial Traffic Headquarters to request the historic license plate. The total cost varies between communities but generally ranges between 400 and 1,000 euros.