Since January 1, almost 150 Spanish cities have been obliged to have a Low Emission Zone (ZBE) that regulates the circulation of the most polluting cars. Despite the fact that there is still a long list of municipalities that have not implemented the measure, more and more are applying traffic restrictions for environmental reasons.
And although our car does not have any impediment to enter the center of these towns, most town halls advise wearing the DGT environmental badge on the front window to make identification easier. Even in a city like Madrid we can be fined for the simple fact of not wearing the sticker.
Given this scenario, it is convenient to have a badge that, a priori, was sent to all drivers when the environmental classification of each vehicle in the Spanish fleet was launched. Those who did not obtain it at that time must buy it and, for this, there are various alternatives.
The DGT environmental badge can be purchased in various places, both physically and online. Of course, it cannot be purchased in any establishment or portal, it must be in one of the distributors authorized by Traffic to sell the stickers. In any case, it is essential to provide an image of the DNI or driver’s license, as well as the vehicle’s registration certificate, in order to receive the label that corresponds to the license plate. The fixed cost for the labels is 5 euros, although sellers can increase it for shipping costs or other items.
The fastest way to check which environmental label corresponds to our vehicle is to use the search engine that the DGT makes available to all drivers. With this tool, it is enough to enter the alphanumeric code of our license plate to obtain a result with the sticker that we have.
However, search engine results do not always match reality. Neither that of the DGT, nor that of most of the sites authorized for the sale of labels, since they usually take the Traffic database as a reference. There have been cases in which a label is sent that does not correspond to the vehicle, with the serious damage that this fact can entail for the owner.
The reason that leads to committing these errors is the following. The search engines calculate the emission regulations for each car based on its registration date. However, the date determined by the Euro standard for the vehicle and, therefore, its environmental classification, is the date of approval. In this way, it is this last date that must be taken into account to assess its cataloging.
Thus, all those vehicles registered shortly after a change in emissions regulations are the most likely to be affected. In any case, the most appropriate thing we can do is consult the vehicle’s technical data sheet and look for the Euro engine standard. Another option is to check the VIN (Vin Number).
