Spain automotive workshop sector reforms

A 2026 market study of 324 industrial‑vehicle repair workshops across Spain showed a pronounced shift toward servicing professional fleet customers, higher billing and activity levels, and a reduction in the number of spare‑part suppliers used. Mechanics also highlighted a shortage of qualified staff as a long‑term risk. In response, the Provincial Association of Vehicle Repair Workshops in Guadalajara and CETRAA launched a summer road‑safety campaign urging preventive maintenance and countering misconceptions about vehicle age.

Later that month, CETRAA and the Spanish Federation of Automotive Workshop Entrepreneurs (CONEPA) submitted a joint proposal to amend Real Decreto 1457/1986, the 1986 law governing vehicle repair workshops. The draft aims to modernise regulations after four decades, recognising mobile workshops linked to fixed establishments, adding emerging services such as camper‑van conversions, windshield replacement, and repairs of electric bicycles and scooters, and introducing provisions for electronic signing of client‑workshop documents and retention of vehicles until invoices are paid. If enacted, the reforms would provide greater legal certainty, streamline administrative procedures, and enhance road‑safety oversight for Spain’s evolving workshop sector.