Services · Taxi and private hire
Decree-law 5/2026 opened up taxis and tightened private hire in a single text. If you hold a licence, want one, or have inherited one, your position today is not what it was three months ago.
Assess my case (reply in 24–48 h)Licences are not simply applied for: the town hall proposes them and the regional government authorises them, using a benchmark of roughly one per thousand inhabitants. When the quota is full — which is usual — the only route is buying a licence from its holder. That is a transfer file, with requirements the new holder must prove before the council approves it. It pays to check first whether the town sits inside a joint service area: it changes where you may operate and who sets the fares.
One person may hold up to five authorisations: three ordinary and two additional ones, and those two only with a vehicle adapted for reduced-mobility passengers, permanently assigned. It is the only way past three. The regional government also runs grants to expand and renew the adapted fleet, so the same decision brings both more licences and help paying for the vehicle.
An inherited licence used to be close to a dead end. Transfer by inheritance is now expressly facilitated, including to underage heirs, and on death or retirement there are two years to regularise the situation — running it meanwhile with full-time salaried drivers. That is enough time to decide calmly whether to keep it or sell it, instead of losing it to a deadline.
The reform repealed the exclusive-dedication requirement and allows the licence to be run with salaried drivers. The holder is not obliged to drive. That changes entirely who can consider a licence — and turns what used to be a trade into an operable asset. It also changes the analysis for anyone with another main occupation, though other rules appear there: public employees need prior compatibility recognition under Act 53/1984, and there are cases where it cannot be granted. That is the first thing to settle, before looking at prices.
Since 6 June 2026, in the Valencian Community individual booking is banned — only the full vehicle may be hired — cruising for customers is banned, and so is waiting parked on public roads, with a new and detailed penalty regime. Anyone considering buying a VTC authorisation to operate here should know they are buying an asset whose use has just been cut back. We say so even when it is not what people want to hear.
Many people remember Madrid's private-hire authorisations costing twenty or forty euros. That was the administrative issuing fee, not their value: the market then resold them for tens of thousands. Confusing the two is exactly what inflated that bubble. Today a VTC authorisation in Alicante trades in five figures, and for taxis there is no reliable public price: the market runs through local associations and "price on request" adverts. Before signing anything, it is worth knowing what you are buying and which rules govern it.
First we tell you whether your case has legs, including when the answer is no. Then we prepare the whole file: checking the new holder's requirements, the transfer before the town hall, registration and assignment of the vehicle, and the grant application if you go the adapted-vehicle route. Fixed written quote before any commitment. We are not court lawyers: anything belonging in a courtroom is referred on, with the file already prepared.
Updated daily from official sources (BOE, ministries and public bodies).
The 2026 reform pulls in two directions. For taxis: the exclusive-dedication requirement is gone, licences can be run with salaried drivers, and one holder may have up to five authorisations — three ordinary and two more for adapted vehicles. For private-hire (VTC): individual booking is banned (only the full vehicle may be hired), cruising for customers is banned, and so is waiting parked on public roads, with a new penalty regime.
With exclusive dedication gone, the holder need not drive: the licence can be run with salaried drivers. On death or retirement, heirs have two years to regularise the situation while running it with full-time drivers. That changes who can consider a licence at all, and turns inherited licences into something that can be organised rather than lost.
People remember Madrid's VTC authorisations costing twenty or forty euros. That was the administrative issuing fee, not their value: the market then resold them for tens of thousands. Confusing the two is what inflated that bubble. Today a VTC authorisation in Alicante trades in five figures, and for taxis there is no reliable public price — the market runs through local associations and "price on request" adverts. Before buying, it is also worth knowing whether the town sits inside a joint service area: it changes where you may operate and who sets the fares.