driving in Spain

Car break-ins happen a lot in the US, too. Just don't leave anything visible in the car (GPS, bags, camera) overnight. I have heard the suggestion of leaving a local newpaper on the seat, as well. Whether that helps or not, I don't know. I have never had a problem, and we have parked in all kinds of touristy and non-touristy areas in Spain.

A great question! We will be driving the opposite way in May. Leaving a newspaper is a wonderful idea and might help but prudence is the key. Luck helps too!

You can tell a rental car from fifty yards. A newspaper makes it look like somebody bought a paper they can't read . . . . so there must be something valuable in the car ... . so let's break in and take a look. Half a million miles of european driving in rental cars.....a good chunk of it in Spain.......one break-in and that was in a gated lot in a pretty spiffy resort. Which exactly equals the number of break-ins I've had in the U. S.

Don't leave anything at all in the car. Not even a rug on a seat. Nothing.
Fingers crossed, you should be fine.

My reply is too long, so i'll divide into 2. Part 1: We took a 2 week road trip in a rental car in Spain last May and did not have any break-ins. When parked we left nothing in the cab of the car – no maps or anything – but often had our luggage in the covered hatchback (we made stops along the way so there wasn't really a choice.) Every time we parked we also left the glove box open with nothing in it (no reason to break in here!), and we had a small cloth to wipe the GPS suction-cup-circle off the window. In garages we also backed into spots and nearly touched the wall because the hatch did not have room to open - hoping thieves would move on to something easier.

Part 2: Parking wasn't really the issue though. Navigating in the towns was more of a challenge. We had a Garman GPS, a Michelin Atlas, Spain highway map, and Google maps of the neighborhoods near the hotels. We used them all and driving went relatively well. It was necessary to have a human navigator to override the GPS on occasion, as it did do two of the classics: tell us to turn on a pedestrian street and on a different occasion the wrong way on a one-way. Also it wanted us to cut right through Granada, we had to know in advance to keep taking the highway around the city to avoid the controlled zone. Suggestions online were mixed, but we might have had better luck with a Tom-Tom, who knows. Our other advice – get the smallest car you can stand, because city/town roads are narrow and parking garages/spots are microscopic. Learn traffic signs ahead of time (there is a good page on trip advisor about driving in Spain. My personal favorite is the "end no passing" which is counterintuitive). When you check out of your hotel, ask the best way to get out of town, often they'll mark up a map for you. We also downloaded the speed cameras database into the GPS, but found they were typically marked with signs. Lastly expect to be pulled over for an insurance check. We saw plenty of check points and were selected once. It was a non-event.

I have driven many thousands of kilometers in Spain, and have not had a car break-in in the past 20+ years. On my first visit (1988?) the vent window on the rental car was broken, and they took the radio and spare tire. Nothing since. The key is to not leave anything in the car at all. Put it all in the trunk. Enjoy your visit!

I haven't had a break-in yet but you can only do so much. Don't leave anything visible in the car and try to choose the safest parking possible - no loiterers or shattered window shards around. A place that is heavily graffitied and/or strewn with garbage is also a sign that the place attracts loiterers, even if there aren't any in sight right now.

Thank you everyone for these tips. I will check the websites mentioned & get a good map. We did drive around Italy & France with our kids in 2002, but I think we must have left all sorts of food wrappers in the van then, must have scared off thieves... ha, ha. I guess I thought break-ins started being a big problem when the economy took a dive. I'm looking forward to this adventure, even though we don't leave til October. Thanks again.