How to Get a Category D Driving Licence in Andorra?

Andorra’s December 2024 reform genuinely reshaped Category D: it eliminated the previous hard cap of 70 years on driving in this category. It opened a new CAP route that allows access at a younger age. This piece covers what Category D authorizes and these two significant, very recent changes.

What does Category D cover

Category D authorizes driving heavy passenger vehicles and public transport buses, the qualification required for anyone who drives collective transport professionally.

Minimum age

With the Capacitació d’Aptitud per a Conductors (CAP), effective in Andorra since early 2025, Category D access opens earlier than under the previous standard, matching the neighboring French and Spanish systems, with which Andorra’s is now harmonized.

The elimination of the 70-year age cap

This is genuinely significant if you’re driving professionally later in life. Andorra’s new regulation removes the previous hard limit of 70 years for driving C1, C, D1, and D-category vehicles, bringing Andorra in line with the EU baseline regulation and neighboring countries.

What replaces the old age cap

Rather than a hard stop, medical reviews become genuinely more thorough from a certain age onward. Beyond the special medical certificate already required for these categories, you’ll additionally need a psychotechnical test, a blood analysis, and a psychiatric assessment as you get older.

New validity periods for Group 2 categories

Renewal periods have changed for Group 2 (professional) categories, including Category D, as well as B2, B2E, C1, C1E, C, CE, D1, and DE. The 5-year validity window now extends up to age 59 (previously only to 49), followed by a 2-year cycle from 59 to 75.

Documents you’ll need

• A special official medical certificate, obtained from Clínica Verge de Meritxell
• Your existing license category (B or C, depending on your route)
• One recent color photograph (35x45mm), white background
• Proof of residence in Andorra

What is Category D genuinely used for

Most Category D holders go on to drive Andorra’s national public transport network, now free to use, alongside tourist coaches and cross-border services into France and Spain.

Automatic transmission

As with other systems in the region, testing on an automatic-transmission vehicle typically restricts the resulting license to automatic machines only.

DE: adding a heavier trailer

DE requires you to hold full Category D already and follows the same combination-vehicle logic used across Andorra’s other trailer-extension categories.

Removing prior-experience requirements

Andorra’s updated regulation also removed the previous requirement for a full year’s prior experience in lower categories before progressing to the next step, in line with EU Directive 2006/126/CE and practices in France and Spain.

Why did the reform happen

The Andorran government has explicitly linked these changes to a shortage of professional drivers, particularly in passenger transport, following the expansion and the introduction of free access to national public transport lines.

Foreign license exchange

If you already hold a foreign license, Andorra has equivalence agreements with certain countries, including France and Spain, allowing you to convert your license rather than retake the exams entirely. However, countries without such agreements require you to start fresh.

Where D sits in Andorra’s licensing system

Category D sits above D1 and covers the full range of heavy passenger vehicles, as part of Andorra’s Group 2 professional category family.

Tips that actually help

• Ask about the CAP process for the earliest possible route to access
• If you’re approaching 70 and still driving Category D professionally, prepare for the fuller medical review that now replaces the old hard cutoff.
• Track your renewal cycle under the new age-based validity periods.
• Get your special medical certificate from Clínica Verge de Meritxell well before you apply.

The December 2024 reform also removed the prior-experience requirement.

This is genuinely important beyond just the age change already discussed. Andorra’s government reform didn’t just lower the minimum age for Category D and related licenses; it also removed the previous requirement to hold a lower-category license for at least one year before applying. Under the old rules, candidates needed to demonstrate a full year of experience with a lower category before progressing to heavier licenses; that requirement no longer applies under the current framework.

Why did the government make this change?

According to Andorra’s government, this reform was a measure specifically requested by the transport sector, aimed at encouraging young people into an industry genuinely struggling with staff shortages, particularly in passenger transport, a shortage the government explicitly linked to the rollout of free national public transport lines, increasing demand for qualified drivers beyond what the existing workforce could support.

The complete picture across Andorra’s eight heavy-vehicle licenses

Andorra operates eight distinct licenses covering buses and trucks of different dimensions and weights, all affected by the same reform. For small buses specifically, the threshold is 18 with a professional aptitude certificate, or 21 without one, and Category B is required as a base. For a small bus combined with a trailer, the minimum age is 21, and you’ll already need a D1. For the large bus license, full Category D, the threshold is 21 with the certificate or 24 without it, matching the structure already covered above, now confirmed as part of this genuinely broader December 2024 reform package.

The special medical certificate requirement

For Category D specifically, as well as categories B2, C1, C, and D1, you’ll need a special official medical certificate (certificat mèdic oficial especial), distinct from the standard medical certificate required for lighter categories like B or A. You obtain this special certificate from Clínica Verge de Meritxell, and you’ll need to book an appointment with their external consultations department in advance.

Documents needed for license applications and renewals

Beyond your medical certificate, you’ll typically need a recent color photograph (35x45mm) on a white background, and either your existing Andorran license (the original, submitted when you receive your new one) or, in case of loss or theft, a certificate from the Andorran Police Service confirming this circumstance. If you’re a minor, you also need parental or guardian authorization, and the authorizing parent or guardian must have held their own license for at least 5 years.

The genuinely tighter foreign license deadline

As part of the same broader reform, the window to drive in Andorra on a foreign license before formally exchanging it was cut from one year to six months, a real tightening worth knowing if you’re relocating to Andorra with an existing license from elsewhere.

Real driving schools offering Category D preparation

Andorra has genuine local driving schools with long-standing histories. One provider, Autoescola Les Valls, has operated since 1970, with locations in both Andorra la Vella and Escaldes-Engordany, offering classes for motorcycle, car, trailer, truck, and bus categories, as well as license homologation and renewal services. Another provider, Autoescola Principal, reports pass rates above 90% on the first attempt for both theory and practical exams, useful context when comparing driving schools, since a higher first-attempt pass rate can save you real money on retake fees.

Refresher lessons if you’re returning to driving after a gap

If you hold a license but haven’t driven in years and feel apprehensive about getting back behind the wheel, several Andorran driving schools offer refresher practice sessions with qualified instructors specifically for this situation, genuinely useful if your existing Category B experience feels rusty before you embark on Category D training.

Why this reform genuinely matters for Andorra’s small labor market

Given Andorra’s small population, workforce shortages in specific sectors can have a greater real impact than in larger countries, where a larger overall labor pool more easily absorbs demand spikes. The government’s explicit link between expanding free public transport and driver shortages illustrates how Andorra’s small scale directly connects policy changes like free transport to knock-on effects like this licensing reform, useful context for understanding why the changes happened when they did.

What does this mean if you’re weighing Category D as a career move?

Given the genuine, government-acknowledged shortage of qualified drivers, particularly in passenger transport, pursuing Category D in Andorra today arguably offers better real employment prospects than it might have before this reform, both because the pathway itself is now more accessible from a younger age and because the underlying labor market genuinely needs more qualified drivers than it currently has.

Where does this fit going forward?

Category D in Andorra has genuinely modernized, opening access to younger drivers through CAP while also extending opportunities for older professional drivers. If you plan to move into professional driving, check the driver section, browse current vacancies, or see who’s hiring on FastDriver.eu, along with our broader job guides. Our Andorra driving license and license eligibility pages provide the broader picture.

Declaration

This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Fees, training requirements, and administrative rules can change. The reforms described here took effect via the regulation of 23 December 2024. Always confirm current requirements with official Andorran sources before making decisions: e-Tràmits and Govern d’Andorra. FastDriver.eu accepts no liability for decisions made based on this information.