A robot that watches for cancellations
To pass the ITV in Marina Alta there are two options: book an appointment several weeks in advance or try to get one of those that become available at the last minute, usually through cancellations. For the latter, a tool has emerged, according to La Marina Plaza.
It is a channel in the messaging application Telegram called "Citas ITV Ondara / Marina Alta". It functions as a bot: it monitors the official website of Sitval, the public body that manages ITVs in the Valencian Community, several times a day, detects appointments that have become vacant for the following days and communicates this to its followers. According to the channel itself, its robot checks the official website "automatically every 15 minutes, day and night". You simply need to join the channel to receive alerts.
A collapse that goes back a long way
The bot is a response to a problem that the comarca has struggled with for years. In October 2023, in the midst of saturation, there was no way to get an appointment in Ondara for October and November, neither online, nor by phone nor in person. In April 2024, the Sitval website showed every working day in red: there were no slots even for June, and the mobile station in Calp had no available appointments in April either.
In February of this year, the situation worsened. The Civil Guard dismantled an alleged network of irregularities in inspections at the Ondara station and arrested several of its workers, which decimated the workforce and forced a temporary suspension of activity. Appointments were closed for February, March and April.
The most recent figures show that the backlog continues. According to information that the Regional Ministry for Industry sent to the Valencian Parliament at the request of Compromís, published in August, 97,698 vehicles were waiting for an appointment in the Valencian Community. In Ondara the list totalled 6,043 vehicles, and the Calp station had waits of up to 66 days.
The Regional Ministry, however, downplays the diagnosis: it acknowledges occasional problems at some stations, but maintains that these vehicles already have appointments and that at most centres dates can be obtained in less than thirty days.
The temporary ITV in Dénia, without news
The solution that was promised for the comarca is still not forthcoming. In January 2024, the Generalitat announced a temporary ITV in Dénia to relieve the overload in Ondara. The Town Hall made a plot available behind the building of the Tax Agency, in the Los Pomelos partial plan, next to Torrecremada.
Since then, nothing has been heard of the project. At the last municipal plenary session, the local government expressed regret that there is no news from the regional administration regarding it.
The need is no less pressing. As far back as 2023, the mayor of Dénia stressed that half of the vehicles that pass their ITV in Ondara come from Dénia, and several plenaries in the comarca approved motions demanding solutions.
How to use the bot safely
The Telegram channel is not official and does not depend on Sitval. Its only function is to alert that there are free slots available: the appointment is always booked on the official Sitval website. It is advisable not to enter personal data or make payments on pages that are not official, as fraudulent ITV appointment booking websites have circulated in the past in the Valencian Community.
