Italy’s Car Insurance Loophole: Why Tens of Thousands Are Registering Their Vehicles in Poland
Tens of 1000’s of Italian drivers at the moment are registering their automobiles in Poland to keep away from Italy’s notoriously excessive insurance coverage premiums—a workaround that has grown so widespread it’s elevating issues in each nations.
According to stories from Polish broadcaster TVP World and a number of Italian retailers, the phenomenon is very concentrated in Naples, the place an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 autos at the moment flow into with Polish license plates regardless of by no means having entered Polish territory.
Drivers exploit a authorized gray space that enables autos registered overseas to flow into in Italy for as much as 90 days earlier than requiring Italian plates and insurance coverage.
By working via intermediaries, a lot of whom supply full “registration packages” for a payment, Italian automobile house owners safe legal responsibility insurance coverage in Poland, the place common premiums stay far decrease than Italy’s. The result’s an inflow of Polish-plated autos on Italian streets, a disproportionate variety of that are registered within the names of Polish residents who’ve by no means seen the automobiles they supposedly personal.
The development escalated sharply via 2024, prompting Italy’s Guardia di Finanza to intervene. In the Naples space, officers seized Polish paperwork and license plates linked to suspicious registrations, whereas Italy’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport confirmed that reforms to nationwide insurance coverage legal guidelines are underway. The authorities goals to shut the loophole by tightening guidelines on residency, car possession, and cross-border insurance coverage practices.
Polish insurers have additionally raised alarms. The Polish Chamber of Insurance warns that these fraudulent registrations distort nationwide threat calculations, putting an unfair burden on home policyholders.
Intermediaries typically present false details about the place the car is stored, who really drives it, and the way it’s used—all components that affect insurance coverage premiums. As a end result, Polish firms find yourself insuring high-risk drivers at artificially low charges, subsidised not directly by trustworthy policyholders.
Both Italy and Poland at the moment are making ready stricter enforcement mechanisms. Italy’s reforms are anticipated to incorporate shorter circulation durations for overseas plates, clearer residency-based insurance coverage necessities, and harsher penalties for drivers who register their automobiles overseas whereas residing completely in Italy.
Poland, in the meantime, is reviewing strategies to confirm that autos registered within the nation are really based mostly there and operated by the people listed on the paperwork.
What started as a intelligent workaround for costly insurance coverage prices has change into a global downside—one which highlights the disparities between EU member states’ rules and the methods drivers exploit them.
As Italian authorities transfer to shut the loophole and Polish insurers tighten oversight, the period of Polish-plated automobiles dominating the streets of Naples could lastly be coming to an finish.
