Cars without third-party insurance: a map of the cheats. The MIT’s plan to track down evaders

Thenational picture is already staggering: 9 million uninsured vehicles out of 47 million registered. But it is when we look at the provinces in detail that the true geography of evasion emerges compulsory motor insurance. The figures, updated as at 1 July and presented by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure Matteo Salvini at the ANIA assembly, include cars, heavy goods vehicles, motorbikes and mopeds. The figures also include vehicles destined for scrapping or which have been unused in garages for years, yet are still listed in administrative records. According to the minister, ‘out of one million heavy goods vehicles on the road, 300,000 are reportedly uninsured; out of 8 million motorbikes, more than 3 million are uninsured; out of 3.2 million mopeds on the road, 2.3 million are uninsured, and in some provinces the figure reaches 90 per cent’.”

However, according to data from the MIT which Il Sole 24 Ore was able to examine, among the main Italian provinces it is Naples that has the highest proportion of cars without compulsory third-party motor insurance. There are 725,097 uninsured vehicles, accounting for 37 per cent of the total number of vehicles on the road, which stands at 1,958,692. Next comes Catania, with 328,501 uninsured vehicles and a rate of 34.4% (953,616 vehicles). Further behind is Rome: here, there are 734,778 cars without third-party liability insurance – the highest absolute number among the provinces considered – but the proportion stands at just 21.1 per cent of a total of 3,488,390 vehicles. Bringing up the rear are Milan, with 388,628 uninsured vehicles (18.7% of 2,081,832 vehicles), and Turin, where there are 339,152 uninsured vehicles, accounting for 17.7 per cent of a total fleet of 1,911,244 vehicles. “There is no intention to single out certain areas of the country; on the contrary, it is exactly the opposite,” the MIT clarifies, “the aim is for everyone to pay, but to pay less.”

The phenomenon is even more pronounced among motorcycles. Here too, Naples tops the list: out of 443,831 motorcycles recorded, 236,331 are uninsured, accounting for 53.2 per cent. Next comes Catania, with 105,680 motorcycles without third-party liability insurance out of a total fleet of 198,887 (53.1 per cent). In Turin, 102,423 out of 253,836 motorbikes are uninsured (40.3%), in Rome 230,755 out of 583,227 (39.6 per cent) and in Milan 141,495 out of 400,173, or 35.4 per cent. The percentages for mopeds are even higher. In Naples, 101,201 out of 119,943 vehicles are uninsured, i.e. 84.4% of the total. In Milan, 89,642 out of 117,575 mopeds (76.2 per cent) are uninsured; in Catania, 33,997 out of 45,053 (75.5 per cent); in Turin 50,168 out of 67,330 (74.5 per cent); and finally, in Rome, 92,243 out of 127,243, equivalent to 72.5 per cent.

This problem spares no one, not even the freight transport sector. Even amongst heavy goods vehicles, the figures are significant. In Catania, 11,910 vehicles out of a total fleet of 24,656 are uninsured, amounting to 48.3 per cent. Naples follows, with 20,693 uninsured vehicles out of 47,317 (43.7 per cent). In Rome, 19,150 heavy goods vehicles out of 58,088 (33 per cent) are without third-party liability insurance, whilst in Turin the figure is 6,841 out of 28,381 (24.1 per cent) and in Milan 7,886 out of 34,169, amounting to 23.1 per cent. Nationally, the Ministry estimates that there are around 300,000 heavy goods vehicles without insurance cover.

Sources close to Minister Salvini explain that “the ministry is working to step up the fight against evasion of the compulsory insurance requirement” and that the aim is “to identify more quickly those driving without insurance, tackle evasion and reduce a phenomenon that ultimately passes on the cost of insurance premiums to motorists who abide by the rules”. The strategy is two-pronged. The first involves regulatory changes to strengthen the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport’s powers to check documentation and speed up the regularisation of uninsured vehicles. The second, meanwhile, aims to simplify and standardise the rules governing the use of remote detection devices for traffic offences, thereby automating checks on motor vehicle liability insurance cover.