Highway Code: car hire firms face the risk of being left out of pocket: they will be liable for fines if foreign customers fail to pay
Aniasa’s warning: the proposed amendments risk creating a ‘free-for-all’ with implications for safety and an increased bureaucratic burden on companies
Key points
The risk is that this could create a ‘free-for-all’ for foreign motorists who commit traffic offences in Italia, with negative consequences in terms of road safety and an increased administrative burden on car hire companies. The alarm has been raised by Aniasa (the association representing mobility services within Confindustria) in its comments submitted to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT) as part of the consultation on the revision of the Highway Code. In particular, the association is calling for the removal of the provision which, in the event of non-payment of a fine by a renter resident abroad, transfers the liability to the vehicle owner – and therefore to the car hire company.
The consequences of non-payment
As explained in a statement by Aniasa, the proposed reform of the Highway Code reaffirms the principle that, in the event of an offence committed using a hire car, it is the hirer – that is, the person who has physical and legal control of the vehicle – who is liable for the penalty. However, the association criticises the subsequent provision, which states that in the event of non-payment by a customer resident abroad, the authorities may seek recourse against the hire companies. According to Aniasa, the principle establishing the liability of the person driving the car must apply regardless of the driver’s country of residence, in full compliance with the constitutional principle that ‘the law is the same for everyone’.
43 per cent of traffic offences involving hire cars are committed by non-residents
In Italia, around 3.5 million traffic fines are issued each year to hire vehicles, 43 per cent of which are committed by non-residents. The main offences relate to entering restricted traffic zones (20 per cent), exceeding speed limits (15 per cent) and driving in lanes reserved for public transport (3 per cent), with the overall average number of fines for the hire fleet being lower than the national average.
Folonari: no to shifting the burden
“An administrative difficulty faced by the State cannot be turned into a liability for the car hire company,” emphasises Aniasa President Italo Folonari. “If a driver resident abroad commits a traffic offence in Italia, they must be given the means to pay the fine and must know that that offence will have real consequences. Shifting the burden of non-payment onto the vehicle owner, however, risks having the opposite effect: it removes accountability from the offender and weakens the deterrent effect of fines. This would end up creating a sort of ‘free zone’ for those who commit offences and do not pay, whilst car hire companies would become the ones forced to bear the brunt of the system’s inefficiencies.”
More scope for cross-border information exchange
Aniasa proposes to adopt the proposed amendment to the legislation to this effect, to speed up Italia’s alignment with EU Directive 2024/3237 on the cross-border exchange of information on road safety offences, and to assess, as part of the transposition process, a centralised ministerial system for the management and collection of fines, thereby avoiding the burden of administrative inefficiencies being passed on to businesses.
