Are you curious about the car insurance process in Italy? Want to know what coverage applies to each type of car insurance? Is car insurance mandatory in Italy and what types of insurance can you choose from? Check out our article to find out all about car insurance in Italy.
What do you have to know about Italian car insurance and what are the benefits of taking out car insurance in Italy?
Are you planning to buy a car in Italy for your customer and want to insure the car, but don’t know what type of car insurance to choose to get effective protection?
In Italy, a third-party liability insurance is compulsory for every driver. This is an obligation that applies to all drivers, regardless of the length of stay. If you do not have car insurance taken out in another EU country, you must buy it in Italy. However, if you have purchased car insurance in another EU country, you do not need to buy another one in Italy. Nevertheless, you must have a valid third-party liability insurance policy in your car.
On the other hand, if you are coming to Italy and plan to stay in Italy for more than a year, you must register your car and be subject to compulsory car insurance.
Types of car insurance in Italy
Italy has several types of car insurance and you should be familiar with them to know what to choose. What types of car insurance are available in Italy?
Car insurance types are divided as follows:
Third-party car liability insurance in Italy (Responsabilità Civile Autoveicoli, RCA or RCO for short).
Third-party liability insurance (RCA or RCO for short) is a compulsory insurance for each driver’s car, regardless of the length of the planned stay in Italy. The purpose of this insurance is to provide a guarantee to third parties to get compensation for traffic damage due to the driver’s fault.
It is also important that this insurance applies to a car, so every driver who travels by car but is not its owner, has insurance coverage in the event of a collision or road accident in Italy.
The advantage of such a solution is that your customer may, for example, lend the car to another driver in Italy and does not have to enter such a person in the insurance policy.
An exception to this situation is, for example, the theft of a vehicle that you reported in Italy; then the scope of insurance does not apply to the driver. Other situations specified precisely in the insurance policy are also an exception.
The scope of protection of this type of insurance protects the owner against the effects of traffic damage. Nevertheless, remember that the scope of such a third-party liability insurance usually does not provide protection for the driver, but provides a basis for paying compensation to third parties.
For example, this type of insurance does not cover the driver’s bodily injury as a result of a road accident, all drivers should take out additional insurance to cover, for example, the costs of surgical treatment in the event of a serious traffic accident.
Insurance providing the customer with protection against the consequences of accidents (Persona autovetture in Italian)
Under Italian law, taking our this additional insurance is not mandatory. However, it can be useful for your customer. Why? Because the scope of additional insurance may provide the customer with protection as a result of a dangerous road accident up to the limit specified by the insurance company.
When is it worth taking out additional insurance against the results of road accidents? This type of insurance is especially useful when you are planning a trip to Italy, for example, to buy a car for a customer or to pick it up and you want to protect yourself from you want to protect yourself from the consequences of a road accident, such as too high costs of an operation necessary for a serious bodily injury suffered in a road accident. The customer should then consider buying additional insurance for himself/herself.
Local Third-Party Liability Protection (TPL) insurance provides the driver with protection from third-party and health liability. What does it mean? If the traffic damage results from your unintentional behaviour, the scope of this insurance allows you to pay compensation to people injured in a road accident due to your fault. If it is the fault of third parties, you also have the right to compensation as a car driver. Furthermore, the scope of this insurance also provides you with health protection and allows you to cover the required costs of treatment. That is why it is worth having additional insurance to protect yourself against the consequences of traffic accidents.
Third-party Motor Liability insurance, or additional third-party liability insurance in Italy for car drivers Car insurance in Italy is also referred to as Third-party Motor Liability. Under this insurance, you can protect yourself against the effects of a road accident and against any traffic damage that was caused by your fault, for example, when you do not notice a motorcycle on an Italian road and cause an accident. This scope of insurance allows you to pay compensation up to the amount covered by the policy.
Which car insurance should you choose?
There are several types of mandatory car insurance in Italy. The first one is temporary insurance for the selected car. This means that your customer pays the insurance premium only on the days they actually use your car. This solution is very cost-effective for people who use the car occasionally and prefer to avoid excessive fees.
How much does car insurance in Italy cost and what factors influence the amount of the insurance premium?
The prices of Third-party Motor Liability insurance in Italy are the most expensive in Europe and vary depending on the scope of protection chosen and the insurance company concerned. They also depend on the driver’s driving history, the number of accidents in the past and the driver’s driving style.
How much do you have to pay for the annual premium? The average price for Italian Third-party Motor Liability insurance per year is approx. between EUR 380 and EUR 650. A good solution is to compare the offers of insurance companies to choose the right insurance coverage at a good price.
Also, remember that Italian insurance companies do not take into account the driver’s driving style or the history of events in the driver’s past in other EU countries. Therefore, this does not affect the amount of the insurance premium.
Italian car insurance is determined by special points from 1-18CU, which classify drivers. The most popular category is CU 14, in which insurance companies most often include the majority of drivers regardless of other factors. Some insurance companies take into account the driver’s driving style from the time of taking the insurance. The longer you drive a car without a collision, the greater the chance to change the insurance category closer to Category 1.
Even if you did not have any collisions in another country, the history of driving style in Italy does not matter to Italian insurance companies when calculating the insurance rate.
Remember that the price for car insurance in Italy depends on the region and the exact place of residence. The most expensive rates for third-party liability insurance are common in popular cities such as Naples, with the lower ones in less popular and less tourist-visited regions. However, this does not mean that car insurance in Italy is cheap.
Example: If your customer wants to buy insurance for a car in Naples – the annual rate will be approx. EUR 600. A little less, because approx. EUR 100, your customer can pay for car insurance in less popular regions such as Florence or Vibo Valentia.
Are you planning to purchase a car for your customer in Italy and want to register it on site? See how to register a car in Italy step by step.
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Insure your car to travel safely and legally in Italy
If you have been planning a trip to Italy for a long time, you should seriously consider taking out a third-party liability insurance to protect yourself from high fees in the event of a crash or more serious consequences of a road accident. You can also consider taking out additional insurance for your car, which will give you even more protection.
