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Driving a UK registered car

Driving a UK registered car

Old Dec 10th 2018, 12:53 pm
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Default Driving a UK registered car

There is a new Italian law effective from 4 December 2018 regarding driving a foreign registered car. I would like to understand it fully, so I am asking for help from anyone who is aware of it and its consequences. It seems to be saying that after being in Italy for 60 days, one is no longer entitled to drive a foreign registered car. This would therefore forbid the use of UK registered cars for visits to Italy for longer than 60 days. There are lots of questions that follow on from this, such as what is the meaning of 60 days - continuous? (so go to France for a day and then come back), or in any year? (calendar, or 365-day time span), ....... etc. This situation is very difficult to manage for owners of second homes who would like to be able to occupy those homes in Italy flexibly. I don't know if getting Italian number plates would be a solution because this might then infringe some UK law. I would be willing to pay for a permit to be able to drive in Italy, but I haven't seen that this possibility exists. And, practically, how would one be proven guilty, or be able to prove one's innocence?
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Old Dec 10th 2018, 1:35 pm
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

I think the new law applies to Italian residents who are driving a foreign registered car. For non residents the period is one year for EU citizens and 6 months Non EU.

Last edited by philat98; Dec 10th 2018 at 1:43 pm.
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Old Dec 11th 2018, 5:27 am
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

Philat is right - it's to make residents register their cars in Italy, pay fines and be insured.... all under the anti terrorism umbrella.
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Old Dec 17th 2018, 8:47 am
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

Has anyone got any idea how this will be implemented? We are residents with a UK registered car. We have looked at importing but because of the costs, that it will still be a RHD(!), reported difficulties and increased costs of insurance, we had decided to buy an Italian car in the spring of next year and will take our UK back to sell around Easter time.

So, do we need to bring this forward?

The car is fully legal in the UK (road tax, unlimited out of UK Insurance, MOT) and all the papers relate to a UK address. So, how would the Carabinieri know how long the car had been in the country for, or is it how long I have been in country? What if I just show them my passport, say we have a holiday home and not reveal my residency? Would I be given a warning and some time to get the car out of the country? Any ideas?

There are rumours appearing about cars being stopped, fines and confiscations but I think these may be versions of a newspaper article and some ‘personalisation’ of the story.

Grazie

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Old Dec 17th 2018, 2:37 pm
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but I can't PM at the moment. Was wondering arjarcey who the insurance company is that you use for unlimited out of the UK use.
Thanks
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Old Dec 17th 2018, 6:42 pm
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

Through Stuart Collins in Swansea. Underwritten by AXA as far as I can remember...

https://www.stuartcollins.com/

As far as I know they are the only brokers than can arrange this...
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Old Dec 18th 2018, 6:28 am
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

Thanks I'll give them a go.
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Old Dec 19th 2018, 8:01 am
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

Given the lack of responses, I guess no-one has experienced a purge on this, lots of road side random checks we
which, previously, being a UK car we used to get waved through.

Anyway, we want to be legal (already not so, having had our car here for nearly 2 years after Residency) so are going car shopping after Christmas...

Plenty of other UK cars around here but those we have talked to are either unaware of the new rules or think it will not be enforced or will not apply to them

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Old Dec 19th 2018, 11:13 am
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

Since the law starts in December it may be that you have 60 days to re-register the car before you get fined. I suspect that in a small Comune the police will know all foreign registered cars.
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Old Dec 20th 2018, 8:59 am
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

Thanks for the reply but ‘it may be’ and ‘I suspect’ isn’t really what I was asking.

My reading of the ruling as translated is that it is not the length of time that the car has been in Italy that is the criteria, but the length of time the owner has been a resident. It would be almost impossible to prove how long a car had been in the country and open to the ‘one day in France refresh’ option.

So, if you become a resident you are not allowed to own a foreign registered car after 60 days of being given your residency. In our situation, and quite a few other people we know, we became residents over 60 days 20 ago so, if my understanding is correct, we should not be driving our car until it has been imported. We are buying an Italian car as soon as possible but what should we do until then?

Anyone have a definitive wording of the rule and how it is expected to be implemented.

We are driving back roads under the cover of darkness art the moment...



Last edited by arjacey; Dec 20th 2018 at 9:01 am.
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Old Dec 21st 2018, 7:33 am
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

Originally Posted by arjacey
Thanks for the reply but ‘it may be’ and ‘I suspect’ isn’t really what I was asking.

My reading of the ruling as translated is that it is not the length of time that the car has been in Italy that is the criteria, but the length of time the owner has been a resident. It would be almost impossible to prove how long a car had been in the country and open to the ‘one day in France refresh’ option.

So, if you become a resident you are not allowed to own a foreign registered car after 60 days of being given your residency. In our situation, and quite a few other people we know, we became residents over 60 days 20 ago so, if my understanding is correct, we should not be driving our car until it has been imported. We are buying an Italian car as soon as possible but what should we do until then?

Anyone have a definitive wording of the rule and how it is expected to be implemented.

We are driving back roads under the cover of darkness art the moment...



I think you need to relax a bit, and don't get yourself all tied up in legalities.
In Campania at least loads of GB plate vehicles, both private and commercial, openly being driven around.Plods are only interested RO and PL vehicles.
Relax and have a Happy Christmas and New Year.

Last edited by ononno; Dec 21st 2018 at 7:36 am. Reason: typos
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Old Dec 21st 2018, 4:30 pm
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

I wanted to understand the law, the penalties, and the likelihood of being challenged for breaking them.

So I decided to get the advice of an Italian lawyer, and what follows is my understanding of what I was told.

Someone who has applied and been given residence in Italy more than 60 days beforehand may no longer drive a foreign-registered car. (I have discovered that it is worse in the UK because there is no grace period at all!) The penalty is a fine in the range of Euro 600 - 2,500 and the impounding of the car until the fine is paid and the car is 'imported'. There is a time limit on getting this done, after which the car is confiscated permanently.

If you are stopped and checked they might be able to discover that you are resident or they might not bother to investigate and just check your standard documents. This is a risk to be assessed. Remember that every time you are stopped, get a parking fine or enter a ZTL etc. it pinpoints a provable time and place. And if you are noticed frequently by the local forces they might become interested in you.

As a (non-resident) foreigner in Italy the situation is less restrictive and very much more difficult for the police to prove and enforce - should they bother to try. However, a foreign-registered car should not remain in Italy for more than 60 days. If evidence were to be gathered or uncovered that made it look as if this period had been exceeded, but the evidence was not watertight, there are apparently discouraging legal hurdles for the prosecution should you decide to contest. Your position, if asked at the roadside, could plausibly be that you are in Italy on holiday, not permanently, and that you come and go.

A strategy that avoids these legal problems would be to lease a car in one country or the other. The above legal issues then do not arise.

I know that as a matter of current fact, the Italian authorities are doing a purge on Roumanian registered cars but I don't know why - apart from that there were rather a lot of them around.
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Old Dec 22nd 2018, 10:00 am
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Smile Re: Driving a UK registered car

All good stuff...

We also have this from Gareth Horsfall's excellent e-zine (search for him on Google. It's worth subscribing if you don't already).

We think our worst case is that we get stopped, fined, car is confiscated until we pay the fine. Then we have 180 days to either import or export the car which is our plan anyway (not the fine part, obviously!)

I am thinking I might get the import forms (if there is such a thing) to keep with my vehicle documents. Obviously, my Residency documents are nowhere near the car at the moment!

I will also keep a translation of ononno's post close at hand for support should I be stopped

Do you still drive a UK registered (or other foreign registered) car in Italy? For those of you following the British in Italy events, you may have seen that the new 'Decreto di Sicurezza' has had some impacts on Brits seeking Italian citizenship (like myself). What was not so well publicised, but which I happened to stumble across recently, was the news that the same 'Decreto' also made modifications to the 'Codice della Strada' (Highway code).

60 days residency in Italy and then you need to convert to Italian registration plates.

The new law, which has come into force with immediate effect, aims to control the number of people who are now living in Italy but still driving cars which are registered abroad. The law has always been that the 'targa' must be changed to an Italian 'targa' within a reasonable time frame after moving to the country.

The law that is now in force will affect you if you are driving on foreign plates and spend more than 60 days in Italy per calendar year. If you have not changed to Italian plates and have been resident for more than 60 days, then the penalty for getting caught will range between €712 and €2848 depending on the length of time you have been in Italy. If you do not regularise the situation within 180 days of being fined, or take the vehicle back to the country of registration, then the process of 'confisca amministrativa' can be applied (in short: possible confiscation and destruction of the said vehicle).

This may interest you if you happen to be using non Italian registration plates on your car.
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Old Dec 22nd 2018, 10:40 am
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

Be aware that a UK resident may not enter the UK in a foreign-registered car.
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Old Dec 22nd 2018, 4:51 pm
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Default Re: Driving a UK registered car

I brought my UK regisrered car with me when we moved here, intending to get it registered on Italian plates. It would have taken ages and cost a lot, and I would have halved the value of the car. I drove it back to blighty and sold it and bought an Italian car.
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