You just have to walk around Naples to notice it: motorbikes and cars with Polish license plates (PL) are everywhere. According to ACI data, approximately 68,228 vehicles with Polish license plates circulate in Italy and the vast majority are concentrated in the Neapolitan area: in 2025 alone, 14,066 vehicles were registered in the Foreign Vehicle Registry in the province of Naples, almost all Polish. In Poland the phenomenon is so well known that it has a name: “proceed włoski”, the “Italian practice”.
The reasons are above all economic, given the exorbitant costs for car insurance in the Campania capital, which can exceed 2,000 euros. Drivers, however, can end up losing their vehicles: the cars, in fact, are sold to a Polish agency and the user returns as a simple renter. If the agency were to go bankrupt or disappear, the risk would be to find yourself with a vehicle registered to a non-existent company.
In the meantime, the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure has recently introduced the obligation to document with photos the inspections carried out in Poland, trying to at least partially overcome the problem, while in Naples the number of license plates from the Czech Republic (CZ) is starting to increase. The point is that chasing foreign license plates shifts the problem without solving it, and those who respect the rules always pay the bill. The path, more difficult but more solid, is another: fair tariffs, serious controls and a return to civic sense. Because a community that respects the rules, in the long run, gains everything.
Why this mechanism is legal: article 93-bis of the Highway Code
The reason why there are so many Polish license plates is mainly economic. In Naples, car insurance is among the most expensive in Italy: on average just under 600 euros a year for civil liability alone and with additional guarantees the bill for a moped can exceed 2,000 euros, sometimes more than the value of the vehicle. Polish insurance, on the other hand, costs between 600 and 800 euros the first year and can go down to 350 euros in subsequent years.
The vehicle, registered in Italy, is canceled from the PRA (the Public Automotive Registry) and re-registered in Poland, where an agency becomes its owner. The same vehicle then returns to the old owner through a long-term rental contract. The result: the user is no longer the owner but the renter, and pays a much cheaper Polish policy.
But, therefore, why is it legal? From 21 March 2022, article 93-bis of the Highway Code prohibits anyone who has resided in Italy for over 60 days from circulating with a vehicle owned by them registered abroad. The point is the word “ownership”: the law provides an exception for vehicles leased or rented without a driver by a company from another EU country. It is precisely in this exemption that the rental fits in: just register the vehicle in the REVE (the Register of Vehicles with Foreign License Plates) and keep on board a document with a certain date that certifies the rental and its duration.
Alongside the formally legal version, there is an illegal one: often the vehicle never physically arrives in Poland and the registration is only simulated. In March 2026, experts accused of falsifying around 1,500 inspections for vehicles that had never been checked were arrested in Poland. In some cases there is also talk of “phantom insurance”, certificates without real coverage, which make it very difficult to compensate victims in the event of an accident.
What is happening now between Italy and Poland
In 2025, in the province of Naples alone, vehicles with Polish license plates caused 5,364 accidents, more than half of all those caused in Italy by vehicles registered in Poland, and in 2,263 cases the vehicle was not insured. Advance compensation from the Polish guarantee fund PBUK reached almost 5 million euros in 2025.
For this reason, the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure has announced the obligation to document with photos the inspections carried out in Poland, while in Naples the number of license plates from the Czech Republic (CZ) and Bulgaria (BG) is already increasing: the phenomenon, therefore, is moving towards other countries.
The biggest risk: anyone who tries could lose their car (and pay for damages)
The mechanism has a side that almost no one talks about: those who use it actually give up ownership of the vehicle. The car is sold to the Polish agency, which becomes its owner, and the user returns as a simple renter: he is no longer the owner and can no longer resell it freely. If the agency goes bankrupt or disappears, the risk is finding yourself with a vehicle registered to a non-existent company.
Added to this is the turning point of the summer of 2026: after having advanced almost 5 million euros, the PBUK has started around a hundred lawsuits to recover the sums, addressed in some cases to the agencies and in others directly to the drivers, depending on the rental contracts. It is not a question of returning the savings on car insurance, but the entire compensation for the accident, which with injuries can be worth tens of thousands of euros.
In parallel, foreign license plates are often used as a “screen” for stolen or recycled vehicles and controls in Italy have increased, with fines, administrative detentions and seizures.
The high cost of policies is a real problem, fueled by a vicious circle between fraud and rates. But continually searching for foreign countries where to register vehicles simply shifts the problem without solving it and those who respect the rules always pay the consequences. The path, more difficult but more solid, is another: fair tariffs, serious controls and a return to civic sense.
