Motor Insurance in Italy
When registering a car in any EU country, the owner must take out motor third-party liability insurance, called “r.c. auto” in Italy. This compulsory insurance is valid in all the other EU countries and covers any material damage or personal injury caused to persons other than the driver.
On this page you can find information on compulsory motor vehicle insurance in Italy and, in particular, on the minimum insurance coverage required, on how to file a complaint to the insurance company, and on the claims history statement.
More information on motor vehicle liability is available on the following web pages:
What is the minimum amount of cover required?
The maximum amount covered for motor vehicle liability is the maximum amount of compensation to be paid by the insurer in the event of an accident. If the damage caused by the accident exceeds the maximum amount stipulated in the contract, the remaining share of the damage is borne by the motorist.
The minimum amount of the maximum cover is established by law (Art. 128 of the Code of Private Insurance):
The Decree of 31 May 2022 of the Ministry of Economic Development was published in the Official Journal No. 148 of 27 June 2022. This Decree adjusts the minimum amounts of cover for motor liability insurance to the new values in euros established by the European Commission. The new amounts are:
- 6,450,000.00, per claim, in case of personal injury, regardless of the number of victims;
- EUR 1,300,000.00, per claim, in case of material damage, regardless of the number of victims.
How to challenge a decision made by the insurer of the vehicle
If you are an insured person or if you have suffered damage as a result of an accident and you are not satisfied with the insurance company’s conduct or with the service provided, you can file a complaint with the company as provided for in Regulation 24/2008.
You can find any useful information for submitting complaints on the undertaking's website.
If the insurance company does not provide you with satisfactory reply, you can file a complaint with IVASS.
Consult IVASS Guide on filing complaints (Italian and English) and the list of the Complaints offices of Italian (only in Italian) and foreign undertakings (only in Italian).
For further information please visit the page dedicated to Complaints.
You may also avail yourself of the other alternative dispute resolution systems for the motor liability sector:
• Mediation (only in Italian)
• Assisted negotiation (only in Italian)
• Joint settlement based on the agreement between ANIA and Consumer Associations (only in Italian)
How the claims history is taken into account when determining insurance premiums
The mechanism of the scale based on classes of merit, so-called "bonus malus," is the tariff formula that (also in the event of a change of company) provides at maturity for the improvement or worsening of the tariff applied to the contract depending on whether claims have occurred in the observation period and have been recorded in the claims history statement (The rules on the correct attribution of the bonus class are explained in IVASS Order no. 72/2018).
Thanks to the claims history statement, you can change insurance company while retaining your claims history and class of merit (CU).
The CU is the category to which the contract is allocated on the basis of a rating scale established by IVASS, that all undertakings must indicate in the claims history statement next to the company bonus class in the interests of comparability of the motor liability insurance offers;
If you have a vehicle that is already insured abroad, you can give the insurance company a statement, issued by the foreign insurer, which allows the identification of the Universal Conversion Class (CU) to be applied to the contract. This statement shall be considered a fully valid claims history statement. If the statement is not provided, the contract is assigned to class 14.
How can the claims history statement issued in Italy be verified?
All the information in the claims history statement is stored in a special electronic database accessible to insurance companies and managed by the trade association (ANIA).
As regards contracts for vehicles registered and insured in Italy, the claims history is acquired directly by the insurer, via electronic means, through the Ania Data Bank The check of the claims history statement issued by foreign companies is to be carried out by the Italian insurer assuming the risk in Italy for the first time.
Contact details of the competent authority
Check out the Contact page.
Reference to legislation
- Code of Private Insurance Articles 128 (Minimum amounts of cover), 148 (Compensation procedure), 149 (Direct compensation procedure)
- ISVAP Regulation 24/2008 (Regulation concerning the procedure for submitting complaints to IVASS and the procedure for managing of complaints by insurance undertakings)
- IVASS Order no. 72/2018 (Criteria for establishing the universal conversion bonus class and transition rules in motor vehicle liability)
- Law no.98 of 9/08/2013, converting and amending decree-law no. 69 of 21/06/2013 (Mediation) (only in Italian)
- Decree-law no. 132 of 12 September 2014 converted into law no. 162 of 10 November 2014 (Assisted negotiation) (only in Italian)
Last update
9 August 2024
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