Just walk around Naples to notice it: motorcycles and cars with Polish license plates (abbreviation PL) are everywhere. According to ACI data, in Italy there are approximately 68,228 vehicles with Polish license plates and the vast majority are concentrated in Neapolitan: in 2025 alone, 14,066 vehicles were registered in the Foreign Vehicle Register 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 economicalgiven the exorbitant costs for car insurance in the Campania capital, which can exceed 2,000 euros. Drivers, however, can get to lose their vehicles: the cars, in fact, come 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.
Meanwhile, the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure has recently introduced the obligation to document with photos the revisions made in Poland, trying to at least partially overcome the problem, while in Naples they are starting to increase license plates of the Czech Republic (CZ). The point is that chasing the foreign license plate moves the problem without solving itand 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 economical. In Naples, RC Auto is among the most expensive in Italy: on average just under 600 euros per year for civil liability only and with additional guarantees the account for a moped can exceed 2,000 eurossometimes 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 over the years subsequent ones.
The vehicle, registered in Italy, comes canceled by the PRA (the Public Automobile Registry) and re-registered in Poland, where it becomes owns an agency. The same vehicle then returns to the old owner via a rental contract long term. 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 to whom resides in Italy for over 60 days to travel with an owned vehicle registered abroad. The point is the word “property”: the law provides an exception for leased vehicles or rented without a driver from a company in 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 he never physically arrives in Poland and registration only comes simulated. In March 2026, experts accused of having were arrested in Poland falsified approximately 1,500 reviews for vehicles never checked. In some cases we also speak 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 plate they have 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. THE compensation advanced by the Polish guarantee fund PBUK have almost reached 5 million euros in 2025.
For this, the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure announced the obligation to document with photo the revisions carried out in Poland, while in Naples the number plates of the Czech Republic (CZ) and Bulgaria (BG) are 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 simple charterer: he is no longer the owner and no 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 approximately hundreds of lawsuits to recover the sumsaddressed in some cases to agencies and in others directly to drivers, depending on the rental contracts. It’s not about returning the savings on car insurance, but the entire compensation for the accidentwhich can be valid with injuries 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 tariffs. But continually research foreign countries where to register vehicles it 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.
