Polish license plates in Naples, but how does it work? Here's what happens.

Le Polish license plates they are now a familiar presence on the streets of Naples, so much so that the Polish press has dubbed the phenomenon przekręt neapolskiThe Neapolitan scam. Behind it all is a mechanism that allows used cars and motorcycles to be registered in Poland in Italy, with much cheaper insurance. But how does it really work, why is it borderline, and what risks does it pose? Here's what happens.

How the Polish license plate mechanism works

The starting point is the cost of insurance. In Naples, car insurance alone, the mandatory policy that covers damage to property and personal injury, costs on average just under 600 euros per year, and with the so-called additional guarantees, you can exceed two thousand euros to insure a scooter, more than the value of the vehicle. The mechanism for circumventing these costs is apparently convoluted but effective: the vehicle is cancelled from the Italian public automobile register, the PRA, and taken to Poland, where it is re-registered. At that point the car or motorbike returns to Italy through a long term rentalThe agency handling the paperwork becomes the owner of the vehicle and leases it to the actual user. Polish insurance costs between €600 and €800 for the first year and a maximum of €350 for subsequent years. According to ACI data, in 2025, the following vehicles were registered in the foreign vehicle register in the province of Naples: 14.066 plates, almost all Polish, and in Italy there are a total of 68.228 Polish license plates in circulation, of which 37.830 on cars and 29.120 on motorcycles.

Why the system is borderline

The mechanism treads a fine line between legality and circumvention. Italian law, since 2022, prohibits residents of Italy from driving a private vehicle. foreign ownership without registering it in Italy, but it speaks of ownership and not rental: for this reason, it is sufficient to carry a document with the rental expiration date on board to drive regularly. This is the longer version of the procedure, the one that Polish insurers call proceder włoski, the Italian practice, and it is formally legal. However, there are also shortcuts, as in the case of other scams related to two-wheeled vehicles Already featured on Napolike, these are faster and decidedly illegal. Thanks to the complicity of Polish officials, they allow you to import PL license plates without physically bringing the vehicle to Poland. The border is therefore very blurred: what begins as a savings on insurance can turn into a fully-fledged irregular practice. And the most serious problem is that often the insurance certificates don't actually cover third-party liability, making it difficult to trace the rental company and obtain compensation in the event of an accident.

The risks and what happens in the event of an accident

When a vehicle with Polish license plates is uninsured and causes an accident, compensation is guaranteed by the guarantee fund for road accident victims, the FGVS, which then recovers the costs from the similar fund in the country of registration, in Poland the PBUK. The numbers reveal the extent of the problem: according to PBUK data, in 2024, 514 accidents were reported in Italy caused by drivers of vehicles registered in Poland and not insured, and in 2025 there were approximately 1.300. The Polish fund had to pay compensation for 6,9 million zloty in 2024, approximately one and a half million euros, which in just one year has grown to 18,4 million zlotys, just over 4,2 million euros. If these compensations continue to grow, insurance costs could also rise in the regions of Poland where the vehicles originate. As Artur Dziekański, spokesperson for the Association of Polish Insurance Companies, explained, every fraud increases insurance costs and indirectly harms honest Italian and Polish customers.

Poland's crackdown and the new frontiers of the phenomenon

The Polish government has announced a crackdown, and the issue has also reached the European Parliament. The Ministry of Infrastructure in Warsaw has proposed reforming vehicle inspections, introducing a requirement to take photographs to demonstrate that checks are actually performed in Polish workshops, as required by law. Currently, a signed certificate is sufficient, opening the door to fake inspections. A similar measure is planned, regarding mobility and inspections, for those who travel in cities: we discuss it in the guide to Limited traffic zones and traffic blocks in Naples, from the reform of vehicle inspections discussed last year by the European Parliament's Transport Committee, which is expected to be gradually adopted in all EU countries over the coming years. Meanwhile, however, the phenomenon has already spread elsewhere: in Naples, an increase in license plates bearing the initials CZ and BG, i.e., those registered in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, has been reported. Anyone considering using these expedients should carefully evaluate the risks, as the immediate savings can translate into much more costly consequences, including fines, seizures, liability in the event of an accident, and difficulty obtaining any compensation.