Historic cars, the Codacons complaint: “80% of vehicles are work vans”

MILAN – Historic cars, but only in appearance. This is the hypothesis put forward by Codacons who submitted a complaint to Antitrust, Court of Auditors and Ministry of Transport, denouncing some anomalies in the sector which could lead to damage on the tax front. “In our country, out of a total of 40.2 million cars in circulation, the cars that have historical and collectible interest are around 4.3 million, for a total value of 104 billion euros. – explains Codacons – According to the latest estimates in Italy 553 thousand cars are certified as “historic”, but of these only 20% would actually have the requirements to obtain the recognition required by current regulations and, therefore, enjoy total or partial exemptions on car taxes (car tax, Ipt, insurance policies, etc.). 80% of the car fleet certified as “historic” would now be used daily to carry out normal functions as a means of transport, and among these there would also be commercial vans in full operation”.

“Possible oligopoly”

Codacons then reports “an alleged oligopoly position” on the part of the associations that manage the registers of historic cars provided for by the Highway Code, and “which could also generate damage to the treasury estimated at around 30 million euros per year, considering the car tax exemptions enjoyed by owners of historic cars”. “The task of carrying out the investigation for the issuing of the certification – writes the association in the complaint – would be assigned to simple amateurs of private federations who do not possess any training, nor any recognized title that certifies their competence, and this creates a great inequality of evaluations on the national territory”.

The rules

Currently vehicles with those with more than 30 years of seniority are exempt from paying the car tax: the exemption is automatic and there is no need to submit any application, but if you drive on the road you will still need to pay a flat rate circulation tax, which varies depending on the region of residence. Some regions, such as Lombardy, provide that the exemption starts from 20 years (always provided that the car appears in the registers of historic cars).