The Codacons points the finger at historic cars by reporting that 80% would not be in order. For this reason, it has filed a complaint with the Antitrust, the Court of Auditors and the Ministry of Transport, “denouncing some anomalies in the sector which could lead to damage on the tax front and serious consequences on the environment and road safety“.
Therefore, according to Codacons, the majority of historic cars it would only be a “facade”. The association’s accusation is very clear.
In our country, out of a total of 40.2 million cars in circulation, there are approximately 4.3 million cars of historical and collectible interest, for a total value of 104 billion euros. 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.).
For Codacons, therefore, 80% of the car fleet certified as “historic” would now be used daily to carry out normal functions as a means of transportand among these there would also be commercial vans in full operation.
The association explains that in Italy the reference discipline is constituted by the art. 60 of the Highway Code according to which “All those registered in one of the following registers fall into the category of motor vehicles and motor vehicles of historical and collectible interest: ASI, Historic Lancia, Italian FIAT, Italian Alfa Romeo, Historic FMI“. Article 215 of the Presidential Decree of 16 December 1992, n. 495 (Regulation for the implementation of the Highway Code) classifies the motor vehicles of interest and/or collectibles, those registered in the Registers of art. 60 of the Highway Code with a seniority of 20 years.
However, Codacons states that it would appear that these Registries are mere private associations which would not perform this operation for free but, precisely in order to issue the final certification requested, would require the user to register with the association itself.
In addition to the membership fee, car owners would be asked to make a further payment to the certifying body to obtain the historical certification of their vehicle. The task of carrying out the preliminary investigation for issuing the certification would be assigned to simple amateurs from private federations who do not possess any training, nor any recognized qualification that certifies their competence, and this creates a great inequality of evaluations on the national territory.
Therefore, for the association there is a risk that simply old vehicles qualify as historic cars. Means that will thus be able to enjoy a series of tax breaks. All this, however, causes damage to the environment, considering the emissions of these vehicles, and risks to safety on the roads.
An alleged oligopoly position put in place by the associations registered in the Registers which could also generate fiscal damage estimated at around 30 million euros per year, considering the car tax exemptions enjoyed by owners of historic cars.
For all these reasons, Codacons has asked Antitrust, the Court of Auditors and MIT, as well as the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Financial Police, to fully investigate the historic car sector, with the aim of ascertaining any irregularities to the detriment of the competition and public coffers.
