Listen to the audio version of the article
2026, which has just opened, presents some new features for the almost 17 million Italian motorists. The consumer association Codacons put them all together, so as to understand what the impact could be on families’ pockets.
Fuels: excise duties on diesel increase
Here the bad news concerns the 16.6 million Italians who own diesel-powered cars. From today, Thursday 1 January, the realignment of excise duties wanted by the government, with a tax increase of 4.05 euro cents per liter for diesel which will bring an increase in revenue of 552 million euros to the state coffers in 2026. Also considering the 22% VAT, a full of 50 liter diesel will therefore cost 2.47 euros more from next January than today, with a greater outlay on an annual basis, assuming two full tanks per month, from +59.3 euros per car. If we also consider the 1.5 cent increase started last May, the overall increase is equal to 3.38 euros in full, +81.1 euros per year. The newly approved measure provides for a similar reduction for the excise duty on petrol, but the reduction, observes Codacons, risks remaining only on paper: as already observed in May, when the excise duty increased by 1.5 euro cents, the price of diesel at the pump immediately increased, while for green fuel, despite the 1.5 cent reduction in the excise duty, the reductions were minimal.
Meanwhile, Mimit underlines that the decline in average fuel prices at the pump which began last November 26 continues, “a particularly significant drop because it coincides with the Christmas holiday period”: the price of petrol it is “at its lowest level since October 2021”.
Traveling on the highway will cost more
Motorway tolls will also increase from January, with a tariff adjustment to inflation that will be 1.5%. The increase is the consequence of a decision derived from the determination of the Art, the transport authority, legitimized by the ruling of the Constitutional Court. The path that leads to this outcome started a long time ago and was resolved last October when the Council effectively determined the legitimacy of the toll increases blocked several times by the Executive starting from 2020, arguing that the “provisions that postponed the deadlines for the adjustment of motorway tolls for the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, pending the updating of the financial economic plans, are constitutionally illegitimate because they conflict with articles 3, 41 and 97 of the Constitution”. In fact, the judges accepted the appeal of the Council of State which complained about the infringement of the freedom of enterprise and the social utility of two law decrees which postponed the deadlines for the adjustment of motorway tariffs for the years 2020 and 2021. Consequently, it also considered the stops on increases for the following two years to be illegitimate. The Council of State had in turn been called to rule on the challenge, by a motorway concessionaire, of two notes from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport which had not recognized the tariff adjustments for 2020 and 2021. From a strictly legal point of view, the Court took into account the complex factual and regulatory framework on the matter, which “now sees the competence to define the criteria for setting the tariffs and the motorway tolls, as to express an opinion, in relation to these profiles, on the updates to the motorway agreements”. The consequence is therefore that from 1 January 2026 for all motorway concessionaires for which the procedure for updating the relevant PEFs on the managed toll network is underway, a toll adjustment of 1.5% is expected, equal to the inflation index scheduled for 2026.
Increases the rate for car insurance
Starting from January, increases are also expected for expenditure relating toRc car. One of the measures contained in the amendment proposed by the government to the budget during the examination in the Senate Budget Committee increases the rate for car insurance relating to the risk of injury to the driver and risk of roadside assistance from 2.5% to 12.5% for contracts stipulated or renewed starting from 1 January 2026. A measure which should bring 115 million euros into state coffers in the next year and which, observes Codacons, will be passed on to the insured who take out this type of policy, through a increase in tariffs. The prices of car insurance, the consumer association further observes, are recording significant increases, to the point that compared to 2022 the average cost of a policy has undergone an overall increase of 17.5%, going from an average of 353 euros in January 2022 (IVASS data) to 415 euros in the second quarter of 2025, with an increase of 62 euros per policy.
Related News :