Insurance: car, home, liability

Motor insurance: the only compulsory one

Every motor vehicle must carry third-party liability cover. It pays for the damage you cause others — people, vehicles, property — not your own: for that you need optional add-ons (theft and fire, collision, glass), which are priced separately.

The obligation attaches to the vehicle, not the driver. It applies even while the car sits on private land, unless it has been formally withdrawn from circulation. A car in a garage without a policy is not compliant merely because it is not being driven.

Driving without cover is an administrative offence carrying a heavy fine and seizure of the vehicle: not a risk worth taking even for a few days.

The merit class is almost the whole price

Italy runs a bonus/malus system: each year without an at-fault claim moves you down one class, each at-fault claim moves you up two or more. Classes run from 1 (best) to 18 (worst); a first-time policyholder is placed in class 14, near the bottom.

So that companies can be compared, there is a single scale, the universal conversion class (CU). That is what travels with you when you switch insurer. The certificate recording it, the attestato di rischio, is paperless: Italian companies exchange it between themselves, so you do not have to carry it around.

The catch is that the exchange only works between Italian companies. Someone arriving from abroad has, as far as the system is concerned, no history.

Getting your foreign history recognised

Before you move, ask your current insurer for a document certifying your insurance history — usually called a claims history or no-claims certificate. It should state at least:

• how many years you have been insured without a break;
• how many claims you caused and with what degree of fault;
• whose name the policy was in (it must be yours).

With that, an Italian company can give you a better class than the entry one. Without it, you will almost certainly start at 14.

Two practical warnings. No company is obliged to weigh the certificate the same way, so get several quotes: the gap between the first and the third offer can run to hundreds of euro. And if the document is in neither Italian nor English, budget for a translation.

If a company refuses to consider the certificate at all and that looks unjustified, the authority to approach is IVASS — first a complaint to the company, then to the authority if no answer arrives or it does not convince.

The family shortcut

The Bersani law lets you register a new vehicle and take over the merit class of a family member living at the same address who already has a good one. You must appear on the same household certificate and the vehicle must be in your name.

It is the quickest route for anyone moving in with a spouse or parent already resident in Italy with an active policy: instead of class 14 you start on theirs.

Home: compulsory almost never

For a private individual, home insurance is not compulsory, whether you rent or buy.

It becomes compulsory in one case: when you take a mortgage. The bank requires fire and explosion cover on the property for the life of the loan. You may buy it from the bank or from another company — the law lets you choose, and the price difference is often substantial, so compare before signing the one offered at the counter.

If you rent, the landlord's policy covers the building, not your belongings. For those you need your own, optional, policy.

Household liability cover

Not compulsory and little known, but cheap: it covers damage that you or the people you live with cause others unintentionally in private life — the flowerpot off the balcony, the child who breaks something, the dog that bites.

It is usually sold as an add-on inside the home policy. If you are coming from a country where it is bundled into standard home insurance, note that in Italy it is not included by default: you have to ask for it.

Health: check what you already get free

Before buying a health policy, check what the national health service covers: for anyone working or otherwise entitled to register it is free and includes a family doctor, hospital care and emergencies. It is explained in the guide on healthcare.

A private top-up policy makes sense for what the public system covers poorly or with long queues — private specialist appointments, dentistry, fast diagnostics — not as a replacement for it.

Common mistakes

• Arriving without the certificate from your old insurer. Requesting it afterwards, from a distance, is much slower, and meanwhile you pay the entry class for a full year.
• Letting the policy lapse. A break in cover of more than five years wipes out the class you earned: you start again.
• Assuming a parked car needs no insurance. The obligation follows the vehicle, not the use.
• Accepting the bank's fire policy without comparing. It is the point where most money is left on the table in the whole mortgage.
• Buying health insurance before registering with the health service. You often pay for something you would have had free.